There are no sacred cows in the DA says Mmusi Maimane

20 March 2017 - 18:41 By Nathi Olifant
subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now
DA leader Mmusi Maimane said‚ "if we continue to work‚ I don't believe the ANC will get over 50% on its own in 2019".
DA leader Mmusi Maimane said‚ "if we continue to work‚ I don't believe the ANC will get over 50% on its own in 2019".
Image: EPA/Kim Ludbrook via The Conversation

DA Leader Mmusi Maimane is not mincing his words on Western Cape Premier Helen Zille's stormy tweet praising colonialism.

For Maimane‚ there are no sacred cows in the DA when it comes to the rule of law and he will charge anyone whose utterances are inconsistent with the vision of the party and what it seeks to achieve.

Maimane took his #Change19 campaign to Woodlands‚ in Pietermaritzburg on Monday where the party is fighting a by-election in Msunduzi's Ward 32 next week Wednesday.

Maimane said he he felt offended by the post from his predecessor and he has reported Zille to the party's federal legal commission (FCL) for disciplinary action.

  • Zille says the DA is copying the ANC's racial agendaWestern Cape Premier Helen Zille has turned on her own party‚ saying that the Democratic Alliance risks falling prey to “African racial nationalism”. 

Zille last week caused an uproar on Twitter when she posted tweets that appeared to be justifying colonialism. "For those claiming legacy of colonialism was ONLY negative‚ think of our independent judiciary‚ transport infrastructure‚ piped water etc‚" she tweeted.

"Would we have had a transition into specialised health care and medication without colonial influence? Just be honest‚ please‚" she wrote in a second tweet.

At the time‚ leader Maimane revealed how angry he became when he read the tweets.

On Monday‚ an unrepentant Zille fought back in a column published by news website Daily Maverick.

However Maimane would not be drawn further into the colonial tweet saga saying that Zille was going to be disciplined by the party. He said the DA was concentrating on forging a relations between South Africans who were divided.

  • Call for Zille's colonial tweets to be debated in WC legislatureThe ANC in the Western Cape wants the provincial legislature to debate Premier Helen Zille’s colonial tweets. 

"In 1994 we had a pact to say we are better together. The DA is the only party that worked to keep that pact. That's why when you look at all the races that are here. You can see all the races here black‚ white Indian and coloured together working to build it.

"Any view that seeks to undermine that pact is a view that is inconsistent with what the DA stands for. That's why I have a taken deliberate action to say the words of Premier Helen Zille are inconsistent with our party. I have referred her to the disciplinary hearing so that we can get to the fact that it undermines that particular project.

"I do not support the views. I do not share the views and we will continue to fight for a South Africa for all‚ a south Africa where all races can stand together going forward . "

"Im not here to proclaim what those sanctions are going to be‚ but we take this matter seriously. We have taken a stance to allow our federal legal commission to do its job but ultimately in its own reference it will be able to deal with it as we go‚" he said.

Turning to his Pietermaritzburg campaign‚ Maimane spoke strongly about the kind of a councillor the community needed in an upcoming by-election.

  • Trollip attempts to calm Bobani stormDeputy mayor Mongameli Bobani has apologised for his behaviour during a heated human resources meeting‚ according to Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Athol Trollip. 

The by-election is as a result of Clive Lotz's defection to the ANC after winning the ward for the DA.

Maimane called him a tsotsi saying he left to join his other band of tsotsis.

"I’m here today to ask you to join me in changing things here in Ward 32 of Msunduzi municipality‚ and in our country‚ for the better."

The ward is contested by the DA which is fielding pastor Shawn Adkin‚ the ANC's candidate is Merle Williams while the IFP is fielding Sakhile Makhathini.

- TMG Digital/The Times

subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now