Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Dianne Kohler Barnard has spoken for the first time after being pilloried for re-posting a pro-PW Botha Facebook post‚ saying: “It’s as if someone beat me with a baseball bat.”

She described re-posting the rant by journalist Paul Kirk as “something stupid“. She said she had frequently shared Kirk’s posts and did not read this one through before sharing it on her profile.

“I absolutely have apologised‚ unreservedly apologised. I can only apologise. I have never done something as stupid‚” she said.

Asked if the scandal had damaged the DA’s image‚ she said: “It may well have. It is damaging because the narrative is that I said those things.”

“I would never have in a million years put PW Botha’s name on my wall.”

She said she had spoken to DA leader Mmusi Maimane about the incident. “He explained to me that there would have to be a disciplinary process and I said ‘absolutely’.”