Zille will let her hair down when the drought’s over
● Does she wash away social media smears when she bathes in a skottel with a waslap? Or are her ablution posts fanned by the “encouragement” she receives from many of her 1.26 million Twitter followers?
Whatever the reason, Western Cape premier Helen Zille has taken to uploading images of dirty water — saved after washing her hair — before she pours it into her toilet cistern. And even an image of her doing so.
Her manicured toes have also made it to her timeline, as well as a tomato being washed in a cup.
Asked about the feedback from followers, she said: “There has been the normal range of Twitter responses: jibes, sarcasm, insults — and encouragement.”
Last year, news that Zille showers only every third day made international headlines. At the time, she said she considered her oily hair to be a status symbol during the drought.
So what to do with that hair, since she has been sporting many up-dos of late? “If I have stylish hair, it is never a result of my own efforts. It is Janine Schouw. It is easier to get through the week with oily hair in an up-do,” said Zille.
Schouw — executive manager to DA leader Mmusi Maimane and a qualified hair stylist and makeup artist — said Zille had grown her hair “in order to manage it herself during the water crisis”.
While the premier’s hair has gone up to conserve water, the pool cover has come down at her Leeuwenhof residence.
Zille said: “The pool is mostly covered. In the months ahead, it may be necessary to use pools as dams from which we collect water to keep sewerage systems going. Including Leeuwenhof’s pool.”