Unless you are black and live in the Western Cape, you are likely to agree that Helen Zille's remark about blacks being refugees in their own country was not racist, or likely to stoke racial tensions. But for many of us living in the Western Cape any explanation would be like watching someone trying to paint the sky red.
Zille leads a party which is a home of apartheid era overt and covert security operatives who loathe black people, especially those who don't see whites as a superior breed. These are the people who still believe that blacks in the Western Cape "must go back where they came from", and by that they mean the Eastern Cape regions of Transkei and Ciskei.
Let's take Bitou (or Plett if you like) as an example. Some whites in this town complain that as the town borders the Eastern Cape, many blacks from Transkei sojourn here on their way to Cape Town, and some end up staying. They complain that "these people" deplete resources that should be used for the ratepayers (read whites) of the town.
A prominent white public health worker once complained in a council meeting that the town's Day Clinic was under pressure because of blacks from the Eastern Cape. She then asked; "why can't they be told to go back where they came from or pass over to Cape Town". Obviously, she was rebuked, but she had confirmed subtle references that had been known for all along.
Another white official said it was expensive to develop the Bossiesgif/Qolweni area because of its topography. This was a valid point. But he then muddied his statement by saying that "the ANC councillors must find a way of stopping these people from coming to Plett".
Then a DA's ward candidate who lost in the 2006 local government elections remarked, "you only won because you guys of the ANC bring these people from the Eastern Cape to vote for you". This is the same person who is opposed to the development of Bossiesgif/Qolweni.