Fair call on the voting aspect, that makes sense. And I wasn't suggesting Zille 'may or may not' be a racist (her past credentials as a liberal journalist demonstrate she is not) - maybe I structured the sentence wrong: it was supposed to read as 'regardless of her not being racist, she is becoming a liability to the DA'.
As for colonialism,  it doesn't matter whether it had benefits or not (personally I think you could make a strong case for the benefits), the vast majority of our population see it as a bad thing, and so to even give the perception of defending it makes the party look bad. And remember how important perception is in politics. It was a stupid thing to say, regardless of whether there was truth in it or not.
And yes, I come from the Gangster's Paradise, so will likely have to wait until 2019 to taste proper provincial governance, though at least Mashaba's mayor of my city!