Grant Pascoe
Helen Zille for Johannesburg mayor is not bold, it is desperate. The DA is out of ideas and out of leaders. Instead of presenting renewal it is recycling a figure from the past and asking voters to believe she is the answer to Joburg’s collapse.
The party wants to convince people that Joburg needs a fixer and they point to Zille’s record in Cape Town almost twenty years ago. But Cape Town in 2006 is not Johannesburg in 2025. Joburg is collapsing on every front. Water systems are broken, power cuts are routine, roads are crumbling, crime is out of control and the city’s finances are in ruins. This is not a city that can be rescued with slogans or with the ghost of past awards.
Rebranding Zille as “Gogo Helen”
The rebrand of Zille is a sign of how far the DA is willing to stretch the truth. They present her as “Gogo Helen” born in Hillbrow, a grandmother returning home. They want to erase the combative politician who spent years dividing opinion with careless remarks and endless fights. But voters know that history. Her opponents will not let anyone forget it. This new image is not authenticity, it is pure election spin.
Even if the makeover convinces some people, Zille’s leadership style is a danger in Joburg. She is authoritarian and inflexible. In this city no party wins outright power. Coalitions are not an option, they are a necessity. Zille has left behind a trail of broken relationships with other parties. If she becomes mayor she will struggle to bring partners on board. That means more instability and more dysfunction for a city that is already on the edge.
Inside the DA her selection is even more telling. Young black leaders like Belinda Echeozonjoku, the DA’s current Joburg Caucus Leader, were ignored. The message is clear. When the DA is in trouble it runs back to the old white guard. This destroys the party’s claims of change and diversity. It locks the DA in the past and keeps it from growing where it most needs support.
DA’s Lack of Vision for Joburg
The bigger truth is that the DA has no long term plan for Johannesburg. It is not building new leadership, it is recycling old personalities. It is not showing confidence in renewal, it is showing fear of collapse. By turning to Zille the DA admits it cannot produce a credible Joburg leader from its own ranks today. That weakness is now exposed for everyone to see.
ALSO READ: An Honest Word Before 2026: What Will Influence Your Choice?
The 2026 elections is not about whether Zille can stage a personal comeback. It is about whether the DA can offer Joburg anything more than tired faces and empty slogans. Joburg does not need an image makeover. It needs real leadership that can unite a fractured council, rebuild basic services and reconnect the city with its people. The DA is proving with this move that it cannot deliver that leadership.
Helen Zille’s candidacy is not about saving Joburg. It is about saving a party that has lost direction. And in the process the DA is gambling with the future of a city already on its knees.
