Zille Unveils Five Pledges for Jo’burg Turnaround

Helen Zille has revealed five campaign pledges for the people of Johannesburg, should she be elected mayor of the city.

Zille is the Democratic Alliance’s mayoral candidate for the city ahead of the upcoming municipal elections, which must be held before the end of January 2027.

Zille announced the five pledges over the weekend, saying that her campaign was focused on the urgent need to halt the decline of South Africa’s economic hub and rebuild a functioning city government.

“The vision of this campaign is to unite the people of Jo’burg who believe in a city that works, run by a government that cares,” Zille said.

The first priority is restoring reliable water and electricity supply. Zille said the city would stop “the stealing and wasting of money”, ringfence service revenues, and partner with the private sector to improve infrastructure and delivery.

Fixing Johannesburg’s deteriorating roads is the second pledge. Zille committed to filling potholes within 72 hours and restoring 95% of the city’s traffic lights to working order. The plan also includes repainting road markings and deploying technology to monitor major intersections.

Economic recovery forms the third pillar of the campaign, with Zille promising to attract 200 000 new jobs to the city over five years by restoring basic services and rebuilding confidence in Johannesburg’s business districts.

Law and order is the fourth priority. Zille said her administration would take a harder line against corruption and crime, reclaim hijacked buildings, stop land invasions, and protect whistle-blowers who expose wrongdoing.

The final pledge focuses on building a professional municipal administration. Zille said the city would prioritise hiring competent professionals, rewarding strong performance, and introducing simpler billing and service systems.

Zille argued that Johannesburg could be rebuilt through co-operation between the city, businesses, and residents.

“Once elected, we will stop the rot, fix what is broken, and rebuild Jo’burg into a city its residents can be proud of,” she said.

While Zille has hit the ground running with regard to her mayoral campaign, the African National Congress has yet to announce a mayoral candidate. The only other party to announce a mayoral candidate for Johannesburg to date has been ActionSA, which has nominated former mayor of the city, Herman Mashaba, as its mayoral candidate.

The next local government elections (LGE) are likely to be the most competitive yet. A record number of municipalities will probably be hung (where no party wins enough support to govern alone) with South Africa now firmly in an era of coalition politics, particularly at the local government level.

Keep an eye out for the latest polling from our partners at the Social Research Foundation (SRF), which will be released within the next few weeks. The Common Sense has exclusive access to the SRF’s latest polling, which this time will include data from some of our metros, and give an insight into what the political state of play is, with less than a year to go before our next LGE.