Twitter urges Maimane to 'deal with Zille' after opposing her #TaxRevolt

29 January 2019 - 08:17 By Cebelihle Bhengu

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DA leader Mmusi Maimane faced a strong backlash on Twitter for his perceived failure to reprimand the party's former leader Helen Zille.
Image: Mmusi Maimane via Twitter

DA leader Mmusi Maimane was heavily criticised on Monday following a Twitter statement in which he distanced himself from a tax revolt proposed by former DA leader Helen Zille.

On Saturday, Zille dominated conversation following a Twitter post in which she said she would organise a tax revolt if those implicated in corruption at the Zondo commission are not arrested.

Maimane's critics on Twitter called him out for not responding immediately to Zille's stance on a tax revolt, accusing him of double standards by failing to reprimand Zille in the same way the party cracked down on former Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille.

Your response as the party leader should be "We as the DA, do not support a tax revolt"
Treating Zille's irresponsible statements as "just her opinion" shows cowardice on your part. You should be assertive and not tip toe around "the rogue one"
— Mega Watt (@Megawatt7) January 28, 2019

People looking at @MmusiMaimane to call his puppet master @helenzille for making unconstitutional calls for a tax revolt will wait until Jesus comes. It just won’t happen so @bonglez libala. Mmusi is too weak of a leader.
— LacaBae (@LazzRusi) January 28, 2019

Sir, you harrassed and hounded Patricia De Lille for a year with smears and unproven ‘charges’ - not one of them proven to this day. Yet your Premier openly defies you and your party and you vanish for 3 days. It’s revealing...
— Simon Grindrod (@SimonPGrindrod) January 28, 2019

So the Premier is misrepresenting the DA..? Why not reprimand her..?
— Tony tornado Yengeni (@tyengeni1954) January 28, 2019

Just like the ANC on the Minister of Finance, the DA issued a statement.
— Mbhazima Shilowa (@Enghumbhini) January 28, 2019

A house divided will never stand. How then do you expect us to shelter in it? Clearly, we will snared by this for the rest of our lives !
— The Patriot🇿🇦 (@Ntethelelogonya) January 28, 2019

Maybe one day @MmusiMaimane you will take a decision against your mentor @helenzille. She's been floating all over like a loose canon.
— Welile (@Nxuba20) January 28, 2019

Not good enough Mmusi. Deal with Zille the same way you dealt with De Lille. The voter cannot I ignore the double standard and vote for you.
— Sarashni (@sarashni) January 28, 2019

Helen Zille took to Twitter to say if those implicated in the state capture inquiry aren't prosecuted in a sensible amount of time, she would lead a tax revolt. Social media, however, did not look favourably on it, taking to Twitter to slam her tweets.