Zille tweets like a canary in the DA mine
The phrase “the more things change, the more they stay the same” seems to be true for the DA as it again finds itself embroiled in a public race row, again with Helen Zille at the centre of it.
While one would expect that the politicians in the country’s second-biggest party would have the ability not to step into the exact same trap as before, this seems not to be the case.
Over the past few years, Zille has courted controversy for a number of comments on Twitter, including the infamous 2017 tweet that the legacy of colonialism was not only negative. The DA was forced to take disciplinary action against her because of the backlash. At the time she was premier of the Western Cape but held no leadership role in the party.
It doesn’t seem Zille has learnt anything from the last incident as she continues to tweet extensively on racially sensitive topics. But this time things are different — she now is in one of the most powerful positions in the DA, that of federal council chair. Part of her job is to ensure that party members fall in line and adhere to party rules, which she herself seems unable to do.
In the past few days, Zille has been on one of her Twitter crusades, making outlandish comments, attacking anyone who does not agree with her and picking fights with not only random social media users but her own party colleagues.
One tweet said there are more racist laws in SA now than under apartheid. “All racist laws are wrong. But permanent victimhood is too highly prized to recognise this,” she tweeted.
In another tweet, she commented that the last apartheid president, FW De Klerk, “decided to dismantle apartheid”, and if he had not, the ANC, which now governs SA, would still “be bogged down in the mess of its so-called liberation camps and infighting”.
When after one of her tweets someone asked how colleagues such as Phumzile van Damme “deal with this”, Zille responded: “They chill at home and enjoy the sea view.”
This comment did not go down well, and Van Damme demanded a public explanation from the federal chair — and rightly so. Mbali Ntuli, who will be standing for DA leader when the party eventually runs its elective conference, has also tweeted interim leader John Steenhuisen asking whether Zille should not be thanked for her service and retired now.
Complaints have been laid against Zille, one of them by Gauteng MP Khume Ramulifho. Zille herself has referred the complaints to the party’s federal legal council, which will look at all relevant facts, the party’s constitution and policies, and advise the federal executive on the matter, according to deputy chair Thomas Walters.
But the voices in the party taking on Zille for her comments are few and far between. There also seems to be no real will to rein her in, despite the serious damage her utterances may cause. Steenhuisen said in a media response that he has had a conversation with Zille and expressed his views on the matter. While he said her comment that there were more racist laws under a democratic SA than under apartheid was not true, the question rightly arises whether this is enough.
The DA could argue that what Zille puts out on social media in her personal capacity does not reflect the views of the party. That is all well and good, but history has shown that these social media rants have a direct effect on the DA’s electoral standing.
A review panel set up to look at the state of the party after its poor showing in the 2019 election said the party was uncertain and divided on how to approach the question of race and that this had had a particularly negative effect on its election performance.
The review panel report said one of the events or incidents that had damaged the party’s brand and dented its support levels was: “Helen Zille’s tweets about colonialism and the subsequent handling of the issue.” It also cited the DA’s involvement in racially charged issues and incidents as a problem, and recommended, among other things, that the party and its public representatives establish the full facts of incidents reported in the news or on social media before taking a public position on them, and avoid embroiling itself in social media storms in general.
Now, with a local government election around the corner and the DA having already lost control in all three of the metros it managed to win through a coalition agreement in the 2016 local government elections after those agreements collapsed, the party seems to be on the same downward spiral.
Instead of using this time to work on winning back the support it lost, it seems to be making the same mistakes all over again. If Zille continues on this trajectory, it will be at the DA’s peril. The harsh reality is that this once again is likely to end in tears at the ballot box. And this time around it will not be Mmusi Maimane’s head on the chopping block, but that of the new leader.
HISTORY HAS SHOWN THAT THESE SOCIAL MEDIA RANTS HAVE A DIRECT EFFECT ON THE DA ’ S ELECTORAL STANDING