Zille’s views really are toxic and racist

The South African public was spared two things over the festive season. Although the spectre of load shedding threatened to derail the usual end-of-year celebrations, reassurances by electricity utility Eskom and the president kept the country going.

Parliament did try to release the Expropriation of Land Bill on the sly while people were in jovial mode, but the whole country agrees this doesn’t come any close to the cliffhangers we had become accustomed to during the Zuma administration.

The second thing the country was spared was a Vicki Momberg, Adam Katzavelos or Penny Sparrow. The festive season seems to unleash the worst out of this country’s closet racists. And it was while SA was still pleasantly shocked by the inactivity of our racists that none other than the former premier of the Western Cape Helen Zille decided to fill that gap.

For some it might be tiring to have the media keep on having a go at Zille seeing as, by her own admission, she played a significant part in South Africa’s anti-apartheid struggle.

If it were up to Zille herself, she would be honouring herself for the stellar performance she put up during the struggle days, seeing as the ruling party has not rewarded her.

Her controversies resulting from her “colonialism wasn’t that bad” tweets and her most recent rant comparing the struggle for land with rape crimes (by posting an insulting cartoon) aren’t all that bad, according to her.

Zille seems to have forgotten that she’s recently returned to the heart of opposition politics. She forgot to leave her personal prejudices behind when she came back.

Zille has scaled the heights of opposition politics, especially when she was the political head of the Democratic Alliance. That is why she is on the list of those who must always make sense when they share their views publicly.

Zille has – by virtue of once leading the party that was once the conscience of liberal white people in SA, the party that declared publicly that they subscribe to the views and principles of SA’s founding father, Nelson Mandela – assumed a responsibility to always counter racism and racist views wherever they occur.

It doesn’t take a genius to realise that the unity that Nelson Mandela tried to forge in SA has taken a severe knock over the years.

The disillusionment that most black people feel over the lack of economic progress since 1994 has led to some very prominent figures like Economic Freedom Fighters’ spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi saying things like “we only congratulate Siya Kolisi for the Rugby World Cup win, the rest of the team must go and collect theirs from Prince Harry”. Or the constant nagging by groups like AfriForum fighting for their right to display the hurtful apartheid flag.

Zille fails to recognise that people expect better of her, better than wallowing in the mud and wrestling with those who have always shown no understanding of where SA comes from.

The saddest thing about Zille is that she has fought her way back into the heart of the official opposition party despite her own admission that her views on colonialism were hurtful and probably cost them votes. She needs to learn that a person who occupies the position that she does cannot spew toxic, racist views.

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