Text of letter from Jonathan Witt & Roman Cabanac to DA Chief Whip Jonathan Steenhuisen:
19 June 2019
Dear Mr Steenhuisen
We would like to bring to your attention the conduct of one of your part/ s members and a Democratic Alliance Member of Parliament. As you are no doubt aware Ms Phumzile Van Damme was involved in an altercation with a member of the public and their family at the V&A Waterfront. We have attached an excerpt of the Times Live coverage of the event which notes that Van Damme "was forced to punch a man in self defense" after he was "filming her".
To this end, and as a news and political opinion podcast, we posted the following tweet:
DA MP admits to assaulting a member of the public, claims self defense against the threat of being video recorded. Interesting.
The tweet summarizes the information which was in the public domain at the time and added the editorial comment that this was "interesting". In response Ms Van Damme tweeted from her personal account, @zilevandamme:
You weren't there you don't know what happened. Hambani niyonya, darlings.
She then followed this up with an additional tweet stating:
And please do get over your obsession with me. Miserable insecure little men who bragged about being MPs & failed. You're tweeting BS without having facts & you'll fail again. Like you failed in your attempts to discredit me. Losers.
It is our belief that this second tweet violates the DA's digital media policy as well as a memorandum sent by the Federal Chair, Mr James Selfe, dated 4 June 2019. In the memorandum Mr Selfe urges DA members not to post messages to social media which may "harm (their) image or that of the part/' and to "exercise the utmost judgment and circumspection" when using such platforms. The DA's digital media policy promotes "respectful debate" and prohibits communications which amongst other things advocate "hatred based on...gender", in line with the country's constitution. It also calls for all members to pledge not to undermine "the dignity of fellow South Africans".
In our view Ms Phumzile Van Damme has clearly broken her pledge, and the DA's own rules, as well as the orders of the Federal Chair just weeks after he so kindly reminded public representatives as to the importance of their conduct on social media. We would request that this letter is taken as lodgement of a formal complaint against Ms Van Damme, and request a reply in this regard detailing the appropriate action the party intends to take.
We would like to note that we have and continue to enjoy friendly relationships with several high ranking former and current party members, many of whom have been kind enough to join us on our podcast. It is a shame that one member with significant social media clout is allowed to unnecessarily tarnish the DA brand given the solid work many in the party have done over decades and continue to do on a daily basis.
Yours sincerely
Jonathan Witt & Roman Cabanac
Renegade Media
cc Federal Executive Chair —
Mr James Selfe
Source: Twitter
