The Democratic Alliance (DA) says it will not take any action against Western Cape Premier Helen Zille following her social media outbursts on the racial profiling incident at the Bungalow restaurant in Clifton.
In a response to an article shared by Huffington Post South Africa's editor-at-large Ferial Haffajee, Zille said: "Why is it OK to racially classify ppl for jobs but not to identify ppl at a table by their race?"
Zille was reacting to the article about The Bungalow restaurant following the racial profiling of two patrons as "two blacks". The restaurant faced a backlash when patron Scott Maqetuka tweeted an image of the slip.
The Zimbabwean waiter who served Maqetuka was suspended pending an inquiry. He later apologised‚ saying he regretted the incident.
People immediately took Zille on about the comments.The ANC in the Western Cape called on the party to remove Zille from her position before she could cause more damage.
The party said her leadership left parts of the province feeling like a version of Orania, promoting white exclusivity over and against the interests of a unified South Africa.
But the DA's federal chairperson James Selfe defended Zille and said the party would not take any action against her.
"Most certainly not. Mrs. Zille is involved in a serious conversation about race and if you have a racial classification in one part of our society it makes no sense not to have it in another. I think this does not infringe our code in any way and we certainly have no intentions of taking any actions against her whatsoever," he said.
Selfe said members were encouraged to participate in debates on various topics. He added that it was time for the country to have a deep conversation on the issue of race.
"The party encourages people to involve themselves in debates. That is what she was involved in. It is time that this country got involved in an honest and serious conversation about race and racism and what it actually means and how inconsistent it is and how people engage in manufactured outrage when it suits them," said Selfe.