Editorial: DA has arrived at a fateful crossroads

As the ANC and the country mull over dealing with the latest disastrous step by a wayward leader with uncertain support levels, the largest opposition party finds itself in a not dissimilar position.

Today, its federal executive will be confronted by the decision of how to act upon a series of tweets in which its former leader, Helen Zille, expounded the virtues of colonialism before apologising for her remarks.

The tweets were immediately condemned by her successor as leader, Mmusi Maimane. His condemnation and her repetition of the very points she had made in the tweets she apologised for have placed the DA at a crossroads where it will have to make some fateful choices.

First and foremost, in the absence of either leader backing down, it is a choice between which leader prevails. Maimane has been clear about his anger at the statements Zille keeps repeating.

If the party does not act against her in a manner that satisfies the more progressive of its current and potential support base, it will be rated widely as a repudiation of Maimane's leadership.

It would show that Zille actually still controls the DA, and would strengthen the hand of those who claim Maimane is mere window-dressing, willingly hiding the reality of white control with a black face.

Were the DA to act as decisively against Zille as it did - at Zille's insistence, no less - against DA MP Dianne Kohler Barnard for the possibly somewhat lesser sin of sharing someone else's Facebook post rather than pro-actively creating an offensive tweet, it will carry its own perils.

The past two weeks have shown that Zille retains much support among more conservative DA voters, specifically but not exclusively in the white community. In acting decisively against Zille, the DA risks alienating some dependable voters.

In the absence of an unlikely agreement between the two, the choice before the DA is quite clear, really. It is the choice between colonialism and liberation, between conservative and progressive belief, between Zille and Maimane.

It is, essentially, the choice between the past and the future, and whichever wins will be fateful for DA fortunes at a time when uniting opposition against the government's actions provides unprecedented opportunity for opposition growth.