Western Cape premier Helen Zille and former DA leader Tony Leon have criticised public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane after she insisted that Zille caused harm with her tweets on the legacy of colonialism.

The public protector said in response to Zille’s legal challenge to her tweet report that Zille’s comments were “likely to cause racial tension, divisions and violence in SA. Leaders in her position should avoid statements that have the effect of dividing society on the basis of their racial experiences,” Business Day reports.

But the former DA leader said Mkhwebane’s ruling was “bad” and “bizarre”.

Leon said: “This ‘ruling’ is bad, bizarre and dangerous and anyone concerned with free speech issues must oppose it. It completely ignores the SCA judgment in Masuku v SAHRC delivered 4/12. Why?”

Zille said Mkhwebane’s findings were “not final”.

“The report was about the public protector’s replying affidavit to my application for a court review of her report. Let’s wait for the court to decide,” she said.

Zille said it was important for people to remember that she never said colonialism was good.

“It is crucial to point out that I spoke about the legacy of colonialism. That is quite different from the event/episode itself. And I said the legacy was not only negative. The first lesson of history is that events, both good, bad and downright evil, have mixed legacies,” said Zille.

Also read: Helen Zille apologises for justifying colonialism

In fact, the premier said while everyone was on her case about the colonialism tweets, they should also consider reporting EFF leader Julius Malema’s comments from earlier this year on the health system under Aaron Motsoaledi.

She shared a video taken earlier this year by News24, in which Malema said: “If Motsoaledi was such a minister as projected by the media, if he was such a good person, why has the health system collapsed? I called him and I said Motsoaledi, where I come from, my grandmother was telling me that there used to be a clinic in zone 1, it was not built by the ANC, it was built by apartheid.

“Where she stays there is a clinic built by apartheid and the ANC went to close the apartheid clinic. That clinic is not functioning. The EFF in my ward marched day in and out to demand that the clinic be opened. And then when we say to you that apartheid was much better than these people you think ‘no, these people are exaggerating’.

“We’re speaking to the practical things that we see. Here is a clinic under apartheid functioning. Democracy comes and the clinic collapses and is closed.”

Also read: Zille halts Mkhwebane’s recommendations on colonialism tweets

Zille said even former president Nelson Mandela should have been taken to the public protector for the speech he made at a ceremony receiving an honorary fellowship at Magdelene College, Cambridge, in the United Kingdom, back in 2001.

The president said the legacy of British colonialism had positive aspects.

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.