She’s defended her presence in Senekal amid racial tensions two weeks ago ahead of the bail hearing for two suspects accused of killing farm manager Brendin Horner.
The DA’s Federal Council Chairperson, Helen Zille atteneding the protests in Senekal on Friday 16 October 2020. Image: DA MP Dean Macpherson
JOHANNESBURG – Democratic Alliance (DA) federal council chairperson Helen Zille on Monday said people cannot pigeonhole her into a racial category.
She defended her presence in Senekal amid racial tensions two weeks ago ahead of the bail hearing for two suspects accused of killing farm manager Brendin Horner.
Many in the farming community came face to face with some members of the red berets in the small Free State town.
Zille and the DA have been criticised for suddenly amplifying the issues affecting farmers over other matters in recent months with some claiming it was all part of the party’s local government strategy to regain votes, which it lost to the freedom front plus in the 2019 general polls.
Zille said everyone must join the fight to defend farmers: “The minority who produce all our food in South Africa get targeted out of all proportion to their numbers, every South Africans who stand up for principle needs to need to join the protest against that.”
She denied that the DA had made farm killings a priority over other violent crimes, arguing that she had a long history of seeking justice even during the apartheid era.
“I was the one who fought the national government for years and years and years for the right to have a judicial inquiry into murders in Khayelitsha and eventually succeeded. No one has taken deaths in Khayelitsha more seriously than I have.”
