Helen Zille sat down with The Common Sense this week to set out her plan for Johannesburg. That plan is rooted in a simple, hard-earned lesson that when local government focuses on service delivery, the colour of the cat does not matter, so long as it catches the mouse. "It doesn’t matter if the cat is black, white or ginger, as long as it catches the mouse," she told The Common Sense’s Executive Producer Gabriel Makin, arguing that residents are ready to vote for what works rather than for political or racial loyalties.

She sees a city in crisis, where daily life is defined by failed services; no water in the taps, persistent power outages, roads collapsing into potholes, and traffic lights and refuse collection neglected. "People see that there’s no water in their taps, and even when there isn’t loadshedding, lights don’t come on. When they see potholes in the streets that turn into craters and hundreds of traffic lights not working and refuse strewn about everywhere…they start thinking: don’t you think we should have a local government that will just do what it’s supposed to do in terms of basic services?" Zille argues.

Her core fix is a ruthless focus on a budget that backs maintenance and capital investment, and a team built on competence, not political favour. "You need a budget that is focused on the priorities, and you need competent people to implement the plan and achieve results on time and within budget," Zille says. She warns Johannesburg spends the lowest share of its budget on maintenance compared to any other city in South Africa, insisting that until the balance shifts, pipes will keep bursting and infrastructure will continue to fail.

Zille singles out wasteful duplication across the municipality. "There is an enormous amount spent on operational costs rather than capital costs and rather than maintenance," she says, pointing to decades of underinvestment as the root of Johannesburg’s daily breakdowns.

Her message to voters is blunt: the DA cannot fix Johannesburg without a clear mandate, and coalitions with smaller parties have left the city paralysed by instability and endless negotiation. "If people want DA governance, they have to vote for it. They don’t have to like me. They don’t even have to like the DA. They just have to love Jo'burg enough to vote for a government that can fix it," she says.

Zille’s closing argument is that Johannesburg’s fate now depends on whether residents are ready to choose results over identity. "When that thinking starts setting in, you can have a real democracy whose people start voting on the issues that matter," she says. If voters want water, electricity and working roads, it’s time to judge the cat by its catch.