Zille hinders hope of DA doing better at polls

“The DA is busy mutilating itself in a corner, unprovoked.” These words, spoken by political analyst Prof Somadoda Fikeni two years ago, hold true today. What Fikeni had been referring to at the time was the party infighting over the Patricia de Lille saga.

Not much has changed, judging from the latest Twitter episodes from Helen Zille — who is no stranger to controversy.

If you have been following what has been taking place on social media, Zille first defended former President FW de Klerk, saying he helped dismantle apartheid.

And then, as if that was not enough to raise eyebrows, Zille later tweeted that some laws in democratic SA are worse than those under apartheid.

Now, she has every right to say whatever she wants — and she very often does — but when you are in a position of power, there is the added responsibility of backing up those assertions with facts and understanding the damage such comments may cause. Some leaders in the DA have called for her to be taken to task, with DA MPL and contender for the federal leader position Mbali Ntuli saying it was perhaps time for her to retire.

The party’s interim leader, John Steenhuisen, has since sought to distance himself and the party from Zille’s comments.

Interestingly, he said she referred her tweet to the party’s structures to determine whether she breached any rules or regulations of the party.

Judging from DA MP Phumzile van Damme’s response to one of Zille’s tweets, some party members do not have any hope of the party’s federal legal council (FLC) dealing with the matter properly.

“Reporting you to FLC will mean nothing. We all know what our disciplinary processes have become …” Van Damme wrote.

Sadly, this continuous tug of war within the DA’s own ranks leaves the South African electorate a little poorer because it is absolutely imperative for a thriving democracy to have a good official opposition — one that is preoccupied with holding the government to account.

Whether or not Steenhuisen and the rest of the party ’ s disciplinary structure will have the stomach to take Zille to task remains to be seen. One thing is for sure, if she is allowed to continue with some of her outrageous social media posts unchecked, the party can kiss goodbye whatever hopes it may have of doing better at the local government polls next year.