The DA will field mayoral candidates across Gauteng, with Helen Zille expected to spearhead the Joburg campaign for stable governance.
The DA has targeted Gauteng’s misfiring cities and towns for a takeover, putting up mayoral candidates in all metros and municipalities – and party federal chair and stalwart Helen Zille is going to be in the vanguard of the campaign.
Zille is likely to stand as a candidate for Joburg mayor and, party insiders say, she’d be tough to beat on any front.
“Zille is not always loved, but she is respected as someone who means business,” said one DA ward councillor.
‘Zille is only person that can save Joburg’
“She is the only person that can save the city. Her track record is unrivalled.”
Zille said her focus on Johannesburg is not a “second coming”.
“I have never left,” she said.
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But the sense of urgency to sort out the malaise that residents and companies have complained about is a priority for her.
“Fixing the basics will be a major challenge,” she said.
If Zille becomes mayor, she said that problems will be addressed “one step at a time”.
One problem at a time
“It took 30 years to break Johannesburg and it will not be fixed overnight. It’s always easier to break a municipality than it is to fix it.”
She said voters carved up the last municipal ballot that resulted in coalitions across most large metros. Voters then paid the price with unstable councils.
“The electorate decided to divide their vote among a lot of tiny parties, resulting in big and unwieldy coalitions that very rarely work,” she said.
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“The chaotic coalitions in various metros is the answer they have received.”
Tshwane, Ekurhuleni and Johannesburg have seen lacklustre council performance, with political infighting and instability derailing critical city care.
However, Zille said coalitions are not always the problem child when the right people are hired to deliver the goods to ratepayers.
DA involved in coalitions working well – Zille
“The DA is involved in many coalitions that are working well.”
Delivery improves when competence comes first, she said.
“It is clear if voters elect parties with a track record of good governance, who appoint officials on the basis of their skills and expertise and not their party connections, service delivery improves.”
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The party plans to go big. “We will have a DA mayoral candidate in every strategic municipality and every metro,” she said.
“The voters will have the choice to vote for a party with a strong track record in government. In an election, it is over to them.”
Former Tshwane mayor Cilliers Brink has thrown his hat into the ring and been confirmed as the DA’s candidate for mayor for that city.
Brink throws hat into the ring for Tshwane
The contest seems set for the DA in Ekurhuleni. Former mayor Tania Campbell has purportedly thrown her hat in the ring and so, too, has former MP Mike Waters and councillors Lucky Dinake and Thava Maifela.
Ex-mayoral candidate Refiloe Nt’sekhe could not be drawn on her interest in competing.
A DA caucus member said it would have to be a black candidate in the East Rand to break a lily-white slate for the balance of the province’s major metros.
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Coalitions, should there be any after the elections next year, may take a different shape.
Zille said should the EFF turn out to be a spent force, uMkhonto weSizwe (MK), touted by many as its replacement, may not live up to expectations.
Cannot jump the gun
“MK is a Jacob Zuma project,” said Zille. “His aim is to get rid of President Cyril Ramaphosa and when he has done that, I think MK will have served its purpose.”
But it’s early days and “I cannot jump the gun”, Zille said.
