Helen Zille quits Twitter account: DA chief explains her ‘deactivation’

In a dramatic turn of events, one of South Africa’s most notorious Tweeters has called it a day on her official account. Helen Zille, of the DA’s Federal Executive, has confirmed she will be deactivating her main Twitter account, instead opting to create a private one for a more “intimate” circle of followers.

Why Helen Zille is quitting her Twitter account

It goes without saying that Helen Zille has caused a storm or two with her own keyboard. But over the weekend, some personal Tweets about her granddaughter spread across the platform. Enraged by the “demonisation” of innocent parties, the former Western Cape premier decided to turn her back on the masses.

“After the grotesque treatment of my granddaughter on Twitter yesterday, I am closing this account. I say goodbye to some of my followers, and good riddance to the haters, bots and sock-puppets that constitute such a large percentage of my 1.4-million plus followers.

“Twitter has degenerated into a platform for irrationality and mob-lynching. It has degenerated into a space of distortion, de-contextualisation, demonisation and double standards. Instead of democratising debate, it has severely curtailed freedom of speech. It emboldens your enemies and silences your friends.”

Helen Zille

DA stalwart explains her departure

Infamously, Zille Tweeted her defence of colonialism’s legacy a few years ago – an incident which effectively ostracised her from the DA before her dramatic comeback at the end of 2019. The political stalwart has stood her ground on Twitter for years, but she criticised the site for the following deficiencies:

• Helen Zille stated “there is no effective way of filtering out fake accounts” to deal with hate speech;
• Claims Twitter “makes the best lack all conviction, and the stuffs the worst full of passionate intensity”; and
• She also believes the social media site is “no longer a platform for rational and civil debate”.

Helen Zille’s ‘private Twitter page’

For those of you who still need a dose of Helen Zille and her Twitter musings, she will be opening a private page – but it will be left at her discretion as to who will be allowed to follow her:

5) The only thing I would miss if I went off the platform entirely, are the posts of the rational and interesting people I follow. So I am opening a new, private account called @ZilleTweets. That will be for people interested in rational debate only.

— Helen Zille (@helenzille) February 17, 2020