Zille retains premier position
FORMER DA leader Helen Zille would remain in her position as Western Cape premier while disciplinary action was taken against her by her party for her social media remarks on colonialism, party leader Mmusi Maimane said.
“The federal executive met today (Sunday) and made a decision to institute formal disciplinary steps against Ms Helen Zille,” Maimane said in Cape Town. “This has not been an easy decision to take.”
Zille faces charges of violating the party’s federal constitution by acting in a manner that brought the party into disrepute.
Maimane said the charge was not limited to the series of tweets posted by Zille last month in which she suggested that the legacy of colonialism was “not all bad”.
He recalled that he had personally laid the complaint that prompted an investigation that led to the decision to charge her.
The ANC was quick to pounce on the perceived leniency of the decision to keep Zille in her position as premier for the time being.
“The DA should have suspended Helen Zille as premier of the province pending the outcomes of the disciplinary committee,” ANC provincial secretary Faiez Jacobs said.
“The DA federal council has missed an opportunity to show the gravity of Helen Zille’s colonial praise, colonialism being the biggest crime ever committed against the people of Africa, by allowing Zille to continue advancing colonial and divisive plans through the might of government,” Jacobs said.
Maimane said Zille had “contributed immensely to the growth and success of the DA over the past decade” when announcing that the decision to charge her was not an easy one to make.
“In the course of her life, she has consistently fought oppression and discrimination. However, my job as the leader of the DA is to grow our party and advance our project of building a non-racial, prosperous democracy.”
The DA’s federal legal commission would determine whether Zille breached any of the following three clauses in the party’s constitution: 2.5.4.1 – publicly opposes the party’s principles or repeatedly opposes published party policies, except in or through the appropriate party structures; 2.5.4.2 – deliberately acts in a way which impacts negatively on the image or performance of the party; 2.5.4.5 – brings the good name of the party into disrepute or harms the interests of the party.