Podcasters want Steenhuisen to act against Van Damme for ‘tarnishing the DA’s brand’

Podcasters Roman Cabanac and Jonathan Witt, who host the Renegade Report, have laid a complaint against Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Phumzile Van Damme with the party’s chief whip, John Steenhuisen, also copying in DA federal executive chairperson James Selfe on a letter calling for action to be taken against her.

Cabanac, a legal consultant by profession and one of the leaders of new political party Capitalist Party of South Africa (ZACP) – which contested the recent elections nationally – and Witt, a doctor, accuse Van Damme of assault and of violating the DA’s social media policy.

In a complaint addressed to Steenhuisen (with Selfe cc’ed), the pair cite a tweet they posted which they say “summarised the information which was in the public domain at the time”, adding that they used as their reference an article on an incident involving Van Damme on TimesLive.  

READ MORE: Phumzile Van Damme punches man in the head following race argument

The publication reported that Van Damme “said she was forced to punch a man ‘in self-defence’ after his family member ‘was filming me the entire time'”.

In both this and The Citizen‘s coverage of the recent incident, which occurred at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town, it was reported that Van Damme said on Twitter she had acted in self-defence following an alleged racial incident. According to the DA MP, a man swore at her and “was threatening violence”. She also alleged that he said “voetsek you black” to her and threw her cellphone on the ground after she took pictures of him and his family, following another member of the family taking a video of her without permission.

Commenting on the incident on Twitter, the Renegade Report wrote: “DA MP admits to assaulting a member of the public, claims self-defence against the threat of being video recorded. Interesting.”

In response, Van Damme tweeted: “You weren’t there you don’t know what happened. Hambani niyonya, darlings.”

She followed this up with: “And please do get over your obsession with me. Miserable insecure little men who bragged about being MPs & failed. You’re tweeting BS without having facts & you’ll fail again. Like you failed in your attempts to discredit me. Losers.”

“It is our belief that this second tweet violates the DA’s digital media policy as well as a memorandum sent by the federal chair, Mr James Selfe, dated 4 June 2019. In the memorandum, Mr Selfe urges DA members not to post messages to social media which may ‘harm [their image] or that of the party’ and to ‘exercise the utmost judgment and circumspection’ when using such platforms,” Cabanac and Witt write in the letter.

“The DA’s social media policy promotes ‘respectful debate’ and prohibits communications which among other things advocate ‘hatred based on … gender’, in line with the party’s constitution. It also calls for all members to pledge not to undermine the dignity of South Africans,” the letter continues.

“In our view Ms Phumzile Van Damme has clearly broken her pledge, and the DA’s own rules, as well as the orders of the federal chair just weeks after he so kindly reminded public representatives as to the importance of their conduct on social media.

“We would request that this letter is taken as a lodgement of a formal complaint against Ms Van Damme, and request a reply in this regard detailing the appropriate action the party intends to take.

“We would like to note that we have and continue to enjoy friendly relationships with several high ranking former and current party members, many of whom have been kind enough to join us on our podcast.

“It is a shame that one member with significant social media clout is allowed to unnecessarily tarnish the DA brand given the solid work many in the party have done over decades and continue to do on a daily basis,” the letter concludes.

READ MORE: Van Damme’s punch goes against the project of reconciliation – Maimane

Van Damme could not be reached for comment at the time of publication of this article and we will update it with her response if and when we receive it.

The Renegade Report’s attempt to see the DA take action against Van Damme follows the party announcing that they would be “taking steps” against former Western Cape premier Helen Zille for her controversial tweets about “black privilege”.

What this would entail remains to be seen, with Daily Maverick having reported that while she has been rebuked for her controversial comments by the party, she is essentially immune from disciplinary action since vacating her position as premier.

Zille caused outrage on Twitter after defining “black privilege” as “being able to loot a country and get re-elected”, views she stood by and expanded upon in many other tweets.

At a briefing, DA leader Mmusi Maimane also said two DA MPs would be disciplined for controversial Twitter comments, one of which was seen as homophobic and the other insensitive to those suffering from mental health problems.

The former is Ghaleb Cachalia, who described 702 talk show host Eusebius McKaiser as a “woman scorned” on Twitter, which caused offence as it was considered by many of those who reacted to it as a repetition of the homophobic trope of referring to homosexual males as females.

The latter is Michael Cardo, who described a Twitter user he was arguing with as being the reincarnation of Pieter Howes, a social commentator and former actor who took his own life earlier in May.

UPDATE: An earlier version of this article said the Renegade Report is a Cliff Central podcast. The podcast left Cliff Central in March, 2019. 7:18pm, June 21.

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