Race squabble hits DA Coloured members in Cape allege that Zille is softer on whites
Cape Argus - February 23, 2010 ANDISIWE MAKINANA Political Writer COLOURED members of the DA have accused the party's leaders of undermining black and coloured members and raised concerns about the role of black delegates at the party's forthcoming provincial conference. Two DA councillors in the metro, Frank Martin and Grant Twigg, have voiced their unhappiness about what they call the party's soft handling of white transgressors compared to black ones. They have cited alleged leniency by Western Cape Premier and party leader Helen Zille in disciplining Western Cape party head Theuns Botha, who is Community Safety MEC Lennit Max's main rival in the leadership race. Max has been on special leave for the last 10 days after allegations surfaced that he had an extramarital affair with a police clerk in 2007. He is a front-runner for the hotly contested position of Western Cape DA leader, which will be decided at the party's provincial congress at Hartenbos on March 6. Zille insists that she has treated all candidates "absolutely equitably on the basis of the facts before me" and says it is "particularly unfortunate when the race card is played on an issue which has nothing to do with race". The two coloured City of Cape Town councillors have claimed, in e-mails leaked to the Cape Argus, that the DA did not act against Botha when he "embarrassed" the party before the 2007 congress. They allege that this lack of action against him was because Botha is white. Botha was accused of conspiring to stop Zille from being national leader in 2007, insulting her by calling her, among other things, a liegbek (liar). It was reported at the time that Botha had threatened to retire from politics if he was not re-elected to the position of provincial party leader when the party held its biennial provincial congress in 2007. In an e-mail addressed to other coloured members of the DA, Martin wrote: "(She said) nothing about suspension, dismissal, leave or what an embarrassment to the party..." Martin is one of the candidates for provincial party chairman, a position currently held by Local Government MEC Anton Bredell. He said Zille's approach had been different when compared to her handling of the Max matter. "Never was she really in (his) defence, but responded conservatively on yes and no answers - what we call the borderline approach," wrote Martin. He wrote that while it was expected of DA members not to see colour, it was difficult not to. "Do yourselves a favour and look at the provincial congress agenda. All profile roles are handled by whites - Afrikaner whites to be precise. Not a single coloured or African on that programme. "Yes, the coloured and African delegates will be there, but as praise singers, entertainers and dancers." Martin's e-mail came just days after Twigg sent out a similar e-mail to City of Cape Town DA councillors in which he wrote: "As a coloured and leader within the DA, I must say there are serious questions that need to be answered by our leadership. "When a coloured leader is only but accused (for the second time before a provincial congress), he is asked to withdraw from the leadership race; he is made out to be bad news for the party and an embarrassment to the DA. However, when a white leader conspires to break away from the DA and defame the leader of the DA, as indicated in Die Son, it is brushed away and there is a kiss and make up attitude." Both Twigg and Martin confirmed sending out the respective e-mails, but said they were not prepared to discuss the contents, as the e-mails were meant to be internal DA documents. Max refused to comment on the matter, saying he had not seen the e-mails. He added: "As you know, I have my own stuff to sort out." Botha issued a statement yesterday afternoon, saying that he had initially considered not standing for re-election this year, but that after consultation and further consideration, he had decided to make himself available for a further term, "particularly to ensure that we achieve our goals in the local government elections of 2011". Zille said it was inevitable that, before an internal election of this nature, "people mobilise in this way". "I have treated all candidates absolutely equitably on the basis of the facts before me," she said today. "During an election contest, all sorts of things are hauled out in the battle for votes. "I call this 'electionitis'. It is a very serious disease, but the sufferer recovers quickly after an election. Let's just get this behind us." -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. 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