Could Helen Zille and Elon Musk be Joburg’s dream team?

Fixing Joburg will be a huge job that no-one can tackle alone. Whoever is elected mayor will need a strong team to fix South Africa’s biggest, most important city.

It’s beyond the collective abilities of incumbent Dada Morero and Snuki Zikalala, leader of the so-called bomb squad which has all the explosive power of a damp squib.

Cyril Ramaphosa’s presidential working group is ineffectual in Joburg and Morero is delusional.

I have no idea why he singled out my ward – out of 135 – but News24 reported him as saying, “there are no potholes in ward 90”.

In fact, there are over 100 and he has access to this data if he cared enough to look.

Possibly he gets his information from the spouse of a senior ANC person who lives in Hurlingham, where residents have for years been fixing potholes because the Joburg Road Agency does not.

If Helen Zille does accept the nomination and is elected mayor, she should recruit Elon Reeve Musk.

ALSO READ: Could Helen Zille be what’s best for Joburg?

They are far apart in many ways and she might recoil at the prospect of any association, but both can be ruthlessly efficient when the occasion demands, and both are anti-woke.

Those qualities are required to cut through the ideological claptrap, dishonesty, laziness and incompetence that continue to ruin Joburg.

In addition to being voted the world’s best mayor after turning around the crumbling Cape Town metro, Zille excelled as Western Cape premier.

After that she wrote a best-seller #Staywoke Go Broke. As chair of the DA’s federal executive, she played a leading role in negotiations over the government of national unity, remaining in the spotlight.

Zille epitomises the slogan: the DA gets things done. That’s a reputation Musk has earned on the global stage, becoming a leader in space travel, social media, low-orbit satellite communication and electric motor vehicles.

And he is the world’s richest man. In his brief stint as head of US President Donald Trump’s department of government efficiency (Doge), Musk displayed the same merciless focus he had used to revamp Twitter.

His declared aim when taking over the social media platform was to promote free speech and combat the “woke mind virus”. Joburg needs a dose of Doge to root out the rot.

ALSO READ: Elon Musk could shake up SA’s government

Some have even suggested Musk for mayor, which is stretching credulity. Although he still has a South African ID number, he is not registered to vote in SA.

And the job is way beneath his station. A short-term assignment clearing out some of the rubbish would help set up Joburg for renewal.

Mayors are not chosen through media speculation or pop-up polls. In the council chamber, councillors vote on candidates nominated and seconded by their peers.

If Zille does put her name forward as a candidate before Friday’s deadline, she will have to go through an internal party process.

If she is the DA’s candidate, she will have to be sworn in as an ordinary councillor before any voting in council.

With possibly 20 months to go before local government elections, there is no guarantee Zille will be elected mayor.

She would be the best candidate. Musk would be a bonus. A booster rocket.

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