The Democratic Alliance (DA) will never recall Helen Zille because she is still the leader of the party, said the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) in KZN's provincial secretary Thanduxolo Sabelo.

Sabelo also labelled DA leader Mmusi Maimane as a puppet, who is a front for the DA which is "patriotic to whites".

He was speaking at the ANCYL eThekwini Region's dialogue on Economic Freedom at the Durban University of Technology (DUT) in Durban on Thursday night.

Sabelo was reacting to a series of controversial tweets on colonialism which Zille tweeted on Thursday morning which caused an uproar.

Zille tweeted: "Getting onto an aeroplane now and won't get onto the Wi-Fi so that I can cut off those who think EVERY aspect of colonial legacy was bad."

"For those claiming legacy of colonialism was only negative, think of our independent judiciary, transport infrastructure, piped water etc," she wrote.

She later apologised. The DA has since said Zille would face disciplinary proceedings.

He said Maimane would be removed from his post just like former parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko.

"It's going to happen to Mmusi Maimane, watch this space," said Sabelo.

He said the DA was a representative of white monopoly capital.

"They believe they now have us in a corner, they now have a k****r in his right place. When they want the votes in the townships and rural areas, they don't speak about colonialism but today Helen Zille has a nerve to say to us that colonialism was not that bad, look at the infrastructure it brought," he said.

He said it was their responsibility at the time to bring development to the country because they were still in power.

"They were not doing us a favour, it was their responsibility," he said.

ANCYL president Collen Maine and new ANC MP and former Eskom CEO Brian Molefe were not part of the dialogue was initially expected. The dialogue started about two hours late, after being scheduled for 16:00.

Sasco secretary in KZN Mqondisi Duma said they supported the call by the league for ABSA to pay back the R2.2-billion it took from the SA Reserve Bank.

"We want ABSA to pay back the money with interest so that it could be used to fund free and quality education," he said.