/ 13 June 2017

Zille, Maimane to make announcement at joint press conference

Helen Zille can be witty and candid
Helen Zille can be witty and candid

Democratic Alliance leader Mmusi Maimane and Western Cape Premier Helen Zille will make announcement today following a meeting of the DA’s Federal Executive on Monday night.

Reports indicate that Zille will “apologise unreservedly to the nation” on Tuesday morning. News24 has reported that Zille will no longer be allowed to participate in party activities but will remain Premier of the Western Cape. 

The press conference comes after months of internal disputes in the DA, particularly between Maimane and Zille. In March this year, Zille faced public outrage after tweeting that colonialism was not “only negative”. Maimane reported the Premier to the DA’s federal legal commission which then began an investigation.

The DA leader has continued to distance himself from Zille’s remarks on colonialism, while Zille has written opinion pieces and has posted on Twitter that she still believes colonialism had a positive impact.

Tensions between the two came to a head in June when Maimane announced that Zille had been suspended from party activities pending a disciplinary hearing. Zille hit back saying that she had a right to defend herself against suspension and the DA released a statement agreeing with her.

She was suspended last week after the party received her submission on why she should be allowed to continue participating in party events.

The DA held a disciplinary hearing against Zille on Friday. She has been accused of violating the party’s social media policy.

Despite the suspension from party activities, Zille has remained Premier because of the separation between party and provincial government. In order for Zille to be suspended from her position in the Western Cape, the provincial legislature would have to vote in a motion of no confidence against her with the majority voting that she should step down.

The Western Cape ANC has said it wants a motion of no confidence in Zille to be tabled at the provincial legislature.