Water crisis in Africa’s richest city drives Zille’s mayoral bid

By Ntando Thukwana

Helen Zille, who chairs South Africa’s second-largest political party and is running to become mayor of Johannesburg, says fixing the water crisis in the continent’s richest city will be her top priority.

The no-nonsense former Cape Town mayor threw her hat in the ring at the weekend before upcoming local elections that will be a litmus test of whether her Democratic Alliance can win votes from its main rival, the African National Congress, amid voter anger over poor public services.

“The number one priority has to be to get to stabilize the water,” Zille said in an interview at Bloomberg’s Johannesburg office on Monday.

“No one’s going to invest in a city where there’s no water” or where the water supply is sporadic, she said. 

The 74-year-old led the DA from 2007 to 2015 and currently serves as its Federal Council chairwoman. 

Her party, which is part