By Faiez Jacobs
Over the years, Helen Zille has distinguished herself as a senile serial tweeter, who like Donald Trump, lives in a different, albeit crazy, reality.
The former premier of the Western Cape, who’s probably bitter she only governed a province and not our democratic Republic, has driven many crazy, including many in the DA with her off-the-wall comments. She has gushed about the benefits of colonialism (slavery), imperiously that she could hand-pick black faces to lead the limping DA, insulted many with her razor-like comments.
Given her record of the damage she has caused with her arrogant, colonial-mindset like comments, one would have thought the DA would have dumped her long ago.
But the party, desperate to regain lost electoral support followings its poor performance under Mmusi Maimane in the 2019 general election, blamed its election thumping on Zille’s former favourite and forced him to leave. The party also threw a lifeline to Zille by electing the Grandmother of DA politics, head of its Federal Council last October. That lifeline, as it turned out, was the beginning of the end for Maimane.
Just about a year later, Zille was re-elected chairperson of the DA Federal Council. She was soon causing more controversy with her outrageous remarks that farmers are more likely to be killed in South Africa.
According to news reports, Zille said she based her claim on the fact that 58 people are killed daily in South Africa and because there are about 40 000 farmers in the country, this group has become more vulnerable.
She made this Trump-like claim in an interview with a talk radio station host Bongani Bingwa. When approached by Independent Media about the origins of the statistics that made her make this claim, she said:
“I quickly did a calculation on the stats Bongani (Bingwa of 702) gave. He said 58 people are murdered in SA a day. And 58 farmers per year.
“Working on 58 million people in SA and 40 000 farmers in SA it is a simple sum. You work it out on Bongani's figures.”
What utter tripe from this bitter has-been politician. She is trying to get the support of Afrikaners and the farming community that abandoned the DA for the Freedom Front+. Instead of giving facts, she came with senile claptrap. We have news for her: Afrikaners and farmers see through her drivel: they won’t fall for the DA’s lies again.
Neither for that matter will Western Cape voters who were seduced by the DA in previous elections: they have come to realise the DA finds them convenient idiots whose ballot keeps it in power, but who continue to live in neighbourhoods where crime and crime lords operate with impunity.
We deplore attacks on farmers, whether they are black or white. President Ramaphosa has also condemned these attacks.
Instead of making spurious claims I invite Zille to speak to Western Cape Premier Alan Winde about his failure to implement an anti-crime policy that will thwart criminals and create safer communities in the province. One is loath to compare the impact of crime on different communities, but is must be stated ordinary South Africans pay the highest price when it comes to crime.
My advice to Zille is: don’t dabble in statistics. it’s not only farmers who are dying. There’s a war going on out there, particularly in the Western Cape. Wake up and realise many are being murdered every month.
* Jacobs is an ANC MP.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of IOL.