Democratic Alliance Johannesburg mayoral candidate Helen Zille has said a DA-led administration would seek an urgent Treasury-backed rescue plan for the embattled city.

Addressing residents at a community meeting hosted by the Melville Residents Association on Tuesday night, Zille said South Africa’s economic hub could still be rebuilt, but added that restoring its finances, infrastructure and governance would require intervention from national institutions, the private sector, and international funders.

Eskom said last month that the city and City Power already owed it R5.255 billion in arrears, excluding a further R1.582 billion current account payment due on 5 June.

Zille said the city’s financial position was far worse than official figures suggested.

“Joburg’s debt is currently 65% of its revenue. And it should never be more than 45% of its revenue. That’s where we are now. And that tells you how shocking the state is,” she said.

She accused the current administration of manipulating financial figures and creating new senior management posts ahead of the elections, saying this was part of a culture of corruption, mismanagement, and “last-lap looting”.

“They made provision for 2,000 more senior managers. They’re already massively top-heavy,” she said.

She said a DA-led administration would immediately bring together strong players to develop a financial rescue plan for the city.

“The first thing we will do is get together in the same space, the Johannesburg task team in the National Treasury, the Joburg recovery plan under Operation Vulindlela in the Presidency, and then I want to bring in the Auditor-General as well,” she said.

She said the city would also need to seek funding from international institutions and expand public-private partnerships to rehabilitate essential services.

“We will then first of all have to get a lot of money from the Presidency and the resource mobilisation group,” she said. “Then we will have to go very quickly into public-private partnerships for all the major trading services,” she said.

Zille said Johannesburg’s recovery would depend on restoring confidence among investors, residents and businesses after years of deterioration in basic services.

“We want to get people who are prepared to invest and grow the economy in Joburg. We want to get them loving Joburg, seeing their future in Joburg. And that will bring 200,000 new jobs to Joburg, we are hoping,” she said.

Residents raised concerns about water outages, electricity disruptions, deteriorating roads, and weak service delivery across the city.

Zille acknowledged that reliable water and electricity would not be restored quickly, even under a DA administration, saying the scale of the collapse meant a turnaround would take years.

“When I say reliable water and electricity for all residents, it sounds as if it should be a given. It should be taken for granted. It isn’t. It’ll take us five years if we push as hard as we can to fulfil that pledge,” she said.

She criticised the current administration’s “inadequate” infrastructure targets, saying Johannesburg’s water network required a far more ambitious pipe-replacement programme.

“They were boasting that their target was to replace 15 kilometres of water pipe and then actually replace 20. They should be replacing nearly 200 kilometres of water pipe a year, given the crisis that they’re facing,” she said.

Zille said Johannesburg’s decline was not limited to finances and engineering systems, but extended to planning, law enforcement and urban management.

On urban planning, she said the city needed responsible densification as more people moved into cities, but added that it should not be done in a way that damaged established residential communities.

“Our cities need to densify because more and more people are urbanising. We cannot have total urban sprawl,” she said.

However, she said suburbs such as Melville were already relatively dense and suggested that future development should focus on larger properties elsewhere in the city.

“Melville is quite a densified suburb to begin with. I wouldn’t actually start anywhere near Melville. I would start in those huge properties that I see in Houghton,” she said.

Housing hijackings and illegal occupation of buildings also emerged as major concerns during the meeting.

Zille said weak enforcement and legal obstacles had contributed to the problem. The city needed to act more firmly against criminal networks operating in the built environment, she said.

“We’ve got to deal with the hijacking of buildings first. That I’m absolutely determined to stop.”

She called for greater use of municipal bylaws and criticised the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department for failing to enforce regulations effectively.

“When I went to speak to the municipal courts, they said to me, ‘We’ve got no cases because the Metro Police never apply the bylaws.’ That’s got to change,” she said.

Zille said organised criminal syndicates had taken advantage of the collapse of municipal systems, pointing to the so-called “water mafia” and other networks that profit when public services fail.

“There are lots of mafias. Everywhere there’s money to be made you’ll find the municipal systems break down and then the service providers have to be brought in from outside.”

She said cable theft and vandalism were major contributors to infrastructure collapse, and that the deterioration of public facilities in areas such as Ennerdale was simply a reflection of overall governance failure.

Zille told residents to become more politically active ahead of the local government elections on 4 November, saying voter turnout would be critical to changing the city’s direction.

“We got in 481,000 people voting for the DA on both ballots. All we need is 9,000 more. Our big task in this election is to get them registered and get them out to vote,” she said.

Drawing comparisons with the DA’s governance record in Cape Town, Zille said Johannesburg’s recovery would require ambitious targets, long-term planning and sustained political will.

“I always, in government, set the most stretched targets I can. In Cape Town between 2021 and now, they’ve attracted 400,000 new jobs,” she said.

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The Joburg Property Company (JPC) has denied allegations that a settlement linked to the Proton House lease was corrupt or used to fund payments to councillors involved in the removal of former Johannesburg mayor Mpho Phalatse.

“JPC wishes to place on record that the settlement was a lawful contractual resolution and not an irregular payment. All legislative, governance and internal approval processes were followed in the execution of the settlement,” the JPC said in a statement.

The statement followed renewed allegations on Monday, in which former DA federal council chairperson and DA Joburg mayoral candidate Helen Zille alleged that smaller parties were bribed to support a motion of no confidence against Phalatse. Phalatse later backed the allegations, saying they were linked to a case she opened against JPC in October 2022.

JPC said the Proton House matter related to a lease agreement between JPC and Bertocure (Pty) Ltd, a subsidiary of Ntshwese Projects. It said the companies involved were established in 2014 and 2008 respectively, and were “not created shortly before the settlement was concluded”.

The entity said the settlement was reached in terms of Clause 6.3 of the lease agreement and arose from its obligation to reinstate the landlord’s white-box specifications under the agreement entered into by the City of Johannesburg.

“The costs associated with the reinstatement of the property were determined through bills of quantities prepared by an independent quantity surveyor and were based on the landlord’s specifications,” JPC said.

“The entity further rejects allegations that the reinstatement costs were inflated or that any portion of the settlement amount was used for purposes unrelated to the contractual obligations arising from the lease agreement.”

JPC said it was not aware of evidence linking the Proton House settlement to alleged payments to councillors or to any political process related to motions of no confidence in the city.

“Such allegations remain speculative and unsupported by any findings of a competent authority, law enforcement agency or court of law,” it said.

Phalatse was first elected Johannesburg executive mayor in late 2021 and was removed from office through council processes during the city’s unstable coalition period. She was finally removed in a motion of no confidence on 26 January 2023, when 140 councillors voted in favour of the motion and 129 voted against it.

In October 2022, while serving as DA Johannesburg caucus leader after an earlier removal from office, Phalatse said she had gone to Hillbrow SAPS to lay criminal charges against JPC.

“Today, we are here at the Hillbrow South African Police Service to lay criminal charges against the Johannesburg Property Company (JPC), a City-owned Municipal Entity that appears to have engaged in an act of fraud or corruption involving millions of taxpayers’ money siphoned off to a company linked to the ANC,” Phalatse said at the time.

She alleged then that JPC had paid R27 million to a company shortly after it was registered.

“It is alleged that the JPC paid R27 million to a company that had only been registered for two-months at the time of receiving the payment in September this year,” she said in the 2022 statement.

Phalatse said she had been informed that part of the R27 million would be used to destabilise the coalition government she had led.

“We were reliably informed that part of this R27 million would be used to destabilise the coalition government of which I was the Executive Mayor, by funding the payment of bribes to Councillors in order to entice them to vote against our government,” she said at the time.

The DA statement said the Proton House premises were intended to be used as office space for the city’s Group Finance Department, and that JPC had argued the R27 million settlement covered arrear rentals, interest and reinstatement costs.

Phalatse said at the time that the JPC CEO had submitted a report to the Acting City Manager saying the R27 million payment was made to the lessor of Proton House on 5 September 2022 and was the result of a settlement agreement between the city and the landlord.

But she questioned the escalation in the reinstatement costs.

“We are reliably informed that initial estimates of the reinstatement costs were R2.2-million. However, for some reason unbeknownst to us, that initial quote was ignored. Instead, the JPC is alleged to have appointed a new Quantity Surveyor who then prepared a Bill of Quantities which resulted in a new estimate for reinstatements at over R20-million,” Phalatse said in the 2022 statement.

“The JPC has yet to provide documentation to support the claims made in respect of the contents of the settlement agreement, nor have they attached the lease agreement which would have spoken to the specifics of the reinstatements,” she said.

JPC said no formal charges had been instituted and no findings of wrongdoing had been made in relation to the Proton House settlement, despite references to alleged actions by a previous board regarding its chief executive officer.

“The entity remains committed to transparency, accountability and good governance in the management of public assets and public funds. JPC will continue to cooperate with any lawful oversight or investigative processes and welcomes fact-based scrutiny of its operations,” JPC said.

It said it reserved its rights over “false, defamatory or misleading statements” that could damage its reputation or undermine public confidence in its work.

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DA Johannesburg mayoral candidate Helen Zille and party councillors said security staff blocked them from an oversight visit to the Metro Centre on Thursday, fuelling a row over the future of the shuttered building.

The incident comes as Zille has stepped up a highly visible pre-election campaign built around Johannesburg’s numerous service delivery failures.

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Since launching her mayoral bid, she has repeatedly used oversight visits and viral stunts to spotlight potholes, flooding, and broken infrastructure, angering city officials.  

In a statement, the DA said Zille and the party representatives were denied access by security personnel and briefly prevented from leaving the premises while the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department was called.

Zille described the incident as deeply troubling, saying: “The refusal to allow oversight is sinister and undemocratic, especially as billions in public money is at stake”.

At the centre of the dispute is the future of the Metro Centre building, which has been closed and evacuated.

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The DA said the visit was intended to assess the condition of the property and determine how and where municipal records, including residents’ building plans, are being stored following the evacuation.

The party has raised concerns about the cost of temporary office accommodation and the city’s longer-term plans for the site. It has also questioned whether proper public oversight is taking place over decisions involving the building and the records linked to it.

But the City of Johannesburg and the Joburg Property Company have maintained that the Metro Centre was declared uninhabitable after professional assessments found structural deterioration and non-compliance with occupational health and safety requirements.

The city has also said its temporary Newtown office lease was concluded after the Metro Centre was closed, with the municipality occupying more than 31,000 square metres at a monthly rate of R95 per square metre, excluding operating costs.

The DA said it would continue pursuing answers on the condition of the building, the handling of municipal records and the rationale behind the city’s plans for the Metro Centre.

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Johannesburg Democratic Alliance (DA) mayoral candidate Helen Zille has called for life sentences for individuals convicted of rape where DNA evidence positively links them to the crime.

Zille made the call outside the Roodepoort Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, where a 58-year-old Soweto pastor appeared for a bail hearing.

The man has been accused of raping a minor girl.

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Addressing the media, Zille said the case was “disturbing” and “unthinkable”.

“It hardly bears thinking that a man who is a pastor, who has people come to the church in faith, trusted by the community, could be accused of such a heinous crime,” she said.

“A vulnerable child who placed her trust in him,” now faced a lifetime of trauma, she said.

Zille emphasised the need for stronger penalties, particularly in cases involving minors.

“If there is forensic DNA evidence linking an accused to rape, that person should be jailed for life and the key thrown away,” she said.

ALSO READ: NFP divided ahead of verdict in MEC Mbali Shinga defiance case

She was joined by DA colleague Angel Khanyile, the party’s spokesperson on women, youth and persons with disabilities.

The case sparked outrage in Dobsonville, with community members staging protests outside the court, demanding justice for the girl.

The bail application was postponed to 22 April.

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The DA has elected MP and former Youth Leader Luyolo Mphithi as its new Johannesburg regional chairperson, unseating incumbent Wendy Alexander at a closely contested regional elective congress.

The congress, hosted at the Prison Break Market in Glenferness, Johannesburg, on Saturday, brought together nearly 400 delegates tasked with selecting a leadership collective that will spearhead the party’s campaign ahead of the 2026 local government elections.

Mphithi’s victory marks a leadership shift for the party in Johannesburg, with the former DA Youth leader positioning himself as a candidate capable of expanding the party’s footprint beyond traditional strongholds.

Speaking ahead of the vote, he emphasised his experience across diverse constituencies and his focus on growing support in townships and reclaiming lost ground in competitive areas.

“Democrats, as we approach this congress, I think it’s very important to be able to reflect on the experience that I bring to this role. I’ve served in DA strongholds. I’ve served in high-potential growth areas, townships. I’m also committed to ensuring that we regain our vote from the PA and that we ensure that ActionSA never gets votes again in our townships,” he said.

He added that his grassroots experience set him apart from other candidates.

“As you know, I am the only candidate in this congress campaign that serves a constituency in this region. I know what it means to struggle for votes. I know what it means to go out door to door, to meet targets, to deal with the administration that we all have to,” he said.

Mphithi said the party’s electoral path to victory lies in consolidating its base while expanding into new areas.

“Let’s maximize our DA strongholds. Let’s grow in the townships and let’s regain our vote in the swing areas. If we do this well, we will win 50% and cross over the line and have the city of Johannesburg and regain the quality of services back in the city. Let’s win. Let’s bring it home,” he said.

The congress elected a full slate of regional leaders to steer the party’s regional campaign: alongside Mphithi as regional chairperson, Nonhlanhla Sifumba was elected as regional vice chairperson.

Christopher Santana was elected regional chairperson of finance, while Annette Deppe took on the fundraising portfolio and also serves among the regional delegates to the provincial executive committee.

Devon Steenkamp was elected chairperson of membership and “voter relationship management” and is likewise a PEC delegate, alongside Darren Bergman.

Zander Shawe was elected chairperson of training and development, while Hendrik Bodenstein will oversee by-elections.

In addition, Anchen Dreyer and Patrick McGee were elected as non-public representative delegates to the federal council.

Addressing delegates, Johannesburg DA mayoral candidate Helen Zille outlined a series of new campaign strategies designed to secure an outright majority in the city, warning that the stakes for Johannesburg were existential.

“If we mess this up, Joburg won’t survive another five years of what it’s got now. Our research is telling us that we can get over 50%. It’s also telling us that it will take the most tremendous amount of work to get us there. But we’re not scared of work, are we?” she said.

Zille framed the upcoming election as both a “generational duty” and a “generational opportunity”, urging party members to intensify their efforts.

“We can’t enjoy the incredible bounty of South Africa, without putting something back and leaving a country for our children better than the one we were born into,” she said.

DA Gauteng leader Solly Msimanga welcomed the congress, positioning the party as a credible alternative to the ANC.

“The DA is not perfect, not by a long shot. But one thing about the DA is, we get things done. The choice is going to be simple: you continue to put the thieves in place, or you put a government in place that is accountable,” Msimanga said.

The DA has been sharply critical of Johannesburg’s current administration, citing ongoing service delivery failures, including water shortages and deteriorating infrastructure, as evidence of governance collapse under ANC-led coalitions.

The congress also recognised party activists, councillors and constituency structures with awards for their contributions on the ground.

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The Democratic Alliance (DA) Johannesburg mayoral candidate Helen Zille has outlined five key priorities she says the DA will implement to turn around the City of Johannesburg if elected to govern after the upcoming local government elections.

Delivering a keynote address at the launch of the party’s pledges at Johannesburg City Hall on Saturday, Zille said the DA aims to restore basic services, improve infrastructure and attract at least 200,000 new jobs to the city.

She said the party’s governance model, which it says has been successful in DA-run metros such as the City of Cape Town, could help revive Johannesburg’s economy and rebuild public confidence.

The DA has governed Johannesburg in brief stints through coalitions since the 2016 local government elections through mayors Herman Mashaba and Dr Mpho Phalatse.

Zille said the DA’s first priority would be restoring reliable water and electricity supply for residents and businesses.

She accused the current administration of mismanaging public funds and failing to maintain critical infrastructure.

“We will stop the stealing and wasting of public money,” she said. 

“Revenue paid by residents for essential services will be ring-fenced to ensure it is used to maintain and fix those services.”

Zille also said the party would partner with the private sector to invest in infrastructure to stabilise service delivery.

The second pledge focuses on improving roads and traffic management.

Zille said the DA would aim to repair potholes within 72 hours of being reported and ensure that at least 95% of traffic lights are operational at any given time.

She described Johannesburg’s traffic intersections as chaotic, saying malfunctioning traffic lights contribute to congestion, accidents and economic losses.

“Drivers sit in chaos every day. It delays workers, slows the economy, damages cars and even costs lives,” she said.

A key promise in the plan is to attract at least 200,000 new jobs to Johannesburg within five years. She did not outline which sectors these will be from.. 

Zille said restoring basic services and ensuring a capable local government would help bring businesses back to the city and revive economic activity.

“Johannesburg can once again become the economic powerhouse of South Africa and Africa,” she said.

She added that rebuilding the city’s economy would require partnerships with businesses, investors and residents.

Zille also pledged to strengthen law enforcement and combat corruption in the city administration.

She said the DA would reclaim hijacked buildings, prevent illegal land invasions and create safer public spaces.

“We will be unapologetically tough on crime. We will kill corruption and protect whistle-blowers,” she said.

The final pledge focuses on building a professional and efficient municipal government.

Zille said the party would appoint competent officials, reward good performance and introduce modern systems to improve service delivery and billing.

“A fair billing system and simple, user-friendly services using modern technology will be introduced,” she said.

Zille concluded by saying Johannesburg’s recovery would depend on restoring good governance and rebuilding trust between residents, businesses and the city administration.

“The DA’s signature good governance awaits Johannesburg following the local government election,” she said. “We believe in Joburg, and we will get Joburg working again.”

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Johannesburg DA mayoral candidate Helen Zille said on Thursday that persistent power outages at Alexandra Magistrates’ Court were forcing delays in court proceedings and undermining access to justice.

Zille was on an oversight visit at the court, with the party’s spokesperson on justice, Glynis Breytenbach.

Her visit coincided with the appearance of Bellarmine Mugabe, who is facing attempted murder charges.

Zille said the court could not operate properly without power and warned that this was affecting matters such as the case involving Mugabe.

“This is like where a local government can’t deliver basic services. The big problem with our justice system, apart from many other things, is that it’s entirely clogged up, and cases get stuck in the works for years and years,” Zille said.

“Justice delayed is justice denied – that is the problem. We deal with many people whose cases get postponed again and again – justice is demanded.”

Zille said repeated postponements had serious consequences and created a “knock-on effect” linked to what she described as failing authority.

She said the lack of electricity at the court would have a profound impact on residents trying to access justice.

Asked what she would prioritise at courts if elected Johannesburg mayor, Zille said she would address visible service delivery failures around the court, including sewerage in the road, the enforcement of bylaws, questions about why water was being dammed in the area, and the expenditure of nearly R3 billion in Alexandra over two decades without “meaningful improvements”.

“There was an Alexandra upgrade programme — a special programme — and over the last 20 years, almost R3 billion has been spent. I want to know where that money went, and if it wasn’t spent on basic services, then what?”

Da leader Helen Zille addressing the media outside the Alexandra Magistrate’s Court. PHOTO: X/Supplied

Zille said the Department of Justice needed to ensure the court was able to operate effectively and dispense justice within a reasonable time, including by installing a new generator.

Breytenbach also criticised the conditions at the court and called on the justice minister to visit the site to see the situation firsthand.

“This court has been here for three decades. It’s where the people of Alexandra come to access justice — they have nowhere else to go,” Breytenbach said.

“These conditions are unacceptable; no South African should be subjected to this. There is no dignity in this.”

She said the court’s generator had been nonfunctional for 16 years and said the problem required urgent intervention.

“We will certainly be raising it with the minister on an urgent basis,” she said.

“When I return to Cape Town, I will discuss with our Portfolio Committee chairperson, and this isn’t the only court with a generator that has no fuel, so the courts cannot keep postponing cases for weeks.”

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Johannesburg’s much-anticipated citizen-led water protest started on a turbulent note on Saturday morning outside the Johannesburg Council Chambers, as tensions flared between community organisers and members of the Democratic Alliance (DA), including federal chairperson Helen Zille.

The protest was organised by a coalition of activists, unions, religious groups, and small business associations, and was marketed as a peaceful show of unity under the slogan “People Before Politics”.

Demonstrators called on the City of Johannesburg and Johannesburg Water to urgently resolve the deepening water crisis that has left many communities without consistent access for weeks.

However, the atmosphere shifted as Zille — who has been put forward as the DA mayoral candidate for the metro — began an interview on the sidelines of the event.

Her remarks about governance and the DA’s record in service delivery were met with hostility from small sections of the protest.

Organisers quickly distanced the movement from her presence, reiterating that the demonstration was not aligned to any political party.

“People before politics!” protesters chanted repeatedly, drowning out the veteran politician’s attempt to speak.

Zille told journalists moments before the confrontation that the water crisis reflected systemic governance failure in the metro.

“Voters have to choose a different party to govern. When the DA governs, you don’t have these problems. The whole system here is broken. We have a plan to direct money where it’s supposed to go — to ring-fence water and electricity finances, and to fix the pipes and the system,” she said.

Her comments were swiftly rejected by community leaders who accused her of “hijacking” a citizen-led initiative.

Mshengu Tshabala of the Johannesburg Crisis Alliance, one of the conveners of the protest, expressed frustration at what he called “political intrusion.”

“Zille must leave! We are not in a political party gathering here. These people are fighting for their community, not for any political party,” Tshabala said, to cheers from the crowd.

The organisers reiterated their stance that the protest was about accountability and service delivery, not electioneering. They said that Johannesburg’s escalating water crisis affects residents across party lines.

The protest continues, with convenors expected to hand over a memorandum of demands and receive responses from executive mayor, Dada Morero.

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The Democratic Alliance’s (DA) decision to field Helen Zille as its Johannesburg mayoral candidate has drawn praise from some pundits, but rival parties vying for control of South Africa’s economic hub remain unconvinced.

RISEMzansi, which campaigned aggressively in Johannesburg during the national elections, criticised the move, saying that Zille is out of touch with the realities faced by residents on the ground.

“The idea that someone who doesn’t even pay rates in the city of Joburg and hasn’t lived here for over two decades believes they are more suited to lead the city than any of its own residents is an insult to us all and we should reject that suggestion with the contempt it deserves,” RISEMzansi national chairperson Vuyiswa Ramokgopa said.

DA leader John Steenhuisen announced Zille as the party’s mayoral candidate over the weekend. Zille is a former Western Cape premier and mayor of Cape Town.

But according to Ramokgopa: “Under the DA leadership people in Tshwane, a metro close to the City of Johannesburg, did not have clean and safe water to drink and we don’t trust them to have the solutions we need to fix our city. This lack of leadership and service delivery is exactly what the DA governance represents.”

In response to this and other criticism from various parties — which she responded to in a number of interviews this week – Zille said the DA was scuppered in Tshwane because it was forced into coalition governance. She has said that for the DA to turn around Johannesburg, a clear majority mandate will be needed from voters in the upcoming local government elections.

Ramokgopa told Inside Metros: “RISEMzansi will work with residents of Johannesburg to hold the current leaders to account, we will continue to expose lack of service delivery and work hard to bring solutions to the table and not just complaints.”

South Africa’s commercial hub is grappling with a series of crises, ranging from frequent water and power outages, to collapsing infrastructure – the result of decades of poor or no maintenance – soaring crime levels, daily protests and frequent accusations of corruption.

The ANC Women’s League (ANCWL) also came out firing after the announcement, referring to a comment Zille made in 2012 while Western Cape premier when she said people from the Eastern Cape who relocated to the Western Cape were “economic refugees”.

Said the league in a statement this week: “Helen Zille’s self-proclaimed clean governance during her tenure as Mayor of Cape Town is in full display as one drives along the N7 in the densely populated poverty stricken Du Noon near Killarney and her legacy project in Blikkiesdorp in Delft….”

“The only proven track record to be attributed to the DA is its inherent disregard for transformation, and their political conviction remains that of the protection of white privilege and supremacy,” the league added.

In a radio interview on Tuesday, Zille defended the statement, saying that her own parents were refugees.

“I’m a refugee and my parents were refugees. They came here [from Germany in the 1930s to avoid Nazi persecution] because they were threatened, and half my family was murdered and that is why they were refugees in South Africa. There is no blame on a refugee for being a refugee. The blame is on the circumstances that force them to become a refugee,” Zille said.

She said people migrate from the Eastern Cape to Cape Town because they want better schools, clinics, employment, clean water, reliable electricity and connectivity.

“Refugee is a word that you use everywhere in the world, it is not pejorative to say you are going away from something,” she said.

Ramokgopa said RISEMzansi has been calling for new voices in the political arena and Zille’s candidacy falls short of this.

“Joburg is not short of competent and capable leaders with the requisite credentials and vision to lead our beloved city of Joburg into the future.

The current political establishment in the city of Johannesburg is without ideas and we can’t recycle leaders without a plan — we need new leaders with a plan to fix Johannesburg.

RISEMzansi is calling upon residents to look through the noise and use their vote to punish all parties in council.”

Spokesperson for the Afrika Mayibuye Movement, Sydney Baloyi, told Inside Metros the party was squarely focused on improving the lives of the people of Johannesburg.

“Johannesburg is the heart of South Africa’s economy and culture, and its future is too important to be left to politics as usual. In the weeks ahead, we will share more about our plans to restore dignity, deliver services, and return Johannesburg to its people.

“Our focus is squarely on the people of Johannesburg. Mayibuye will contest all wards in the city, and we believe we stand a strong chance of winning a majority of both wards and votes,” Baloyi said.

Freedom Front Plus regional leader, Franco De Lange, said there is no party even close to governing Johannesburg by itself.

“We are going to have to look at trustworthy coalition partners because not one party is going to govern Johannesburg by itself. If we like it or not, we need stable coalitions in Johannesburg and that is where Freedom Front comes in, we have proven ourselves as a stable trustworthy coalition partner,” De Lange said. 

“Unfortunately, the DA gave Johannesburg back to the ANC when Herman Mashaba resigned. In 2021 because the DA didn’t want to work with the Patriotic Alliance, they basically gave the city back to the ANC.”

“At the end of the day you can’t play coy, you need to look at coalition partners and treat them well because even if you are the majority party within a collation, you still need your partners to get you over the line.”

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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

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