Whilst it is always preferable not to drag internal party politics into the media, Helen Zille's politicsweb piece requires a response.
For over a year, the story that a number of DA leaders in Kwa-Zulu Natal had conspired to bring down Dianne Kohler Barnard has been widely peddled. There has never been any evidence to show for this nor any right of reply for the people involved. The names are never mentioned in print, but are readily spoken of within party circles.
The truth is that three separate councillors sent complaints to the party leadership about Kohler Barnard's Facebook post. She had a public Facebook page at that time, and there were a number of different 'screengrabs' taken by different people. I know this because I later had sight of these as a witness in the matter. It is not true that no-one else knew about it prior to it being shared on Twitter, as Zille alleges.
The only action I took was to lay a complaint, as the DA's Constitution prescribes.
Whilst the party was in the process of dealing with it, it became public. It was immediately assumed that one of the complainants had leaked it to the ANC as part of an elaborate vendetta. As far I was involved and am aware, this is simply not true. No evidence was ever produced or charges laid, but the story was widely circulated. Every attempt to address this story with those who told it has been unsuccessful, and it is now presented by Zille as an indisputable fact.
Whilst many of us had differed with Kohler Barnard internally, the idea that we would deliberately damage the party in an attempt to sink her is astounding. We are committed members of the DA who care deeply for the party's fortunes. Why would we work so hard to undo our own efforts?