DA ‘must move away from politics of white feelings’
DA LEADER Mmusi Maimane’s Human Rights Day speech might have been the perfect time for the party to break ranks with “politics of worrying about white feelings in the party”.
This is according to political analyst Lukhona Mnguni, reacting to Maimane using his speech in Sharpeville to reiterate that Helen Zille’s comments on colonialism were not those of his party.
Speaking at the African Methodist Episcopal Church – a few metres from the Sharpeville memorial precinct – during a memorial service commemorating the 1960 Sharpeville massacre, Maimane said: “Slavery, forced labour, displacement, violent subjugation, racial classification with its humiliating tests, making people think they were inferior because of the colour of their skin, industrialised exploitation; these things are all, and much else besides, the legacy of those systems of repression and exploitation.”
Western Cape premier and former DA leader Zille last week caused controversy in a series of tweets when she said: “For those claiming legacy of colonialism was only negative, think of our independent judiciary, transport infrastructure, piped water etc.”
She further said: “Getting on to an aeroplane now and won’t get onto the Wi-Fi so that I can cut off those who think every aspect of colonial legacy was bad.” Zille later apologised. Maimane then announced that the party would ensure Zille faced a disciplinary hearing for her tweets.
He said: “And I stand firmly on principle that that matter will see its own fruition. My key focus here today is that we build an inclusive society going forward.” Mnguni said: “This is the perfect time for Mmusi to show that he is in charge. If he treats Helen with kid gloves it will give a sense that he is not in charge. But this does not mean she must go through a process that is unfair for her.”
He said the DA would use the disciplinary action against Zille to show “unequivocally where the party stands in terms of redressing the injustices of the past”.
“This is the perfect moment for Maimane to break ranks with the politics of worrying about white feelings in the party.”
Mnguni said it was not worrisome that Zille had not been charged a week after her comments. He said the process took time in the party.
Mnguni’s views were reiterated by Dr Joleen Steyn-Kotze of the University of the Free State’s Centre for African Studies, who said Maimane needed to steer the DA away from the white party narrative.
“The DA is moving towards the 2019 national elections with the tag that it is a white party. Helen Zille’s comments don’t help those views much. So, Maimane needs to begin taking control of the DA and move it away from perceptions that it is a white party,” she said.
Addressing the congregation, Maimane said: “There is no amount of infrastructure that can ever erase the amount of pain people felt under the system of apartheid.
“Development that is forced upon a country under threat of violence is not human progress.”