Helen Zille: will competence, courage and a dose of arrogance be enough to get her elected as Johannesburg’s mayor?

By Roger Southall

Love her or loathe her, it is hard to deny that Helen Zille is one of the most remarkable politicians South Africa’s democracy has yet seen.

Remarkable because she has served in so many high-profile public roles – as mayor of Cape Town, premier of the Western Cape province, leader of the opposition, and leader of the Democratic Alliance before later becoming the party’s federal chair, and wielding power behind the scenes.

She has never steered clear of controversy, and indeed, revels in it in a way which discomforts her opponents.

She is both feared and respected for her intelligence, diligence, hard work, determination, competence, courage, integrity – and let’s face it, not a little dose of arrogance, which at times has led her unnecessarily into trouble, as with her infamous “colonialism” tweet, which caused widespread offence.

But this points to another quality she has as a politician: she has