Helen Zille reveals her plan to stop Johannesburg’s collapse

Helen Zille says that if she becomes Johannesburg’s mayor, her first focus will be stabilising the city’s finances to address the infrastructure maintenance backlog.

Zille shared this information during a Biznews interview about her plans to potentially run for Johannesburg mayor.

She currently serves as the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) Federal Council Chairperson, and was previously the Mayor of Cape Town and the Western Cape Premier.

Zille explained that, a year ago, she was approached to put her hat in the ring for Johannesburg mayor, which she initially saw as outrageous.

However, as time progressed, the idea became more realistic to the point where she is now seriously considering it.

Zille said the deadline for deciding whether to run for Johannesburg mayor is Friday, 13 June 2025. This means the clock is ticking.

“I am thinking hard about it. I am speaking with my family and considering the pros and cons of the decision. I am moving in the direction of doing so, but it is not final yet,” she said.

It raises the question of what Zille’s priorities will be to address Johannesburg’s issues should her party choose her as their mayoral candidate.

Her first objective will be to stabilise the finances. “Johannesburg has a capital infrastructure backlog of R200 billion and the entire city’s budget is R86 billion,” she said.

“I have some ideas of how we would start to address that, but the bottom line is that it’ll take more than five years.”

She explained that her task would be to stop the rot in the city and turn the ship around, then hand it over to her successor to move forward with what she had started.

Zille explained that fixing Johannesburg will take a whole-of-society approach. She sees civil society as a crucial partner in this process.

“Every individual who is decent, pays their rates and taxes, and holds the government to account for its performance is a valuable resident and citizen,” she said.

She wants these residents to stay in Johannesburg and help them fix it, adding that a brain drain is the last thing the city needs.

“We need people to return from abroad and put their shoulder to the wheel in South Africa’s economic heartland.”

The skills of the Johannesburg City Council will also be fundamental. This includes appointing the right people in the correct positions who are capable of doing the job.

Zille expects resistance

Zille said she expects resistance from her political opponents in her quest to become the mayor of Johannesburg and improve the city.

She does not doubt that Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi will do everything in his power to prevent her from becoming the mayor of Johannesburg.

“So will ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba. He’s played the race card already,“ Zille said in the interview.

“We are not interested in racial conflict. We’re interested in beating poverty. So, for us, it’s poverty. For other politicians, it’s race.”

This would not deter her from the task of weeding out corruption in Johannesburg and building a capable team to fix the city.

“I would certainly do my best to build a very good and cohesive team, manage any coalition as best we could, and then go out to achieve results,” she said.

She said the only way to achieve the desired results is to create a realistic plan, set timelines and performance measures, and then execute it.

“My only objective will be to restore service delivery and functionality to Johannesburg. If we achieve that, the city will fly,” she said.

“The metros in Gauteng are the next major frontier, and South Africa will stand or fall by what we do with the metros in Gauteng.”