‘God-Zille’ goes to war on Twitter

THE leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA), Helen Zille, came under fire over the weekend on account of her notorious messages on Twitter.

Critics said that Zille’s tweets in reaction to a particular news report may possibly be interpreted as racially insensitive, causing unnecessary media attention for the opposition party. The party leader, however, defended her remarks merely as “criticising bad journalism,” adding that she would not recant her statements.

Running in the upcoming 7 May 2014 elections as the DA’s presidential candidate following an unsuccessful merger attempt with Mamphela Ramphele’s Agang SA, Zille was reported to frequently cause disagreement within the party with the controversial posts aimed at her 384,000-strong following.

Zille’s personal Twitter profile, however, is not part of the DA’s social media outreach and therefore does not fall under party policy. Unnamed sources from within the DA had stated that Zille’s communication habits on the social media platform may have transgressed against some of the party’s internal policies, with some questioning her compatibility to lead the DA into the future. Other members have also voiced concerns that her tweets might not so much be harmful to the DA itself but to the pursuit of gaining further votes in the upcoming elections, especially from underprivileged population segments.

However, the fact remains that the DA has witnessed its largest increase in popularity since Zille took over leadership in 2007, garnering over a million additional votes and significantly shifting the image of the party.

The latest criticism comes after Helen Zille slated a journalist on Twitter for the coverage of the launch of the DA manifesto a week ago. Zille attacked City Press writer Carien du Plessis for misreporting the launch event in Polokwane, taking particular offence to Du Plessis’ own Twitter comment about the manifesto, saying “DA is a joke”.

In response, Zille attacked Du Plessis on Twitter, saying “she is so terrified that she will be damned by her own complexion that she has to bend over to prove her political correctness” – hinting at a notion of white guilt on part of Du Plessis. Later she also called Du Plessis an “agent” on Twitter, implying that the reporter may hold sympathies with the ruling ANC.

Zille had previously caused a stir by attacking musician Simphiwe Dana as a “professional black,” not shying from turning lingering racial tensions across South Africa into public issues on Twitter. However, the DA is not immune to receiving such criticism itself, such as the ANC’s brandishing of the DA’s failed attempt to win over Mamphela Ramphele as presidential candidate last month as a “buy a black” campaign.

Reactions both from within the media and politics followed after the recent spat on Twitter. The ANC Youth League said that Zille’s messages on Twitter were offensive toward press freedom, which Zille was quick to retort to with a tweet comparing criticism of the press with criticism of government.

The party leader later justified her actions by sending out a newsletter to her followers. In it, she explained her motivation as follows: “If a journalist criticises you, the unwritten code is that you should grovel and apologise, however misinformed their analysis. Twitter turns everyone into a reporter; the only difference is that journalists get paid.”

At the end of another campaigning day, however, Zille also showed her light-hearted side on the social networking platform. After boarding a plane, Zille’s last tweet read “I must take the cabin attendant more seriously than I take journalists.”

Let’s hope that she remembered to switch her phone off during the flight.

By Sertan Sanderson, 2014