DA in danger of becoming more and more like the ANC. Zille

Helen Zille’s had a tough few weeks, what with her comments about colonialism exploding onto Twitter, landing her in some trouble with her party and, well… the rest of the country.

Now, though, the empress of the Western Cape and former leader of the official opposition has hit back, in her own way, against what she calls “African racial nationalism”.

Following her comments that colonialism wasn’t only bad, the DA said it would take disciplinary steps against its former leader. Even though she apologised for her remarks, Zille still penned an opinion for the Daily Maverick in which she warns her party to be mindful of its current trajectory.

Zille spoke out about South Africa’s jarring political correctness saying that in south Africa you as a white person have to “shrink your mind” to fit into the country’s politically correct landscape.

“Especially if you are white. We pay lip service to equal citizenship. In reality, every opinion is judged on the basis of the colour of the person who expresses it. “Speaking while white” is considered the ultimate sin, in terms of the increasingly popular ideology called “critical race theory”,” Zille writes in her article.

“I have always known that African racial nationalism is the central tenet of the ANC.

But is it becoming the philosophy of the DA?

I am deeply grateful for the DA’s legacy (dare I call it colonial?) of due process of law, including audi alterem partem (hear the other side). If I am charged, I will have a fair trial and the panel will reach a conclusion, consistent with the DA and South Africa’s Constitution.

But my personal fate is irrelevant.

The real danger is that the DA, in its quest for votes, may start to swallow every tenet, myth and shibboleth of African racial-nationalist propaganda, including the scape-goating of minorities, populist mobilisation and political patronage. Then the institutionalisation of corruption will only be a matter of time,” Zille writes.