Zille brands Maimane a coward

HELEN Zille took to Twitter again last night, this time to brand her soonto-resign DA party leader Mmusi Maimane a coward.

Shortly before Maimane’s much-anticipated public announcement of his resignation, and with this decision known to Zille, she seemingly branded him a coward.

She posted to Twitter Charles Mackay’s poem No Enemies, saying sometimes a poem “speaks to one’s situation”: You have no enemies, you say? Alas! my friend, the boast is poor; He who has mingled in the fray of duty,

That the brave endure,

Must have made foes!

If you have none,

Small is the work that you have done. You’ve hit no traitor on the hip, You’ve dashed no cup from perjured lip,

You’ve never set the wrong to right. You’ve been a coward in the fight.

It was a Twitter war over her controversial views that were it not for colonialism black people would not have had piped water or a judiciary, for instance, that finally split the two, with the Soweto-born Maimane insisting the system was dehumanising, had caused untold misery and could not be praised in any form.

The DA then banned Zille from all party activities but allowed her to continue her term as Western Cape Premier.

Instead, when her time was up Zille returned as Federal chairperson of the DA, and Maimane says he was forced to quit as party leader.

He is the latest to fall after crossing swords with Zille.

Former DA parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko was the first protégé of Zille’s to jump ship in 2014 after clashing with her.

Outgoing Joburg mayor Herman Mashaba refused to accept the fact that Zille was making a political comeback.

Mashaba expressed concerns and resigned on Monday after Zille’s election.

During his resignation announcement yesterday, Maimane said: “Make no mistake, along the journey there have been many difficulties. I fought battles with Helen Zille, especially regarding her comments – and the impact of her comments – as it pertained to colonialism. These sentiments did not help build trust between black and white South Africans, and they undermined the project the party was engaged in...”