‘Shem’ says Zille to EFF’s ‘white voters’

Port Elizabeth-based Democratic Alliance councillor Renaldo Gouws tweeted a picture of a group of what appeared to be white EFF supporters with the caption “Like a chicken voting for Colonel Sanders,” earning a response from outgoing Western Cape Premier Helen Zille, who remarked “Shem”.

The picture appears to date back to 2016, and accompanied an article on IOL which reported that the Afrikaner community of Hermanstad had made the decision to rally behind the EFF.

Zille was accused by a few Twitter users of advocating for people to vote along racial lines following her tweet, and she sent out a few more tweets in response.

“So you are basically saying that white folks should vote for a white party and black folks should vote for their own parties, and you expect to win the election with such prejudiced beliefs/practices. What exactly are you advocating for, the continued regression of the majority?” one user asked her.

“No. I am saying that people should vote for the only party that can take the poor out of poverty. And that is not the EFF. they will take us on a short-cut to Venezuela,” was Zille’s response.

READ MORE: Helen Zille tells EFF, ACDP voters they wasted their crosses

Another user asked Zille why she had “shamed” the alleged white EFF voters. “Black people do support white parties and we (blacks) we don’t shame them,” he added.

“There is nothing wrong with non-racialism. There is something wrong with your policies. They will make poor people poorer (of all races). Equal and Total Impoverishment for all,” Zille replied.

“What the DA ask, is, please vote along colour lines. In their words, you a piece of … if you don’t vote the DA, especially when you white, yet they canvassing for the black votes [sic],” another user said, asking Zille and the official DA Twitter account if he had understood the Western Cape Premier right.

“Bull. Here’s the DA. Get a life. We vote to end poverty. Sad when [people] of any level of melanin vote for corruption that increases poverty. Pitiful actually,” was Zille’s response.

Shem.

— Helen Zille (@helenzille) May 3, 2019

No. I am saying that people should vote for the only party that can take the poor out of poverty. And that is not the EFF. they will take us on a short-cut to Venezuela.

— Helen Zille (@helenzille) May 3, 2019

The IOL report on the Hermanstad community is not the only time white EFF supporters have featured in the SA media.

A Sunday Times article looked at the decision of 39-year-old Bianca-Lee Grosset to vote for the EFF in what would be her first time at the polls.

The story details how Grosset joined the EFF following her exposure to the plight of shack-dwellers nearby her home.

It was reported that she owns a horse riding school on a plot in the wetlands of Krugersdorp, and that she tried to help those who live in a newly-erected informal settlement in her area, consisting of around 1,000 people who were evicted from a nearby township.

She turned to the EFF, who she says was the only party who would help, raising the matter in the Gauteng legislature.

She also told the publication that she has endured threats and been attacked online.

She reportedly ran as a councillor for the party but was beaten in a by-election by the DA and Freedom Front Plus. She will be voting for the EFF on May 8, which she says will be the first time she has voted in a national election.

EFF Gauteng chair Mandisa Mashego described her as a “valuable activist”.

UPDATE: An earlier version of the article said the origin of the picture of white EFF supporters was unclear. It has been updated with information on where the picture comes from. 

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.