• The DA is still to make a decision after an investigation into Helen Zille's tweets on apartheid laws.
• Zille sparked a Twitter debate on 21 June when she tweeted that SA has more racist laws today than under apartheid. 
• At the time, interim DA leader John Steenhuisen said he believed her claims were not true. 

Nearly six weeks since the DA's federal legal commission said it would investigate its Federal Council chairperson Helen Zille's tweets, the party is yet to conclude the matter.

Zille sparked a Twitter debate on 21 June when she tweeted that South Africa has more racist laws today than under apartheid, after defending former president FW de Klerk's legacy. 

Zille's comments came after the DA lost a court bid to force the state to stop using Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) status, race, gender, age or disability when considering who gets Covid-19 aid.

At the time, a number of high-ranking DA members distanced themselves from Zille's comments, and interim leader John Steenhuisen said he believed her claims were not true. 

Zille, with over 1.4 million followers on Twitter, has not tweeted since 24 June. 

News24 looked at why the DA said it would investigate Zille's tweets, what has happened since, and what the political implications are of the investigation: 

Why did the DA decide to investigate Zille's tweets? 

At the end of June, the DA's federal legal commission (FLC) chairperson Glynnis Breytenbach said Zille would be formally investigated to determine whether her tweets violated the DA constitution or breached any party policy.

This after Steenhuisen formally referred the matter to the FLC.

Only the DA federal executive or federal leader can refer matters for an investigation to the FLC. 

The DA's social media policy states that party representatives should not "create unnecessary risk or embarrassment to the party by their misuse of social network sites or the internet", among others.

DA MP and FLC deputy chairperson Werner Horn was tasked to lead the investigation into Zille's tweets, but no time frame was given. 

This would not be the first time the FLC has investigated Zille's tweets.

In 2017, the body recommended that Zille be charged for her tweets on colonialism.

What has happened since? 

Breytenbach previously explained that, once the FLC finalises a report, it would be submitted to the DA's top decision-making structure.

"If they don't accept the recommendation, we have to go back to the drawing board. If they do, either the matter is set down for a hearing or referred for mediation. It's up to them," she said. 

On Wednesday, Breytenbach told News24 that a panel has been appointed, and now they are just waiting on a date for a hearing. 

She said she had "no idea" when the process will be concluded. 

Meanwhile, Horn told News24 that the report into Zille's tweets by the FLC was submitted to the Federal Executive (Fedex) of the party two weeks ago. 

When asked if the report will be made public, Horn said: "I don't think so".  

"It is an internal party matter and now a report of the Fedex. Whether the Fedex will/may make it public, Thomas [Walters] will be able to speak on," Horn said. 

Walters is the deputy chairperson of the DA Federal Council.

He told News24 that the party does not comment on the internal workings of disciplinary processes, so as to ensure all processes are fair and insulated from outside influences. 

"This is to respect the independence of the process and the rights of all parties in such matters. The party will communicate at the conclusion of such processes if necessary," Walters said. 

He did not say when a decision will be taken, adding: "All parties have an interest in dealing with this matter as speedily and as fairly as possible.

"We will communicate at the appropriate time".

What are the political implications of Zille's investigation? 

Prominent political analyst Ralph Mathekga said he does not believe the DA will make an announcement about Zille's tweets.

"The DA has been riding a good wave the past few weeks, while the ANC has suffered from the Covid-19 pandemic and widespread corruption allegations, and the EFF has shown itself to trivialise the issue," Mathekga told News24. 

"Why would they want to stop this wave by talking about Zille's tweets".

He said it is, therefore, very important that the DA is not giving a timeline of when an announcement will be made, as they want to avoid the possible bad publicity. 

Mathekga said he does not expect Zille's position to be heavily affected by any decision, and that she will likely be asked to stop tweeting.

"The DA, I believe, still wants to be a centrist party, which is home to all races, and would, therefore, have to address Zille's tweets. I don't agree that they have given up on being a centrist party".

Meanwhile, North-West University Political Studies senior lecturer Piet Croucamp believes that it doesn't really matter what the outcome of the investigation into Zille's tweets is. 

"It's a PR exercise for the DA. They don't want to deal with embarrassing tweets every other week when they have to be critiquing government policy," Croucamp told News24. 

"But they have given up on attaining the black vote - black voters deserted them in the 2019 elections - and they have decided to focus on their core constituency of coloured and white voters, and those voters don't really care about Zille's tweets." 

He said if the DA wanted to be a centrist party, it would've adopted more social democratic policies, such as those championed by former leader Mmusi Maimane, and acted harshly against Zille.

However, the DA has now decided that it will be a minority party, he said.

"It will not contend for the governance of any other metropoles any longer.

"It wants to run the Western Cape and the City of Cape Town, and wants to have a presence in other metropoles - and, for that, it needs white and coloured voters," he said. 

"It's given up on appealing to black voters".