EXCLUSIVE: ANC Voters Want Helen Zille to be Jo’burg Mayor

Fifty percent of African National Congress (ANC) voters support the candidacy of Helen Zille to become the mayor of Johannesburg.

This is according to a new poll* released this week by the Social Research Foundation (SRF).

The poll which surveyed 1 002 registered voters, was conducted telephonically this month, and had a margin of error of 4%.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) announced her candidacy for Johannesburg’s top job in September.

Amongst all South African voters, 60% said they supported Zille’s candidacy for mayor of Johannesburg. A third of those surveyed said they opposed it with 8% saying they didn’t know or refused to answer.

When support for Zille’s candidacy was broken down by political party, exactly 50% of ANC supporters said they backed her standing for Jo’burg mayor with 44% opposed.

Nearly 90% of DA supporters backed her for mayor.

Some 41% of Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) supported her candidacy while 53% opposed it.

Amongst Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) supporters 41% backed Zille for mayor, with 52% opposed.

Some 51% of black respondents supported Zille’s candidacy, 87% of coloured respondents supported it, 66% of Indian respondents backed it, and 84% of white respondents backed it.

Gabriel Makin, research director of the SRF, cautioned that the data must be properly understood. He told The Common Sense that what the numbers mean is that a majority of South Africans support the idea of Zille being the Mayor of Johannesburg, but this does not mean that a majority of voters would necessarily vote for her to become the mayor. This data can therefore not be used to conclude that Zille will become the Mayor of Johannesburg, Makin said.

He also said that what was apparent from the data is that the hierarchy of needs of the country’s voters is shifting to where the provision of basic services and rooting out of corruption is emerging as a greater priority than old historical political loyalties.

*The Social Research Foundation’s Q4 2025 Market Survey was commissioned by the Foundation and conducted by Victory Research among 1 002 registered voters between 27 October and 14 November 2025 using telephonic CATI interviews. A single-frame random digit-dialling design was used, drawing from all possible South African mobile numbers to ensure that every number had an equal probability of selection, with national sim card penetration exceeding 250%, more than 90% of adults owning a phone, and mobile networks covering 99.8% of the population, giving universal practical coverage. The sample was fully weighted to match the national registered voter population across all key demographics, including language, age, race, gender, education, income, and urban or rural location. Turnout modelling assigned each respondent a probability of voting based on questions measuring their likelihood of participation, with the primary turnout model set at 52.8%. The poll carries a 4.0% margin of error at a 95% confidence level, with a design effect of 1.762.