Africa: South Africa - Helen Zille's Folly and the Simplicities of Debate

analysis

It's remarkable how a South African politician as intelligent as Helen Zille, premier of the Western Cape and former leader of the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA), did something so unutterably stupid. I am referring, of course, to her notorious tweet stating that not everything about colonialism was bad.

Surely she should have realised that such an assertion was likely to cause an uproar if delivered in un-nuanced style in 140 characters.

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