Zille's disciplinary hearing will be real litmus test for DA

22 May 2017 - 09:11 By Times Editorial
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As the official opposition in parliament, the DA spends a considerable amount of time being critical of others. DA leader Mmusi Maimane has repeatedly called President Jacob Zuma the "broken president'', who presides over a broken society and who has broken the economy.

In Nelson Mandela Bay the DA has demanded the ousting of the United Democratic Movement's Mongameli Bobani, who has clashed with officials and allegedly undermined official meetings.

The party is in the habit of sending out a barrage of statements demanding action on one thing or another.

Yet the DA's own action on former party leader and Western Cape premier Helen Zille has progressed at a glacial pace.

Zille has been accused of racism after she tweeted that colonialism had some benefits. Her disciplinary hearing is yet to get under way two months after the storm began.

Since then another DA member, Mbali Ntuli, has swiftly been charged for liking a social media post that called Zille a racist.

The party insists it is treating both cases with urgency and fairness but there are those who wonder about the apparent speed with which Ntuli was charged.

As it continues to demand swift and transparent action from other political parties, the government and institutions, the DA should remember that Zille's disciplinary hearing will not only be an internal process.

The party itself will be on trial.

Those watching - voters, commentators and political parties alike - will want to see if the self-appointed defender of justice can be as demanding and critical of its own party members as it has been of the ANC and others.

Onlookers will pay attention to whether the party will treat Zille's hearing with the kind of transparency it often demands of others.

The former DA leader's disciplinary hearing will be a real litmus test for the party which continues to court voters in the hope of one day leading the nation.

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