Here’s 10+ things the DA should apologise for

The shoes of Helen Zille, the leader of the political party the Democratic Alliance can be seen decorated with the colours and the logo of her party as she addresses a rally in Soweto, Johannesburg. The Democratic Alliance is the second most supported political party in South Africa and along with all other parties have been campaigning throughout the country ahead of the elections scheduled for 7 May 2014. Picture: IHSAAN HAFFEJEE (12.04.2014)

As the EFF set to launch their manifesto on Saturday, the DA put out a statement outlining 10 things that they believe the EFF, in the guise of Julius Malema, needs to apologise for.

DAstatement

Now we know that no political party is perfect, but we find the DA’s move audacious. But game, set, match – we asked Twitter to help us list things the DA should say sorry for.

1. The DA should apologise for Penny Sparrow.

In January, Democratic Alliance member Sparrow had charges pressed against her by the party and steps taken to suspend her membership, and the party also issued a statement condemning her comments comparing black people to monkeys. But some were worried about the double standards the party was displaying, leading us to our next point…

2. The DA should apologise for re-instating Dianne Kohler-Barnard who shared a post on Facebook glorifying PW Botha, and life under Apartheid.

3. The DA should apologise for Sam Pienaar.

4. The DA should apologise for naming a road in Cape Town after FW de Klerk.

5. The DA should apologise for that time Helen Zille called learners in the Western Cape “refugees”.

6. The DA should apologise for its sex scandals.

Let’s see, there’s Masizole Mnqasela, a DA Member of Parliament, who was found not guilty of raping a schoolgirl. He said it was a political smear campaign, adding that he is “too sexy to have to rape anyone”.

 

In 2010, then the DA’s KZN leader John Steenhuisen, now chief whip,  resigned over an affair with party provincial spokesperson Terry Kass-Beaumont.

There was also this bizarre story, where a former Western Cape police MEC went to court to disprove a story of an extramarital affair, by having his penis size assessed.
“Max, 52, is suing Die Son newspaper for R700 000 for defamation. It reported in 2010 that former police clerk, Belinda Petersen claimed she was coerced into sexual encounters with him in 2007. She had reportedly been shocked by Max’s “massive” penis, resembling a bull’s. It was apparently so large she sustained vaginal injuries.Max hired a urologist and clinical sexologist to assess his penis size to prove he was not involved.”
Last year, a DA MP was accused of sexual harassment, after he allegedly forced a DA staffer to touch his “private parts” during a protest march ahead of the State of the Nation Address in 2015.

7. The DA should apologise for Cape Town. 


8. The DA should apologise for undermining media freedom when Zille went in on Carien du Plessis.

We’re going to use the DA’s own tweet here as reference.

By the above standards, the DA should apologise for Helen Zille for suggesting Carien du Plessis is a self-hating white woman. 

9. The DA should apologise to the people of South Africa for unsolicited correspondence, from which we cannot opt out.  

 

10. The DA should apologise for its tone deafness that inspires missives to Julius Malema and the EFF.  

 

And then, just because the DA shills are going to accuse us of being ANC lackeys (🙄), here are a couple of tweets from DA supporters are unapologetic about. 

Featured image: The shoes of Helen Zille, the leader of the political party the Democratic Alliance can be seen decorated with the colours and the logo of her party as she addresses a rally in Soweto, Johannesburg. The Democratic Alliance is the second most supported political party in South Africa and along with all other parties have been campaigning throughout the country ahead of the elections scheduled for 7 May 2014. Picture: IHSAAN HAFFEJEE (12.04.2014)

Editor’s note: A previous version of this article referred Lennit Max as police commissioner, he was in fact an MEC, who has an interesting relationship with Ms. Zille.