The ANC has turned Johannesburg into a slum

Political analyst Prince Mashele said that the ANC has turned Johannesburg into a slum, which is why he is endorsing the DA’s mayoral candidate, Helen Zille.

He shared his views on the 2026 Local Government Elections and the Johannesburg race in an interview with JJ Tabane on The Sunday World Podcast.

Mashele said that if you want to test the health of any country in the world, go to its central business district.

“So, if you want to see the work of the ANC, go to Hillbrow. You will see what the ANC does to a city,” he said.

“I am concerned about the fact that the African National Congress has turned the City of Johannesburg into a slum, and I want it to be turned around.”

He argued that Zille is the best candidate to achieve this turnaround, given her track record in Cape Town.

“I have endorsed Helen Zille for the mayor of Johannesburg, and I continue to endorse her. I’m not ashamed of it,” he said.

He said that Zille was the mayor of Cape Town and presided over the first and most difficult post-1994 coalition government in South Africa, comprising 10 parties.

“The Cape Town coalition did not collapse. She managed that for an entire term, and it didn’t collapse,” Mashele said.

She managed Cape Town well. “If you look at what Cape Town looked like by the time she was done leading it, Cape Town was not ravaged,” he said.

He said that the Cape Town city centre was not turned into a slum, unlike Johannesburg under the ANC.

Mashele also credited Zille for running the Western Cape well during her tenure as premier.

“She did not run it into the ground. She proved herself to be a competent leader capable of running both a city and a province,” he said.

“I don’t care about the fact that she’s white. In fact, for me, this colour issue is what is holding us back as Africans.”

“If you are competent, whether you are black, colored, Indian, or white, I throw my weight behind you. This is why I support Zille for mayor of Johannesburg.”