Inside Metros reporter
Democratic Alliance veteran Helen Zille has accepted her party’s nomination as mayoral candidate for Johannesburg, pledging to restore South Africa’s economic hub from what she called the devastation of poor governance.
Addressing supporters in Soweto on Saturday, Zille, a former Cape Town mayor and Western Cape premier, said she was standing “as a daughter of Johannesburg” and would fight to reclaim the city from decline.
“It is a privilege for me to accept the nomination as your mayoral candidate for this great city,” she said.
“I was born and raised in this great city. It is the place where I took my first breath, my first steps, and spoke my first words.”
Zille painted a bleak picture of Johannesburg’s collapse under African National Congress (ANC) control, pointing to potholes, rubbish-strewn streets, dry taps, blackouts and hijacked inner-city buildings.
“Joburg is South Africa’s most devastating example of what bad government can do to great people,” she said.
“You feel it with every pothole on Louis Botha Avenue, or the Golden Highway…. You see it when you open your tap in Lenasia, or here in Soweto, and no water comes out.”
She warned residents against resigning themselves to the city’s decline. “We are here to say: we will not give up. We can still change course. There is a better way.”
Zille seized on comments made this week by President Cyril Ramaphosa, who told ANC councillors that municipalities run by the DA often outperform ANC-governed ones.
“With perfect timing, President Ramaphosa this week showed the boldness we’ve all been waiting for,” Zille said. “He said: ‘Those municipalities that do best are not ANC-controlled municipalities… they are often DA-controlled municipalities.’”
“Well, Mr President, your councillors in Johannesburg are about to find out. Your voters will bring DA government here, so that you can see first-hand.”
Zille said Johannesburg could only succeed if its administration was staffed with “skilled, ethical and capable professionals” who were appointed for merit rather than connections.
“They must be rewarded for excellence, and held accountable for failure,” she said.
“Local government isn’t about ideology and grand ideals. It is about grand responsibility. The only job of local government is to deliver quality basic services. Water. Sewage. Refuse removal. Roads. Traffic lights. Electricity.”
In a direct appeal to voters, she added: “In a local government election, the only question voters should ask is: who will do this job best?”
Zille described Johannesburg as the “beating, golden heart of Africa” and praised the resilience of its residents.
“For every tale of decline and collapse in Johannesburg, there is an equal and opposite force of rebuilding and renewal by dedicated residents,” she said.
“All they need is a mayor and municipal government to get behind them, and be the catalyst for change.”
Zille promised to campaign across the city’s diverse communities. “From Alexandra to Soweto, from Sandton to Orange Farm, from Hillbrow to Lenasia, from Roodepoort to Midrand, from Diepsloot to Eldorado Park – I will hear the hopes and fears of the people of this great city.”
She urged voters to unite behind her candidacy to defeat what she described as criminal elements holding Johannesburg hostage.
“We will wrestle our city back from a criminal mafia, and return her to those who love her,” she said. “It doesn’t have to be like this. But it will be, if we do not make the choice for change now. The time has come. This time it must be different. It is literally now or never.”
“Let the forces for good in this city unite to save it from the forces for bad. Let’s put the darkness behind us. Together we can make the City of Gold shine on our country, our continent, and all of the world.”
INSIDE METROS