Zille says: You don’t have to like me; just love Johannesburg

Democratic Alliance (DA) mayoral candidate Helen Zille has thrown herself into Johannesburg’s chaos with the energy of someone half her age. 

“You may not like me,” she told SA Jewish Report, “lots of people don’t. You may not like the DA either. You just have to love Joburg.” 

For Zille, the stakes couldn’t be clearer. “If Joburg fails, South Africa fails,” she says. 

The veteran politician is mounting an aggressive campaign to take control of the City of Johannesburg in the coming local government elections. 

On the morning of our interview she had already met with a water engineer, inspected failing infrastructure in the inner city, and done an interview with The New York Times. Later she would head out to meet residents of ward 102 during a by-election, which the DA went on to win convincingly. 

“I’m not here for fun,” she says. “I’m here because I love a massive challenge. It has to be big, hairy and difficult. I love having a purpose, and I love Johannesburg.” 

At 75, her campaign trail has taken her from pothole-ravaged streets and broken traffic lights to areas with chronic water outages, refuse-strewn pavements, and rolling electricity failures. 

She township-hops, watches football in shebeens, and sits down with city engineers, business leaders, and frustrated residents. 

Just as visible as her street-level campaigning is her combative online presence. Her social media feeds are packed with pointed jabs at the failures of the African National Congress (ANC): videos of her directing traffic at dead traffic lights, photographs of her perched on the edge of a gaping pothole with an umbrella, as if sunbathing at a dam, and biting commentary about collapsing infrastructure. 

One of her most viral digs came after Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi admitted he showers at hotels during water outages, while residents are left with dry taps. The DA turned the remark into billboard fodder, political theatre designed to highlight how out of touch the ANC leadership is with ordinary residents. 

But behind the theatre is a serious political calculation. 

Zille believes in Johannesburg, and that it can be saved. 

“They turned around Detroit,” she says. “So we should be able to turn around Joburg. It’s entirely possible.” 

Her connection to the city is both personal and historic. 

Zille was born at the Princess Nursing Home in Hillbrow and grew up in Berea, spending much of her childhood at her grandmother’s home in Orange Grove. She studied at the University of the Witwatersrand and worked as a journalist for the Rand Daily Mail, where she was part of the team that exposed the death in detention of anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko. 

“My Joburg roots run very deep,” she says. “I feel passionately about this city. It’s well worth fighting for.” 

Her family ties remain here. 

“I have my children in South Africa who want to be here,” she says. 

Still, Zille acknowledges that fixing the city won’t be easy, and that the first hurdle is getting elected. 

“Our biggest problem is DA voters who don’t vote,” she says. 

In the 2021 local government elections, only 42.6% of registered voters in Johannesburg cast their ballot. 

For the DA to govern the city outright, it will need a majority in the 270-seat council: 136 seats. 

“That’s the magic number, 50% plus one,” Zille says. 

She estimates that roughly 485 000 voters would need to back the DA on both ballots to reach that threshold. 

Her warning to voters is blunt: “Every vote for a small party takes a vote away from us. 

“The question voters must ask themselves is simple: do they want a repeat of the chaos?” 

This past weekend, Zille formally launched the DA’s Johannesburg election manifesto at City Hall. 

She delivered a stark diagnosis of the city’s decline. 

“Joburg is not failing because of bad luck,” she said. “It is failing because of corruption, incompetence, and years of political chaos. The ANC’s brand is corruption, crime, and collapse. 

“Once elected, we will stop the rot, fix what is broken, and rebuild Joburg into a city its residents can be proud of.” 

The DA’s plan centres on five key priorities. 

The first is restoring reliable water and electricity, two defining crises for Johannesburg residents. The party proposes ring-fencing revenue collected from water and electricity tariffs to ensure it’s spent directly on maintaining those services. 

The second pledge focuses on repairing failing roads and infrastructure. 

“We will fill potholes within 72 hours, get 95% of traffic lights working,” Zille said. Broken traffic lights and pothole-damaged roads have become daily frustrations for commuters across the city. 

“We will use modern technology to protect major intersections, and stand up to rogue taxis.” 

The third pledge is perhaps the most ambitious: creating 200 000 jobs by restoring investor confidence in the city. 

“Failing governments destroy jobs,” Zille said. “In the last three months of last year, Joburg lost 49 000 jobs.” 

The fourth pledge is a tougher stance on crime, including reclaiming hijacked buildings and preventing illegal land invasions. 

“We will be tough on crime,” Zille said. “We will listen to whistle-blowers, protect them, and fire corrupt officials.” 

The final pledge focuses on governance: hiring competent professionals in the city administration and restoring accountability in municipal departments. 

“We will reward good performance and punish poor performance,” she said. 

Ultimately, Zille believes the future of Johannesburg lies in the hands of its voters. 

“Politics broke Joburg,” she says. “The choices that voters made in the past broke Joburg, and only the voters can get Joburg working.” 

Her pitch to residents is simple. 

“Do they want water or don’t they? Do they want electricity or don’t they?” she asks. 

“Do you want a city that works or don’t you? 

“It’s a simple question. 

“And remember, you don’t have to like someone to vote for them. You just have to love Joburg.”