After months of delays, the Equality Court has finally heard DA MP Dianne Kohler Barnard’s testimony in the unfair discrimination case laid against her, according to a Daily Maverick report. She told the court yesterday that the allegations labelling her as racist, sexist and xenophobic were untrue as the statements she made at a DA workshop in 2018 were based on fact rather than ‘personal opinion’. Kohler Barnard said she was simply relaying information gathered from an oversight visit to Limpopo, crime statistics and media reports. She is alleged to have made remarks suggesting that Zimbabweans were ‘predisposed to murder’, that ‘women are stupid’ for falling victim to cyber-crime and that black children in KZN were responsible for killing ‘whiteys’ by throwing rocks from bridges. DA member Louw Nel, who took Kohler Barnard to court and is representing himself, asked whether she felt ‘regret’ or ‘shame’ for the way her comments had been received. ‘I felt surprised,’ she responded, stating that she had apologised after being reprimanded by DA chief whip John Steenhuisen.

DA MPs Anette Steyn and Desiree van der Walt, both of whom submitted confirmatory affidavits on behalf of Kohler Barnard, also testified yesterday. Steyn and Van der Walt accompanied Kohler Barnard on the DA-sanctioned visit to Limpopo. According to the Daily Maverick report, they confirmed that they spoke to SAPS officers and a private security group dealing with farm murders who told them that they had seen a decline in the number of farm attacks in the province after Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe had been deposed. ‘The belief was that farm murders had decreased after Robert Mugabe was removed as Zimbabweans had gone home,’ said Kohler Barnard. MP Zakhele Mbhele, who was the DA shadow Minister of Police at the time of the incident, will testify this morning. In his affidavit, Mbhele says he found Nel’s allegations ‘surprising’ given that he did not raise any objections to Kohler Barnard’s comments during the workshop on 2 February 2018. ‘I did not understand any of Miss Kohler-Barnard MP’s utterances during the workshop to be based on her imagination or naked bigotry,’ wrote Mbhele.