Leaders who praise Zille travesty ‘will be dealt with decisively’, says Mashaba

Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba said he expected the DA’s federal executive to take tough action against Western Cape premier Helen Zille.

The former DA leader will appear before the party’s federal legal commission on Saturday for her tweets in which she said that colonialism’s legacy was not all bad.

“For those claiming legacy of colonialism was ONLY negative, think of our independent judiciary, transport infrastructure, piped water,” said Zille, further asking: “Would we have had a transition into specialised health care and medication without colonial influence? Just be honest, please.”

Zille later apologised “for a tweet that may have come across as a defence of colonialism. It was not.”

Mashaba told the Mail & Guardian that leaders who “praise this travesty” “will be dealt with accordingly and decisively”.

However, new acting Western Cape leader Bonginkosi Madikizela came to Zille’s defence, telling the paper it was the public’s perception of Zille’s comments that was an issue, and not the comments she made.

Just after Zille dished out her tweets on colonialism, DA leader Mmusi Maimane came out and said “Let’s make this clear: Colonialism, like Apartheid, was a system of oppression and subjugation. It can never be justified,” a tweet Zille retweeted.

DA national spokesperson Phumzile van Damme also came out to condemn Zille’s tweet, saying: “Colonialism was a crime against humanity. There isn’t a single aspect of it that can be said to be positive or beneficial to Africans.”