Helen Zille. Democratic Alliance.
Nico Mzalisi, an African National Congress (ANC) councillor, is planning to sue Helen Zille, premier of the Western Cape and leader of the Democratic Alliace (DA) over a tweet suggesting he attacked Patrick Nqgu, a DA councillor.
Mzalisi, councillor of ward 33 in Cape Town, said he met with his lawyers to bring about a case of defamation against Zille for the following tweet:
The ANCYL + the ANC ward councillor, arrived at DA councillor Patrick Ngqu’s house in Kosovo, Phillippi, and tried to throw faeces inside
— Helen Zille (@helenzille) June 6, 2013
The Independent Online (IOL) quoted Zille as saying: “The name I have been given is Councillor Mzalisa (sic),” when she was asked who the councillor was.
Speaking to HumanIPO, Zak Mbhele, spokesperson for Zille, said: “Premier Zille stands by the information she received about this incident. Councillor Mzalisi is welcome to take whatever action he wishes – threats and intimidation seem to be the modus operandi of the ANC of late.”
Patrick Ngqu, the DA Councillor who was allegedly attacked, reportedly told the Cape Argus that both Mzalisi and Andile Lili, leader of the ANC Youth League (ANCYL), instructed people to dump faeces at his private residence in Kosovo, Philippi.
Furthermore, Ngqu said he convinced other members of the Kosovo community to not attack his home.
Mzalisi, however, denied the claims implicating him as having encouraged people to attack Ngqu. “Only if Zille apologises publicly (on Twitter) will I suspend this process,” IOL quoted him as saying.
