Helen Zille eyes Joburg mayorship after DA’s top picks decline post

Zille told Daily Maverick that she would decide whether to apply to run for Johannesburg mayor by next week, as candidates who want to be considered have an application deadline of 15 June.

DA federal chair Helen Zille is seriously considering a dramatic return to frontline politics as Johannesburg mayor.

This comes after three high-profile candidates, most from business, turned down the party’s approach to throw their hats into the ring to lead the party’s Johannesburg campaign. The job was too hard-charging and the pay too low – mayors earn about R1.5-million a year. The local government election will happen in either late 2026 or early 2027.

Zille told Daily Maverick that she would decide whether to apply by next week, as candidates who want to be considered have an application deadline of 15 June.

“My whole family is in Cape Town,” she said, adding that her greatest joy now is seeing her grandchildren regularly and that they had a weekly adventure date. “My husband (retired sociologist Professor Johann Maree) has always been unbelievably supportive. He supports what I decide, but won’t come (to Johannesburg).”

She said Maree, now 82, was happily settled in their retirement village and that if she decided to run and were successful, they would remain in touch daily.

Her sons Paul and Thomas live nearby. “My family says it’s my decision.”

A close associate said Zille had been troubled by the state of Johannesburg since about 2019, when she realised that most traffic lights did not work. Since last year’s election, she has spent much time in Gauteng planning the party’s local government campaign here and had a front-row seat to what distresses the City of Gold and its six million people.

Her sister lives in Emmarentia, an old near-northern suburb often with no water or electricity due to the city’s regular outages. She said that should she run, she would live with her sister in her cottage. A mayoral candidate must be a resident of the city.

Several DA councillors plan to contest the party primary. They must submit a formal application, undergo a screening test and prepare a presentation on their plan for the city. This presentation is made to a group of 15 party leaders, five each from the Johannesburg, provincial, and federal executives. They are also asked unscripted questions. Asked if a race would be moot should she decide to run, Zille said, “ Not at all.” She said formidable candidates were running.

A senior official who spoke off the record said Johannesburg is “so far gone” that the party felt it needed a high-velocity candidate, as the DA has a strong chance of winning the city. An ANC-led coalition holds a slim majority in the city with the EFF, Patriotic Alliance and Action SA.

Johannesburg has been under soft intervention by the Presidency since March. Its collapse has become visceral with multiday power and water outages so regular they barely make the news. Thousands of traffic lights are out at any time and potholes are so large they have become dongas and memes. 

Zille previously told Daily Maverick that it would take about five years to turn the city around, but she says that was an undercount.

“It will take more than five years (now) to stop the rot and turn the tide.” She noted Johannesburg had an infrastructure backlog of R200-billion and an annual budget of R86-billion. She said the city’s staff complement had grown by 86% since 2010.

Asked what Zille had going for her for the task, the official said she had turned Cape Town around as urban blight slowly settled in around 2006, when she became that city’s mayor. Recently, she headed the party’s governance unit, which worked with councillors and representatives when they entered government. Mostly, he said, whether they liked her or not, Zille enjoyed trust in her ability to govern. 

This graphic shows the job description that the DA set for candidates. DM

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