Helen Zille says she wouldn't have done Showmax Roast if her mother was still alive

TimesLIVE

13-05-2025

DA federal council chair Helen Zille has revealed she wouldn't have accepted the invitation to be guest of honour at the 2025 Showmax Roast if her mother was still alive.
The Roast, part of the Laugh Africa Comedy Festival, was held at the Sandton Convention Centre in May and will premiere on Showmax this Friday.
Zille said her mother was sensitive to criticism, often taking personal offence when someone spoke negatively about her daughter. 'She suffered every time someone said something nasty about me,' Zille said.
'I'd say, 'Mom, this is politics,' but she'd take it so personally. She used to say I was too sensitive for politics, but the truth is she was too sensitive for me to be in politics. I'm actually relieved she never had to witness the social media era; I don't think she would've survived it. I'm glad she lived in a time when the worst things people said about me were only in newspapers.'
Zille's mother died in 2015.
Zille admitted she had no idea what the Roast entailed when she accepted the invitation, thinking it was an invitation to a Sunday lunch. 'I thought, 'That's like a Sunday lunch — sure!' It sounded like an invitation to a roast chicken. So, I said yes. Only later did I realise it was something else entirely.'