Kohler Barnard booted out of DA

Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Dianne Kohler Barnard was booted out of the party after it was decided to terminate her membership at the party’s Federal Executive (Fedex) meeting this evening (30/10/15).

This, after she shared a social media post by journalist Paul Kirk praising the regime of apartheid president PW Botha.

“And so the new head of the Hawks – found to be without integrity and dishonest by the High Court – has suspended ace detective Johan Booysen over a typing error. This is a bloody circus. Please come back PW Botha – you were far more honest than any of these ANC rogues and you provided far better services to the public – we had a functioning education system, functioning health system and the police did not murder miners on behalf of government toadies,” her September 15 post read.

Kohler Barnard apologised for the post, saying that she had not read the post properly and deleted it immediately when she realised its contents.

DA spokeswoman Pumza Marubelela said : “We take racism very serious. We don’t tolerate racists. This was the decision we took ... to send out a strong message.”

Kohler Barnard has the option of appealing the termination.

The ANC had called for her to be fired, saying she was an “apartheid advocate”. – Michael Kimberley