The Democratic Alliance (DA) says it suspended its leader in the Eastern Cape legislature, Nqaba Bhanga, after he made 'false or slanderous claims of racism'.

Nqaba Bhanga was suspended after he posted a rambling Facebook entry in which he called the party's chairperson of its federal council, Helen Zille, a "most racist person".

This was immediately followed by letters from party headquarters indicating their intention to suspend him.

On Monday, provincial party leader Andrew Whitfield said in a statement that the DA "rejects the evidence-free slurs directed by Nqaba Bhanga at the Chairperson of the Federal Council, Helen Zille. Bhanga's claims were recorded in a poorly written post on Facebook which he had to edit multiple times. These claims fall flat at the first and most simple hurdle."

Parts of Bhanga's Facebook post, which has since been edited, claimed that Zille was in Gqeberha on Friday last week as part of what Whitfield described as a "far-fetched conspiracy against him". According to the post, this was about her investigating how a former municipal official had bought a R6-million house for him.

"The DA has confirmed that Zille was not even in the Eastern Cape at the time," Whitfield said. He added that the only body in the DA that could do this type of investigation is the Federal Legal Commission (FLC).

"It is difficult to...