Helen Zille: Show me the money

DA mayoral candidate in Johannesburg, Helen Zille, said that the city’s biggest problem is that it is essentially bankrupt and needs money to improve service delivery.

She shared her plan to fix the City of Johannesburg in a discussion with Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh on the SMWX podcast.

Zille said that it is not possible to do anything without money, which means it is important to fix Johannesburg’s finances.

“Johannesburg has a serious liquidity crisis. There is no money to even put petrol in vehicles or buy stationery for licensing offices,” she said.

“All over the city, you see major projects that were started and then abandoned because they haven’t paid the contractors.”

“There is simply no money. What is owed to Johannesburg will reach R81 billion by November 2026, while the city owes R25 billion to lending agencies.”

The best starting point to fix these problems, Zille said, was to fix the billing system, which is in chaos.

“The billing system is a mess for a reason. People know that chaos helps those who want to be corrupt. It facilitates corruption,” she said.

The next step is to ensure that all procurement is conducted with radical transparency, so there can be no more corruption anywhere.

Another important intervention is to ring-fence the money coming in specifically for water and electricity to ensure those services get prioritised first.

Zille also wants public-private partnerships. “We will need to establish public-private partnerships and work with National Treasury and the Presidency,” she said.

“The Presidency has said Joburg is a priority because the city generates 16% of South Africa’s economy. If Johannesburg fails, South Africa fails,” she said.

“The national government is focused on ensuring a turnaround in Johannesburg, and we will cooperate in accordance with the Intergovernmental Relations Framework Act.”

Implementing existing turnaround plans for Johannesburg

Zille said that the National Treasury already has a specific turnaround strategy for the City of Johannesburg.

“I have read and studied the existing financial turnaround strategy at great length, and it is a very good document.

“What we would do is put our noses to the grindstone and bring real implementation discipline.”

Zille argued that despite the excellent plans, the ANC simply lacks the discipline to implement and follow through.

“What sets the DA apart is that we get on with it. If there is a good plan, we implement it,” she said.

“The financial turnaround strategy is sound, and the water turnaround strategy, which the DA contributed to significantly, is also solid.”

“The plans are already there. It just takes implementation discipline, which is exactly what we bring.”