‘I should have read the mood better,’ DA leader and Western Cape Premier Helen Zille told Pearlie Joubert this week. In a frank interview Zille takes stock of her first weeks in office
By all accounts your first weeks have been very tough. What the ANC Youth League and the MK veterans said about you must have been deeply hurtful.
My first few weeks in office as premier have been easier than my first few weeks in office as mayor. The ANC does not like losing elections.
Did you make a mistake in talking about President Jacob Zuma in the context of HIV and his wives? Were there lessons to be learned here?
This was a single sentence in the context of a broader argument in a letter to the media in response to ANC accusations against me of sexism. I was comparing the ANC and DA approach to gender issues. I learned, again, how taking a sentence out of context can distort the intended meaning. What I said about Jacob Zuma was very mild compared with what various newspapers have said over the past few years.
Some of the things said by the MK veterans and the ANC Youth League were defamatory, to say the least. Are you planning action?
I do not want to carry on a debate with the MK vets or the ANCYL in the media.
You started off by causing a stir over the provincial ministers you appointed — the fact that the cast was all male, with few black people. Did you make a mistake?
First, on the race issue: the top 12 positions in the provincial parliament are divided 50:50 between people of colour and whites. (This includes the speaker and deputy speaker.)
Second, I am confined to selecting all executive positions from the 22 DA members elected to the provincial parliament. I cannot expand the cabinet to 62 members, as Zuma did, and bring in people from outside, to get all the balances right. Most of the women candidates in the DA chose to go to the national Parliament, not the provincial parliament.
Of the five women who chose the provincial parliament, one is the premier, one is the chief whip, three are committee chairpersons, and one is also the caucus chair. They all have top positions.
You cannot look at the DA in the province in isolation from the other spheres of government. Women and black people have top positions throughout the DA.
Without resorting to deployment and quotas (which we don’t support), we will continue our programmes to develop strong young leadership.
If you could live the last month over again, would you do things differently?
The mood after this election was one of intense national optimism, while the DA became the target of an attack in the Western Cape. I think I should have read the mood better.
You accused the ANC of secret asset-stripping by signing key chunks of land to the national government a day before the election.
The land was transferred to remove it from the province and signed off the day before the election. If the move had been in good faith it would have been discussed with the city, particularly as the city had applied for housing accreditation and would require the land to fulfil its functions.
You say you have been briefed about a ‘spy ring’ watching you and every government department in order to destabilise your administration. Did the National Intelligence Agency [NIA] brief you?
My experiences of the past few years have made it clear that the NIA has been deeply involved in the political process. For example, it is common cause that the Erasmus Commission [to probe allegations that Zille’s administration illegally spied on renegade councillor Badih Chaaban] was used as an excuse to have my private telephones tapped and probably other forms of surveillance as well. I had a meeting on this with the former [intelligence] minister, Ronnie Kasrils. I do not view the NIA as an impartial state agency. Like many other state agencies, they have become an extension of one faction within the ANC and are used to fight its political battles.
I will not reveal the identity of the person who gave me a detailed briefing after I became the premier. But I was clearly not the only person who got the briefing, because exactly the same details were revealed from another source in a Sunday newspaper.
Was it difficult for you to attend the Cabinet lekgotla? Was it tense?
It was very constructive and was held in a positive, professional atmosphere, despite the background rantings of the ANCYL and the MK veterans. I was not tense, maybe a bit apprehensive. But, I was warmly met and welcomed, especially by President Zuma . It was completely disarming.