Helen Zille on the GNU, Elon Musk and BBBEE

The Democratic Alliance’s mayoral candidate for Joburg, Helen Zille, has officially moved to the City of Gold in preparation for this year’s local government election.

“I'm now a Joburger; I'm here," she told 702’s Clement Manyathela.

Zille added that her husband didn’t want to move, so she’ll be going back to Cape Town once a month to see him and her grandchildren.

She also discussed the fallout from the removal of Environment Minister Deon George by DA leader John Steenhuisen from his position, allegedly because he was against certain commercial interests like captive lion breeding and the hunting industry.

Zille replied: “The Federal Executive has said that this investigation must take absolute priority and that means that all other matters the FLC may investigate have to sit on the back burner while this investigation is conducted and concluded.

"Deon has now resigned, which takes it out of the ambit of the DA’s Federal Legal Commission, which is unfortunate, but the process continues into allegations relating to John.”

Tony Leon wrote an opinion piece this week suggesting that this battle within the party is causing complications in what should be a watershed election year for the party.

“Well, internal conflict is always destabilising. It always distracts us from our main goal, but I think that we can bring this to a close, and we can move on from there. Unfortunately, in any political party, things are often very smooth and run well, but now and again you are going to get a conflict. And because politicians are so in the limelight, these conflicts can’t go under the radar as they do in most other organisations.”

Zille said the DA is solid, well-structured, with good leadership.

“So right around the country in every single province, in every single region, the machine is buzzing. It is well advanced of the preparations for the election. The selection panels are already sitting in some parts of the country to select our candidates. The machine goes on. We call it the blue machine. It is oiled, it is geared, and it is functional. It can weather many, many storms.”

As for the Government of National Unity, Manyathela asked her if there was growing discomfort with the party’s position there.

“Look, to be honest, you must just look at the things we’ve done to see if that is true. We took a very strong stand on the BBBEE legislation, and if we were going to be toeing the ANC’s line, we wouldn’t have done that.

“We have taken a very strong internal position on, for example, international relations issues on which we’ve disagreed with the ANC.

“You’ll remember the big fight that we had over Value Added Tax. We’ve had many, many fights, and apart from that, we are in court on a whole range of issues from the NHI to expropriation without compensation against the ANC. So, if we were trying to submit to the ANC to stay in government, we wouldn’t be doing any of those things.

“So, I really do believe that we are in the government, that as long as the ANC does not act as if we’re a coalition and acts as if they are an independent party governing alone, we will continue to be an opposition within the Government of National Unity.

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Manyathela asked her why Communications Minister Solly Malatsi would want to allow for someone like Elon Musk to operate in South Africa without complying with regulatory laws which require telecommunications companies to have at least 30% of ownership by historically disadvantaged groups. “What is the DA’s position on that? Are you comfortable with Elon Musk?”

Zille said, firstly, this is not about Elon Musk only, as Solly has said time and time again. “He wants to open the market to competition, to access, so that people can get internet at the lowest possible price because it is so crucial in the modern world.

“The second point is that the equity equivalents have been there forever. They are in the MTBPS, that Medium Term Budget Policy Statement has the role of equity equivalents in there. They are well-established as a concept in South Africa. That you can do things that meet your BEE requirements that don’t involve giving away a share of your company against your will. So, there are lots of other things like job creation, like sub-contractors, like all of those things that can meet the equity equivalents.

“Now if you’re saying anybody who has to invest in South Africa has to give up a third of their company, you can absolutely see why that dries up foreign investment…

“If you say you have to give up a third of your company to a politically connected person in the ANC elite, because that’s always what it is. Just now, the ANC falls from power and then what? The minute you start doing favours for politicians and patronage networks, it’s the end of your business over time.”

Zille also touched on her discussion with former President Jacob Zuma on BEE and how President Cyril Ramaphosa became a billionaire.

To listen to Zille’s full discussion with 702’s Clement Manyathela, use the audio player below: