On Saturday, something happened that made me stop and think deeply about the election we are heading into in Johannesburg.
As I travelled through some of Johannesburg’s affluent Northern Suburbs, I was struck by the sheer visibility of the Democratic Alliance’s campaign. Poster after poster. Billboard after billboard. Prime locations. High-traffic areas. In some places, it felt as though almost every available political advertising space belonged to Helen Zille.
And I found myself asking a very simple question: Who is this campaign speaking to? More importantly, who is it trying to convince?
Political posters are not just pieces of paper stuck to poles. Billboards are not just advertisements. They represent money, strategy and political priorities. They tell us where a party believes it needs to be visible and where it believes political influence can be won.
What I saw made me think about something much bigger than an election campaign. Ot made me think about Cape Town.
I cannot look at Helen Zille’s campaign for Johannesburg without thinking about her political record in Cape Town and asking what exactly she intends to do differently here.
Zille was elected Mayor of Cape Town in 2006 and served until 2009 before becoming Premier of the Western Cape. Today, she wants Johannesburg.
And Johannesburg voters have every right to ask: Why should we believe that what happened in Cape Town will not happen here?
I have nothing against a successful city. I want Cape Town to succeed. I want Johannesburg to succeed. I want Tshwane to succeed. I want every South African city to have clean streets, functioning infrastructure, safe neighbourhoods, reliable electricity and water, thriving businesses and opportunities for young people.
But let us stop pretending that every resident experiences Cape Town in the same way.
There is the Cape Town that South Africa proudly showcases to the world: beautiful suburbs, clean streets, expensive homes, tourism, restaurants, beaches and investment.
And then there is the Cape Town experienced by many poor black and coloured residents. The townships, the Cape Flats, informal settlements and communities battling poverty, inadequate infrastructure, sanitation problems, overcrowding and violent crime.
Even today, Cape Town continues to face serious infrastructure pressures. The City reported that its teams attended to more than 90,000 sewer blockages during the 2025/26 financial year. The City itself continues to identify the need for substantial investment in sanitation and services in informal settlements.
So when I hear Cape Town presented as the model Johannesburg should simply copy, I ask: Which Cape Town are we talking about? Because the Cape Town of wealthy suburbs cannot be the only Cape Town that counts.
This is where I become particularly uncomfortable with the way South African politics is discussed. We celebrate municipal success by pointing at the places where government works. But I believe we should judge a city by what happens to the people who have the least.
The real test of government is not Camps Bay. It is not Constantia. It is not Sandton or Hyde Park, the expensive parts of Johannesburg’s Northern Suburbs. The real test is Khayelitsha. It is Delft. It is Nyanga. It is Gugulethu. It is Soweto. It is Alex. It is Diepsloot. It is every informal settlement where a mother still has to worry about sanitation, safety, electricity, housing and whether her child will have a future.
A government must be judged by the conditions of the people at the bottom, not merely by the comfort of those at the top. And this is why I believe Johannesburg voters need to look very carefully at what Helen Zille and the DA are offering.
Crime is another uncomfortable part of this conversation. I understand that crime is not exclusively a municipal responsibility. The South African Police Service is responsible for policing, and national government carries major constitutional responsibilities. But residents do not experience government through constitutional textbooks. They experience it when they are robbed, when someone they love is murdered, when gangs control neighbourhoods, when businesses are extorted and when children cannot safely walk home.
The fact that different spheres of government have different responsibilities does not make people’s fear any less real. The persistent crime crisis in parts of the Cape Flats should therefore make Johannesburg residents ask serious questions about what kind of urban government they want.
Because crime does not disappear because you put up a billboard.
This is why Herman Mashaba’s record matters to me. I support the principle that voters should judge political leaders against what they actually did when they had power.
During Mashaba’s tenure as Johannesburg mayor, his administration reported resurfacing more than 900 kilometres of roads, reducing water leaks and bursts, extending clinic operating hours and increasing investment to R17.3 billion in 2018/19.
ActionSA’s account of the Mashaba administration records 938 kilometres of roads resurfaced, thousands of informal-settlement structures electrified, thousands of title deeds handed over and over 6000 security guards and cleaners were insourced.
This is my message to black voters in Johannesburg is that they wake up. Wake up because your vote is too valuable to be bought by political theatre.
Look beyond the posters. Look beyond the billboards. Look beyond the carefully produced campaign videos. Look at the record. Look at the people who have actually governed. Look at what happened in the communities where they had power.
Ask who had access to opportunity.
Ask whether ordinary black residents experienced a meaningful improvement in their lives.
And then make your decision.
We cannot have an honest conversation about South African politics without talking about economic power. For generations, wealth and political influence were concentrated in the hands of a relatively small section of society. Democracy changed the political system. It did not magically redistribute economic power.
The answer is not to demonise people because of their race. The answer is to build a democracy in which economic power cannot silently become political power without scrutiny.
Helen Zille is asking Johannesburg to trust her. The DA says Zille has experience and that Cape Town under its leadership provides proof that Johannesburg can be fixed.
Let us examine that claim.
Let’s talk about development and service delivery in the wealthy suburbs compared to the townships.
Let’s talk about crime, sanitation and dignified housing. Let’s compare that record with the alternatives before us.
Someone can have decades of political experience and still produce dismal outcomes. This election is bigger than Helen Zille and her white monopoly capital funders. It is about the kind of city we want Johannesburg to become.
I don’t want a Johannesburg where certain suburbs become showcases while working-class communities are treated as an afterthought.
I don’t want a city where political leaders spend enormous amounts of money convincing us that they care about ordinary people while ordinary people continue to live with broken infrastructure and insecurity.
I saw the posters. But I saw more than posters. I saw a warning that Johannesburg must not confuse political wealth with political wisdom. A warning that black voters must not once again surrender their political power to people who have not demonstrated that they understand or prioritise our lived realities.
We have a vote. We have a choice. We have the right to interrogate every candidate. And we have the responsibility to remember that after the posters come down, we are the ones who still have to live in Johannesburg. We have seen enough of the politics of appearance. It is time for the politics of results and change for residents.
Residents Need To Resist The DA’s Record of Inequality in Cape Town Being Replicated In Joburg
On Saturday, something happened that made me stop and think deeply about the election we are heading into in Johannesburg.
As I travelled through some of Johannesburg’s affluent Northern Suburbs, I was struck by the sheer visibility of the Democratic Alliance’s campaign. Poster after poster. Billboard after billboard. Prime locations. High-traffic areas. In some places, it felt as though almost every available political advertising space belonged to Helen Zille.
And I found myself asking a very simple question: Who is this campaign speaking to? More importantly, who is it trying to convince?
Political posters are not just pieces of paper stuck to poles. Billboards are not just advertisements. They represent money, strategy and political priorities. They tell us where a party believes it needs to be visible and where it believes political influence can be won.
What I saw made me think about something much bigger than an election campaign. Ot made me think about Cape Town.
I cannot look at Helen Zille’s campaign for Johannesburg without thinking about her political record in Cape Town and asking what exactly she intends to do differently here.
Zille was elected Mayor of Cape Town in 2006 and served until 2009 before becoming Premier of the Western Cape. Today, she wants Johannesburg.
And Johannesburg voters have every right to ask: Why should we believe that what happened in Cape Town will not happen here?
I have nothing against a successful city. I want Cape Town to succeed. I want Johannesburg to succeed. I want Tshwane to succeed. I want every South African city to have clean streets, functioning infrastructure, safe neighbourhoods, reliable electricity and water, thriving businesses and opportunities for young people.
But let us stop pretending that every resident experiences Cape Town in the same way.
There is the Cape Town that South Africa proudly showcases to the world: beautiful suburbs, clean streets, expensive homes, tourism, restaurants, beaches and investment.
And then there is the Cape Town experienced by many poor black and coloured residents. The townships, the Cape Flats, informal settlements and communities battling poverty, inadequate infrastructure, sanitation problems, overcrowding and violent crime.
Even today, Cape Town continues to face serious infrastructure pressures. The City reported that its teams attended to more than 90,000 sewer blockages during the 2025/26 financial year. The City itself continues to identify the need for substantial investment in sanitation and services in informal settlements.
So when I hear Cape Town presented as the model Johannesburg should simply copy, I ask: Which Cape Town are we talking about? Because the Cape Town of wealthy suburbs cannot be the only Cape Town that counts.
This is where I become particularly uncomfortable with the way South African politics is discussed. We celebrate municipal success by pointing at the places where government works. But I believe we should judge a city by what happens to the people who have the least.
The real test of government is not Camps Bay. It is not Constantia. It is not Sandton or Hyde Park, the expensive parts of Johannesburg’s Northern Suburbs. The real test is Khayelitsha. It is Delft. It is Nyanga. It is Gugulethu. It is Soweto. It is Alex. It is Diepsloot. It is every informal settlement where a mother still has to worry about sanitation, safety, electricity, housing and whether her child will have a future.
A government must be judged by the conditions of the people at the bottom, not merely by the comfort of those at the top. And this is why I believe Johannesburg voters need to look very carefully at what Helen Zille and the DA are offering.
Crime is another uncomfortable part of this conversation. I understand that crime is not exclusively a municipal responsibility. The South African Police Service is responsible for policing, and national government carries major constitutional responsibilities. But residents do not experience government through constitutional textbooks. They experience it when they are robbed, when someone they love is murdered, when gangs control neighbourhoods, when businesses are extorted and when children cannot safely walk home.
The fact that different spheres of government have different responsibilities does not make people’s fear any less real. The persistent crime crisis in parts of the Cape Flats should therefore make Johannesburg residents ask serious questions about what kind of urban government they want.
Because crime does not disappear because you put up a billboard.
This is why Herman Mashaba’s record matters to me. I support the principle that voters should judge political leaders against what they actually did when they had power.
During Mashaba’s tenure as Johannesburg mayor, his administration reported resurfacing more than 900 kilometres of roads, reducing water leaks and bursts, extending clinic operating hours and increasing investment to R17.3 billion in 2018/19.
ActionSA’s account of the Mashaba administration records 938 kilometres of roads resurfaced, thousands of informal-settlement structures electrified, thousands of title deeds handed over and over 6000 security guards and cleaners were insourced.
This is my message to black voters in Johannesburg is that they wake up. Wake up because your vote is too valuable to be bought by political theatre.
Look beyond the posters. Look beyond the billboards. Look beyond the carefully produced campaign videos. Look at the record. Look at the people who have actually governed. Look at what happened in the communities where they had power.
Ask who had access to opportunity.
Ask whether ordinary black residents experienced a meaningful improvement in their lives.
And then make your decision.
We cannot have an honest conversation about South African politics without talking about economic power. For generations, wealth and political influence were concentrated in the hands of a relatively small section of society. Democracy changed the political system. It did not magically redistribute economic power.
The answer is not to demonise people because of their race. The answer is to build a democracy in which economic power cannot silently become political power without scrutiny.
Helen Zille is asking Johannesburg to trust her. The DA says Zille has experience and that Cape Town under its leadership provides proof that Johannesburg can be fixed.
Let us examine that claim.
Let’s talk about development and service delivery in the wealthy suburbs compared to the townships.
Let’s talk about crime, sanitation and dignified housing. Let’s compare that record with the alternatives before us.
Someone can have decades of political experience and still produce dismal outcomes. This election is bigger than Helen Zille and her white monopoly capital funders. It is about the kind of city we want Johannesburg to become.
I don’t want a Johannesburg where certain suburbs become showcases while working-class communities are treated as an afterthought.
I don’t want a city where political leaders spend enormous amounts of money convincing us that they care about ordinary people while ordinary people continue to live with broken infrastructure and insecurity.
I saw the posters. But I saw more than posters. I saw a warning that Johannesburg must not confuse political wealth with political wisdom. A warning that black voters must not once again surrender their political power to people who have not demonstrated that they understand or prioritise our lived realities.
We have a vote. We have a choice. We have the right to interrogate every candidate. And we have the responsibility to remember that after the posters come down, we are the ones who still have to live in Johannesburg. We have seen enough of the politics of appearance. It is time for the politics of results and change for residents.