Zille tweets: DA top brass to meet on Sunday to discuss possible charges
27 March 2017
Cape Town – The DA’s federal executive will meet this Sunday to discuss whether or not former party leader Helen Zille should be charged with violating the party's social media policy.
A preliminary report from Advocate Glynnis Breytenbach, the party's legal commission chairperson, would be discussed at the meeting, federal executive chairperson James Selfe said in a statement on Monday.
Selfe could not immediately be reached for further comment.
Breytenbach told News24 on Friday that her investigation had only looked into whether Zille, the current Western Cape premier, should be charged or not. It had not attempted to determine any guilt.
The federal executive would decide whether to refer the matter to a panel for a disciplinary hearing. If this happened, the panel would conduct a process to make a finding and a recommendation.
Selfe previously said the federal executive had to accept the panel’s finding, and could only increase or reduce the sanction with good reason.
Zille's political career is hanging in the balance following her tweets on Thursday, March 16, from which the party was quick to distance itself.
Following a visit to Singapore, and reading up on Singapore's post-colonial success, Zille posted several tweets, including: "For those claiming legacy of colonialism was ONLY negative, think of our independent judiciary, transport infrastructure, piped water etc."
A second tweet read: "Getting onto an aeroplane now and won't get onto the wi-fi so that I can cut off those who think EVERY aspect of colonial legacy was bad."
She explained her thoughts in a column the following Monday.
DA leader Mmusi Maimane told City Press last week that he considered comments, suggesting he was scared to act against Zille, as racist.
"I think that is wrong on two accounts. There is an undertone which says black people can’t lead except when they are managed by white people, which I think is racist at its core. I think it undermines Africans; it undermines us as a people," he said.
