Johannesburg has had seven mayors in five years, and the November mayoral race could put the city’s government in the hands of the pro-business Democratic Alliance (DA). Helen Zille, a 75-year-old white politician and former mayor of Cape Town, is challenging the African National Congress (ANC), which leads a coalition in the city. The result could also affect national politics ahead of the 2029 elections.
Residents face chronic power cuts and water shortages in Africa’s richest city. Gangs sometimes take over downtown buildings and charge people to stay there. Zille has made city services central to her campaign, posting viral videos of herself swimming in potholes and paddling through flooded streets.
City services and the campaign
Rashied Najam owns a car repair shop. He said Zille won him over when she visited and listened to his concerns, after officials repeatedly neglected his requests to fix a nearby leaking sewage plant. “Here comes a lady that's my total opposition, Helen Zille, and she meets me and she shakes my hand and hugs me,” Najam said. Zille later held a campaign event at his shop.
Najam said he planned to vote against the ANC for the first time. The party was founded by liberation hero Nelson Mandela. “I love them. But they're disappointing,” he said.
Loyiso Masuku, the ANC’s Johannesburg regional chairperson and a potential mayoral candidate, acknowledged problems with service delivery and blamed them on the city’s rapid growth. “We're going to be proactive in terms of how we deal with our infrastructure challenges,” she said. Residents such as Najam, she added, “do deserve better services.”
Zille said governing Johannesburg would be harder than governing Cape Town. “Just getting functional budgeting and allocation working, getting rid of corruption, and focusing on the basics is going to be the big challenge of Joburg,” she said in an interview.
Race, identity and the vote
The election will test whether voters in the mostly Black city cross racial lines. Critics accuse the DA of defending white minority interests; the party denies the charge. Political analyst William Gumede said many South Africans “equate the ANC with their Black identity.”
“We don't yet have enough people who have moved from a voting point of view from the apartheid racial identity barrier... to a new era where they vote based on competition,” Gumede said. “But Johannesburg could actually be where we cross the barrier.”
Jacob Seane, an 83-year-old Soweto resident, said he had voted for the ANC since South Africa’s first multiracial elections in 1994 and would never change. “I think they saw their mistakes and they will fix their mistakes,” he said.
Polls and coalition negotiations
Zille said internal DA polling showed her leading with about 40% of votes. An Ipsos poll in September put the ANC at 31% and the DA at 28%. No party was expected to win outright, so coalition negotiations will likely determine who governs Johannesburg.
The DA has held the Johannesburg mayor’s office twice before. Winning the city back would boost the party ahead of the 2029 national elections. Asked about winning support across racial lines, Zille said: “I just hope that when people get into that ballot box ... the tug of the past isn't too strong.”