Zille

DA federal chair Helen Zille said the party would consider all its options, and not rush into a decsion.

"We know that being in a coalition requires compromise. You can't get it all. But the ANC also can't get it all, and they are refusing, point blank, to share power," Zille added.

Senior DA official and former party leader Helen Zille on Wednesday told local media: "Such language is unjustifiable and unacceptable. I don't see how such offensive language can be justified."

The former leader of the opposition Democratic Alliance, Helen Zille, has regularly bemoaned the growth of racial nationalism, and of "identity politics" which has also caused friction within her own party.

Although Zille, a former anti-apartheid journalist, stepped aside in 2015 to allow Maimane to lead the party, she has been re-asserting herself and is widely viewed to have been behind the criticism of him.