Speaking Truth To Power: An Open Letter To Helen Zille About Her Transphobic Utterances

For many years I supported the DA, especially when as a young, idealistic human rights activist active in the LGBTQ+ community set out in search for a political party in South Africa that would champion the causes of human rights, equality and tolerance for LGBTQ+ people - and especially for transgender people, as that is a cause that lies close to my heart. After all, I am a transwoman. I was overjoyed when I found the DA, because the DA promised to be all those things - and they were led by a strong, admirable woman - you. Or, at least that's what you seemed to be at the time.

Helen Zille, Using Dehumanizing Language, Incites Hate Against SA Transgender Community!

So transgender people are "a contagion"? So I'm a "contagion", am I, Helen Zille?

The use of dehumanizing language like this is absolutley outrageous, horrifying and beyond the fucking pale! Such hateful dehumanizing language is the dominion of Nazis, eugenicists and megalomaniacs - not of anyone presenting themselves as champions of democracy, equality and human rights! I'm truly shocked to see someone who was once considered those things deteriorate to such an extent as to be completely unrecognizeable.

At this point, the back of her neck should be checked for a zipper - to see if she's some sort of reptillian hiding in a human suit. How utterly cold-blooded and utterly evil must she be to begrudge a persecuted minority (as transgender people are worldwide) simple legal dignities and protections from persecution?

Make no mistake, Zille has been captured by transphobic propaganda - which defies logic, science and common sense, and has forsaken things the rest of us take for granted - compassion, humanity, and empathy.

What's most concerning about this is that Zille - clearly an out-of-touch dinosaur desperately seeking to remain relevant on the stage of current affairs, has been the main reason for the DA's lurch towards the extreme right in the last 10 years: support for Israel's genocide in Gaza, and her loud-mouthed attacks on transgender people made in social media and circulated in the press, to name just two examples.

As a South African transwoman this sort of blatant transphobic incitement to hatred is deeply troubling - especially when it comes from a leader of a party that supposedly contradicts the claimed ethos and principles of that party.

The DA refused to censure her previous TERF remarks attacking transgender people - which were as based in ignorance and malicious stupidity as her latest diatribe - on the grounds that "she has a right to her opinion". Well, no, she doesn't - "free speech" does not include permission to utter hate speech - especially not when she's a leading figure of a political party using that platform and her fame and influence to incite hatred and intolerance for an already persecuted minority group.

If the DA will not speak out or take action against Zille, then that is an admission that they fully agree with her. In which case, their entire premise, principles, mandate, ethos and platform, is a lie. In which case I hope every trans-ally, every LGBTQ+ South African, every person with a conscience and an aversion to a culture of hate and scapegoating, ceases their support for that party forthwith.

Suffice it to say, that if global news coverage of the ongoing genocide in Gaza is not sufficient to dissuade the "Democratic Alliance" from supporting Israel to the hilt, why would they care a damn about their "fearless leader" inciting hatred against transgender South Africans from the platform of her fame and influence in her DA leadership role?

This latest scandal of Zille's utterances of hatred - which praise the actions of hate abroad while also inciting more actions of hate HERE in South Africa - in the midst of already horrific hate rising in the UK against the mere existence of transgender people AND in the US, where transgender people are being legislated into criminality simply for existing - is simply unacceptable! In fact, it is diabolical!

Some sort of action MUST be taken against her for this. There HAS to be consequences for uttering such blatant hate, because it inciteful - and it's obvious what she will attempt to do next, as a politician of high influence within the DA - she will attempt to replicate the actions of her role-models in the UK and US here in South Africa.

Spoiler Alert: Nazis Don't Like To Be Called Out For Their Nazism

So this fella - who has to be a fake profile - figures I'm an "English scumbag typical from UK descendant" screeching like a fishwife in all caps (with multiple !!!!!!!! of course) - and he's going to make me famous for "calling Afrikaners Nazis" (referring to the 70k+ Afrikaners who applied to take Trump's offer recently).

There are clearly a few things this person (if it is indeed a person, not a bot) doesn't know.

Did The DA Just Offer To Throw SA's Poor Under The Bus? (And Other Questions)

"The ANC-DA led Government of National Unity is on a collision course that threatens to tear apart the less than one year old formation as the April 1 deadline to reach an agreement on the 0.5 percentage point VAT increase fast approaches." - IOL news article March 28, 2025.

Here the Democratic Alliance demonstrates their willingness to throw the poor under the bus by putting the VAT increase on the table to protect themselves and their wealthy backers interests. This speaks to their attitude about the poor, doesn't it? 

I mean, the poor don't matter, right? It doesn't matter if they struggle, does it? The billionaires who keep their pockets full are more important - and so on. I remember something about a French queen saying something like "let them (the poor) eat cake", and it not ending too well for her - but I digress.

Politics is a big business. And those who work in it the longest, gain the most wealth. After all, power and wealth go hand in hand. That's why power, more often than not, attracts powerful greed.

This is typical of the DA to throw poor South Africans under the bus to favor the interests of the uber-wealthy. I repeat: typical. They are the gentrification party of SA, after all.

But don't just take my word for it - let's dig a little deeper:

Who Does Donald Trump REALLY Work For?

Donald J. Trump, the 47th US President is a controversial figure - and has also become the most wildly unpopular President in US history - with the possible exception of the two that were actually assassinated (if that can be employed as a means of determining unpopularity). 

In fact, the way in which Agent Orange has been behaving since day one of his second term, like a raging bull in a china shop - laying waste to his own country's government, economy, position on the world stage, and undermining any number of global institutions of which the USA formed a crucial part (NATO, the UN, CDC, Paris Accord etc.) could easily make anyone with more braincells than an amoeba (or the average MAGA) wonder just who this guy is actually working for - because it certainly seems hard to imagine an enemy of everything the USA traditionally stands for doing a better job of sabotage and demolition, than Donald Trump.

When asking this question, we need to also first examine the question "what evidence is there for foreign interference in US elections?" So what evidence is there? Is there any? The answer will probably surprise you.

What Is Going On In Germany?

In case you're wondering who the AFD is, they're the neo-Nazi political party in Germany that Elon Musk addressed via video conferencing earlier this year. You know, right after making global headlines buzz for his two consecutive Nazi salutes on Trump's inauguration podium in January.

But who is the AFD, and what are their chances of taking over Germany in the next German elections?

Let's take a look.

Crying Wolf: The Genocide That Just Isn't

Greetings, good people.

For years now, some South Africans have been spreading the rumor that a genocide was taking place in South Africa - a genocide that has been proceding unimpaired, unattended to by law enforcement, ignored or downplayed by the media, and also ignored by the outside world - a genocide, which conspiracy theorists would have us all believe, is being conducted against white, Afrikaans-speaking South Africans - and farmers in particular.

Nevertheless, after Afriforum went to all the trouble of throwing South Africa under the bus by presenting a cocktail of lies to the man who might very likely be the very last US president and first actual dictator - and all that followed, I decided to take a serious look at these claims that a genocide was underway in South Africa against white South Africans.

What are the facts?

How "Woke" Became A Right-Wing Slur, What It Means, And Why The Left Should Reclaim It

Greetings, good people.

I recently made a post on Facebook in response to all the "Christian love" being shown to anyone daring to criticize the rampaging Nazis taking over the US of A, as well as the loony wannabes here in South Africa - especially those who so notably embarrassed themselves via Afri-treason's trainsmash of an attempt to convince Trump to turn our country into the 51st state. But that's another story for another time.

Coming back to the topic at hand, I was described - derogatorily - as "woke" by a cross-section of these sorts of people. It is a word these days employed as a slur, an insult, a means of mocking those who exhibit human compassion and caring for others - most notably, for those hated by the traditional right wing - to whom I frequently refer to as either fascists, or more accurately sometimes, as outright Nazis.

Today I'll be taking a close look at the word "woke" - and what it really means, where and how it originated, and how it came to mean the things it does today.

South Africa, Land Expropriation Facts vs Fiction & Afriforum's Treasonous Ambitions To Ask Trump To Overthrow SA Govt

To make it clear, Americans wondering what Afriforum is hysterically waving its arms about, this should help explain the new South African expropriation law for the uninitiated:

(Special note for context: when the initial announcement of this bill came some years ago, it was a lot less clear - and together with heckling from equally racist individuals demanding all whites be evicted from the country, there was some concern, even panic among all property owners.

Afriforum, an organized lobby group representing Afrikaner interests, deliberately played on fears that ALL private property would suddenly start to be expropriated, even along racial lines, and gained a massive increase in their support and membership - albeit a multicultural, multiracial mix of such.

Sadly, I too was swept up in that initial wave of concern initially - but because they claimed to represent the interests of residents and property owners (I am a property owner btw) and said some fairly innoccuous-sounding "right things", I too showed them some support. But it wasn't very long afterwards that I discovered their right-wing leanings and connections to neo-Nazi (others would play that association down and call them "conservative" - I don't like to mince words) groups around the world and in South Africa too, and terminated all levels of my relationship with them a number of years ago - long before this bill was even signed into law earlier this year.

That said, the final product is a lot clearer and easy to understand, and because I have a clear understanding of this now, I can see there's no reason to panic.)

In fact, it's even less invasive and draconian than the original law that governed expropriations under the old NP (Apartheid) government. That government used the earlier law to expropriate land whenever and wherever it wished to do so - and one look at the history of SA and the Group Areas Act should suffice to demonstrate my point. Yes, some money was exchanged - it is claimed "market value", but many people lost their private homes to political agendas to separate South Africans of varying races from living amongst each other and entire communities were obliterated in the name of white supremacy.

The new bill, as stated, does not target private homes as such, and only under very specific conditions - and only after following a rigorous legal process. I'm not sure if Afriforum has even read this law, or understands it and is just continuing to spread false information anyway - but the truth of the matter is, the South African government - just like the colonial British government did before it - has always possessed the power to expropriate property from South Africans. The only difference has been, and continues to be, the wording of that power. To date, not a single case of expropriation without compensation has occurred in South Africa - and the wording of the above FAQ slides provided by the Dept of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) explains the circumstances, conditions and process for it to happen pretty succinctly and simply.

If Afriforum understands this, or is as confused as the USA's new Predator in Chief seems to be by the concept of tariffs, isn't crystal clear to me - but suffice it to say they've done a good job of misrepresenting the facts.

The question we need to ask ourselves as South Africans is, why any group of local people would go to the trouble of approaching a foreign power to present blatant lies and disinformation that - if believed - could do serious harm to our country's image, economy, and even stability?

Surely this is an incident of enormous gravity with epic consequences? They have not only embarrassed South Africa on the international stage, but sought to ultimately topple our democratically elected government by means of convincing that foreign power to bring pressure to bear - politically, socially and economically sabotaging South Africa for the sake of achieving their own ends. It is treason, by every definition of the word.

Make no mistake, Afriforum does not have any of our interests at heart - only the interests of their wealthy backers, who most likely stand the most to lose.

It's not in their interests to examine the facts, read and understand the resultant new law - to relent and say "oh, we were wrong about this, there's nothing to be afraid of if it's administered justly as afvertised".

Why?

Because fear is their main undercurrent - fear keeps their membership full of people willing to pay money, even R50 a month - to support their activities - which sadly, are nowhere near as good, benificent, noble or patriotic as they pretend they are.

Sure, they may fix a few potholes here and there - but that's only to win over hearts and minds - and so they can point out how "useless" the SA government is. And having a threat or an enemy to unite people against is what keeps them in business - a mass of supporters who feel culturally vindicated and productive. Even if they are being fed lies upon lies. This is the essence of populism, folks. Are you really stupid enough to fall for that?

It's exactly this sort of crap that put their would-be savior, Trump, back in the Oval Office, building his foundation on populism and fear-mongering and sowing divisions between Americans. That's why they were comfortable approaching him to help them - their aim isn't to "protect white South African's homes" (which are in no danger according to the law) but to deliver a scare tactic through blatant lies (there have been no such expropriations under this law) in the hope that Trump will assist them in overthrowing our democratically elected government.

And make no mistake, regardless of where we sit on party politics, as South Africans, this coalition government (GNU) is our democratically elected government - but this doesn't sit well with our local Nazis.

The ANC is too left-wing and dark-skinned for Afriforum's comfort - and the DA is majority white, but too liberal for their tastes as well. And they know they would never get anywhere if they acted openly as a political party - just as their stablemate, the FF+ hasn't and never will.

Afriforum is an extremist group. There's no denying that fact. They've literally just acted out in their extremism by taking domestic issues before the court of a foreign oligarch. And yet, there are still plenty of locals who will see this article - and my posts about this aggregious act of sabotage and betrayal - and attack me for it, as some have already on other posts and comments on social media.

The usual claim people of this ilk bring up is that "we're well on our way to becoming like Zimbabwe". Well, that's a blatant lie - because I've been hearing it - and even said it myself a few times - but you know, looking back - it's been THIRTY YEARS - and we're still nowhere near that claim becoming a reality. At what point do people finally wake up and smell the coffee and realize that it's not happening? It's a lie, a dogwhistle, a right-wing talking point and rallying call that denies the facts and abandons reason for the sake of unifying the local right.

Their supporters don't care if they're right - just as long as they say the right things - and that they're right wing.

I know many white South Africans who even today like to say in passing conversation (because they like to assume that all other white people around them will automatically agree with them) that "black people can't govern a country" - but if you were to look carefully at the whole of Africa and wipe the racist bullshit programming out of your mind, you would see numerous countries that are peaceful, stable, and growing. And should we look across the Atlantic at the imploding dumpster fire that is the USA right now - run by white people, what would they say then?

Of course that's okay with them - because Trump and his cronies represent America's right wing. Any criticism of that is just "lefty woke sour grapes" in their view.

When you point these things out, and point out their blatant racism - even small, residual levels of racism, they become hostile, even violent. Just like angry toddlers when you put them away for naptime, or take away the scissors before they hurt themselves.

People this stubborn don't like to admit they've been wrong about anything. It makes them seem weak and fallible - even if they have to cut their own nose off to spite their face, because they need to double down and prove how right and strong they are. They will typically do so, even if they know they will regret it afterwards, they still want to "show you".

This is the truth.

It's a sad truth that racism and hatred are still alive and well in South Africa, as these examples show:

And that's just the fallout from the first day of my addressing this outrageous incident. But even so, calling me names, insulting my late mother (who was a better person than I - or they - will ever be), and trying to shout me down, will not work. I'm quite sure there might also be some future threats inbound as well.

All I'm asking of my fellow South Africans is that you try to be better people than what the past has made you out to be.

Better than associating yourselves to a bunch of Nazi thugs and traitors willing to throw the whole South African nation under the bus to further their own disingenuous agendas - or just because they say a few "gevleulde woordjies" that seem to connect with your own views.

And before you jump to conclusions and rush to support those populists blowing their little dogwhistles from atop their soapboxes, I advise you do a little background check on them first instead of taking them at face value.

Warning: Panama Is The Key - This Is Why

Warning.

There's a lot of chatter right now about Trump's statements and mounting desire to invade Panama to take possession of the shipping canal. There's a reason why the canal is administered by an internationally neutral country - so as to not allow the canal to be hijacked for political or ideological reasons.

We've seen NO EVIDENCE that the canal is being "administered by China" as Trump has claimed on several occasions, or that the USA is being "unfairly treated" by Panama in the administration of the canal as an international trade channel. So why does Trump insist he wants the Panama Canal? He's said he wants Greenland and Canada too - but why all this belligerence? And why specifically Panama?