She only removed the post after her KZN leader had called her to order. She claimed she didn't see the Botha part of the 10-line text that a Grade 2 pupil could easily read in one minute. Surprisingly she didn't offer an apology back then - she only apologised two weeks after it exposed on twitter. Why only apologise two weeks after reposting that apartheid innuendo?
I may not be a social media trend analyst but, I know people share or retweet statements or posts they align themselves with, or the ones they think are palatable for public consumption. Kohler-Barnard endorsed Kirk's post because it represented her obvious nostalgia for apartheid, considering Botha was penultimate president of apartheid South Africa. It's disingenuous of her to say she didn't share Kirk's sentiments, nor did she see the Botha line. This is the same person who was on Bheki Cele's case for signing Roux Shabangu lease agreement without meticulously perusing contents thereof.
What Kohler-Barnard reposted is dialectically linked with sentiments of the party she represents in parliament. Though many prefer to pull stunts like this incognito, the blonde MP had gumption to go public with her nostalgia for Botha. In case Kirk and Kohler-Barnard have forgotten who Pieter Willem Botha was, let me take them down the memory lane. It was under Botha's regime that the apartheid death squad, Vlakplaas Unit, was established to eliminate anybody who promulgated resistance against the system. Human rights lawyer Mlungisi Griffiths Mxenge was also brutally murdered by the same unit in Umlazi in 1981.
Under Botha only blacks continued to carry dompas (dumb-passbooks) until the law was repealed in July 1986. - seven years into his reign. He didn't think blacks were worthy of electricity hence millions were kept in the dark. Finger-wagging Botha also declared state of emergency in 1986 that saw thousands of black people detained without trial. Winnie Mandela had her phone tapped and house burnt down by security police while Botha was negotiating with her husband. I shudder to think if this is the same man that Kohler-Barnard wishes to come back and if this is the best service that Kirk and Kohler-Barnard say people enjoyed under Botha.
What this Honourable member did was not honourable. Actually it was a spit in the face of a black DA leader who claims to have equally suffered under Botha while the likes of Kohler-Barnard took cover under the colour of their skin. Kohler Barnard's re-post is an epitome of dinner table conversations by many who call DA their political home.
Relegating her to the back benches in parliament is a slap on the wrist, like it happened with Mike Waters who depicted ANC voters as dogs and Allistair Sparks who eulogised Hendrik Verwoerd at a DA conference. If DA is to salvage its already tainted brand and keep an elusive black vote, then the best thing to do under these circumstances is to fire Kohler-Barnard as MP. If she keeps her job as MP, then I will be justified in my assertion that Mmusi Maimane is not really in charge of DA, but just a glorified intern or a hook that catches the fattest black vote.
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