Exclusive: Poll Shows Majority of Voters Support Zille’s Run for Jo’burg Mayor

Most South Africans support Helen Zille running to become mayor of South Africa’s biggest city, Johannesburg.

This is according to a poll conducted in November 2025 by the Social Research Foundation (SRF).

Respondents were asked: “The Democratic Alliance (DA) recently announced that Helen Zille would be the party’s Johannesburg mayoral candidate for the next local government elections, to be held in 2026/7. Do you support or oppose her candidacy?”

The SRF polling therefore measures attitudes toward Helen Zille’s candidacy itself, not whether respondents intend to vote for her in an election. Respondents were asked whether they supported or opposed her standing as the DA’s candidate, and whether that view was held strongly or somewhat. This is a distinct question from vote choice and should not be read as an election forecast.

The poll recorded overall support for Helen Zille’s Johannesburg mayoral candidacy at 59.6%, compared to overall opposition of 32.5%. A further 7.1% of respondents were undecided, while 0.8% refused to answer.

Among black voters, support for Zille’s candidacy stood at 51%, while opposition stood at 41%.

Among voters who identified with the African National Congress, support stood at 50%, compared to opposition of 44%.

Among Gauteng voters, support was higher, at 63%, while opposition at 29%.

The Common Sense’s Marius Roodt said that while the data should not be confused with voting intention, and could therefore not be used to gauge the result of the Johannesburg election, it did show that a broad swathe of South Africans were fed-up with the manner in which Johannesburg has been run and are open to a complete change of political leadership in the city.