COSATU Western Cape calls for Western Cape Premier Helen Zille to be investigated for state capture 

14 June 2017

Western Cape Premier Ms Helen Zille has done a deal to save face in the Western Cape but that reduces her to a token Premier with no powers. She has clearly been identified as a racist by her own party the DA; the same party that is intent on maintaining and defending the inherited privileges of white people in this country. Despite being found guilty of acting in a manner unbecoming a leader in South Africa, she is still being allowed to lead a province that suffers from extreme racial divide as a result of her attitude.

This is most inappropriate but it panders to the white base that controls the DA in the Western Cape. Ms Zille has clearly been publicly humiliated and reduced to a ceremonial leader in the WC. DA leader Musi Maimane has put her in her place. The black DA caucus has a further trick up their sleeve to deal with Zille and the embarrassment that she poses to the party.

The facts have been filtering through the media over the last few days, about her preferential of her son Paul Marais in one government project. She has clearly used the control that she has over the provincial government to advantage her family directly. There are also other instances where she has favoured white businesses, like in the Tafelberg saga. This state capture is being investigated by the Black DA and will be used to launch the second offensive against Zille in the next few weeks.

The mismanagement of the Western Cape government has been revealed in various ways from the water crisis, to the crime crisis, to the desperate state of working class schools. This is the legacy of Helen Zille who has always treated white people as superior to black people, through her appointment of white consultants in the provincial and city.  She has made this part of the world the most racially divided, with racist from other parts coming here to the corner of the country, where whites still rule. The sooner this racist goes the better for the country.

Issued by Tony Ehrenreich, Western Cape Secretary, COSATU, 14 June 2017