Otta Helene Maree (nee Zille ; born 9 March 1951), known as Helen Zille, is a South African politician. She is the Premier of the Western Cape province, and a member of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament. She served as leader of the Democratic Alliance, the country's official opposition party, from 2007 to 2015 and as Mayor of Cape Town from 2006 to 2009. Zille is a former journalist and anti-apartheid activist and was one of the journalists who exposed the cover-up around the death of Black Consciousness leader Steve Biko while working for the Rand Daily Mail in the late 1970s.
Criticism and disciplinary hearing
Following accusations that she was defending colonialism, Zille noted that her views had been misconstrued, but also apologised "unreservedly for a tweet that may have come across as a defence of colonialism. It was not."  Among those who disagreed with her were other DA members, such as Mbali Ntuli, who stated that colonialism was "only" negative, and who herself faces a disciplinary hearing in 2017 for "liking" in December 2016 a Facebook comment that characterised Zille as racist; Phumzile van Damme, who stated that there was not "a single aspect of [colonialism] that can be said to be positive or beneficial to Africans"; and party leader Mmusi Maimane, who stated "Colonialism, like Apartheid, was a system of oppression and subjugation. It can never be justified," but also said in the aftermath that Zille was not a racist and that she had "consistently fought oppression". DA MP Ghaleb Cachalia defended Zille as well-intentioned. He agreed with her that colonialism was not solely negative, and noted that many prominent intellectuals, including Chinua Achebe, Ali Mazrui, Godfrey Mwakikagile and Manmohan Singh, have expressed similar sentiments.  The ANC and Economic Freedom Fighters both demanded that Zille be removed from her position as Western Cape Premier.  As a result of her online comments, Zille was referred to the DA's federal legal commission for a disciplinary hearing on charges of bringing the party into disrepute and damaging the party. Following this news, Zille further defended herself by noting that Nelson Mandela had held the same opinion about colonialism. Her continued defence of her comments exacerbated internal friction in the Democratic Alliance between her and her detractors, and was seen to undermine the party leader, Maimane. Maimane stated that the disciplinary charges against Zille were not limited to Twitter, and included "a series of comments [...] that have exacerbated and amplified the original tweet". Some of her subsequent writings, in which she defended her views, have increasingly strained her relationship with Maimane.

Q: What was Helen criticized for?
A: Following accusations that she was defending colonialism, Zille noted that her views had been misconstrued,

Q: What were her views that were misconstrued?
A: but also apologised "unreservedly for a tweet that may have come across as a defence of colonialism. It was not."
What was the disciplinary hearing about?
herself faces a disciplinary hearing in 2017 for "liking" in December 2016 a Facebook comment that characterised Zille as racist;
herself faces a disciplinary hearing in 2017 for "liking" in December 2016 a Facebook comment that characterised Zille as racist;