GARETH VAN ONSELEN: Helen Zille’s world is gone
Irony does not come crueller than this. Zille backed Mmusi Maimane’s rise to the hilt, now his next move against her is all that counts
"I have no wish to paint the world in colours more somber than those it wears, but as the world gives way to darkness it becomes more and more difficult to dismiss the understanding that the world is in fact oneself. It is a thing which you have created, no more, no less. And when you cease to be, so will the world. There will be other worlds. Of course. But they are the worlds of other men and your understanding of them was never more than an illusion anyway. Your world — the only one that matters — will be gone. And it will never come again." (Cormac McCarthy, The Counselor: A Screenplay) Let us put to one side colonialism and its legacy, and focus on the politics of Helen Zille’s recent tweet. It has caused the DA great damage and there will be a reckoning. For consequences people turn to leaders. Perceived or otherwise there is thus one issue that now stands above all others: the position of DA leader Mmusi Maimane and the implications of the party’s response for his credibility...
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