Helen Zille’s mayoral bid divides DA:
Democratic Alliance (DA) federal council chair Helen Zille’s potential return to front-line politics as the party’s Johannesburg mayoral candidate has reignited political tensions in the city, drawing sharp rebukes from both the ANC and ActionSA ahead of the 2026 local government elections.
It has also ruffled feathers in her own party, with some DA Gauteng members expressing concern about what they describe as a centralisation of power and a lack of renewal in the party. The DA is divided over whether the former Cape Town mayor and Western Cape premier represents stability or stagnation.
Zille confirmed last week that she has been approached to apply for the position and is considering the offer seriously. “I’ve been asked to throw my name in the hat,” she told Reuters, adding that she would consult her family before making a final decision.
Zille’s potential candidacy comes as the DA prepares to finalise its shortlist for the 2026 local government elections.
Both the ANC and ActionSA have accused the DA of clinging to outdated leadership structures and sidelining younger, black leaders in favour of political veterans.
ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba, who served as Johannesburg mayor from 2016 to 2019 under a DA-led coalition before resigning, did not mince words in his critique of his former party’s internal dynamics.
“They do not believe in black excellence,” Mashaba commented this week, saying the same DA that had refused to back its former Johannesburg mayor, Mpho Phalatse, when she faced opposition was now turning to Zille.
“If Zille becomes mayor, the people of Soweto and Alexandra can forget about ever receiving quality services,” he said.
The ANC’s Johannesburg regional spokesperson, Sasa Manganye, said Zille’s possible candidacy further confirmed the DA’s failure to nurture leadership capable of governing the city.
“The DA has had multiple chances to prove itself since 2016, and each time it has failed Johannesburg residents. Coalition governments under their watch have been defined by infighting, leadership instability and poor service delivery,” he said.
He added that Zille’s return would signal a continuation of that dysfunction.
Joburg remains politically fractured. Since the 2021 local government elections, the city has seen a succession of mayors as fragile coalitions struggled to hold.
The ANC currently leads the metro, with Dada Morero elected as the new mayor last August, succeeding Kabelo Gwamanda, who had resigned in the eighth change in city’s top job since December 2019. This is Morero’s second bite as mayor, having served in the post for just 25 days in 2022 before the Johannesburg high court ruled that his election was unlawful.
Morero’s second tenure, while comparatively stable, has faced criticism over delayed infrastructure maintenance and poor service delivery in informal settlements.
Speaking at a press briefing in Tshwane House on Monday, Morero suggested that Zille’s potential inclusion on the list for Johannesburg mayor could indicate the DA’s acknowledgment that the party in the region is not up to the task and that it might also have been prompted by a recognition of the efforts of the ANC and its coalition partners to address issues in the city.
“We have assembled a team of Joburgers, many of whom have served as city managers in Johannesburg and Tshwane, to help us turn around Johannesburg. We have extended the invitation to some among their ranks, and perhaps [the DA is] realising that something is being done to turn around Johannesburg. We are making progress, and we are beginning to see results,” he said.
Tshwane mayor Nasiphi Moya said it was interesting that the DA was considering Zille, who lives in Western Cape, as a mayoral candidate in Johannesburg.
Zille, widely credited with turning around Cape Town’s governance during her tenure from 2006 to 2009, is seen by some in the DA as a steady hand capable of restoring stability and strategic focus to the Johannesburg administration. Her supporters argue that her national experience and administrative acumen make her an ideal candidate to spearhead the DA’s campaign in Gauteng. But concerns in the DA’s Gauteng structures point to growing dissatisfaction with the federal leadership’s influence on local decisions.
A senior DA member in the province, speaking on condition of anonymity, described Zille’s potential candidacy as “disempowering” to local leaders.
“We talk about renewal, we talk about grooming the next generation, but whenever there is a high-stakes race, we fall back on people who already had their turn,” the source said. “The optics of parachuting a Cape-based senior figure into a Gauteng race will cost us in the long run.”
DA national spokesperson Karabo Khakhau downplayed claims of internal division, saying the party’s candidate selection process remains open and competitive.
“All members who meet the eligibility requirements are free to apply. The selection panel will consider each candidate on merit,” she said.
The political implications of Zille’s entry into the race are already being felt in the broader coalition space. The DA, which garnered about 26% of the vote in Johannesburg in 2021, remains dependent on coalition partners to govern. Its coalition with ActionSA, the Inkatha Freedom Party, Freedom Front Plus and other smaller parties collapsed following disputes over candidate nominations and policy direction.
Political analyst Lukhona Mnguni said Zille’s possible candidacy could polarise potential coalition partners and fracture the DA’s electoral appeal in townships and urban peripheries.
“Zille remains a powerful figure in South African politics, but her return to the executive office in Johannesburg would be controversial,” Mnguni said.
“There’s a perception that she is not sufficiently in touch with the socio-economic realities of black urban voters, and that could limit the DA’s growth beyond its traditional support base.”
Despite this, others argue that Zille would bring credibility and competence to a city mired in endless governance crises which have seen it battle with infrastructure decay, energy disruptions and budget overruns. Some voters may prioritise experience over identity, they said.
The final list of DA mayoral candidates is expected to be announced by the end of June. While Zille’s formal entry remains pending, her acknowledgment of the approach has already shifted the terrain. Should she enter and be selected, the DA will face the dual task of presenting her as both a proven leader and a legitimate choice for Johannesburg’s diverse electorate.
The Mail & Guardian had not received comment from Zille by the time of publishing.
Meanwhile, ANC officials say they are preparing to defend the mayoral chain, with Morero already positioning himself as a hands-on leader with a new focus on community safety, infrastructure repair and energy resilience.
In recent weeks, the city deployed new metro policing units and launched a “bomb squad” to investigate sabotage of substations and water infrastructure.
The contest for Johannesburg may prove to be one of the most fiercely fought battles in the 2026 municipal elections.
The law is not neutral — it serves power or it serves the people:
The recent court challenge by corporate law firms against the Legal Sector Code is more than a legal dispute, it represents a profound political and institutional crisis. It calls on all members of the legal fraternity, across every sector, to respond with clarity, conviction and courage. The law does not exist in a vacuum, untouched by our country’s history, and neither should we.
At the core of this legal challenge is a disturbing message that the inclusion of black people in key parts of the legal sector is bad for business. The use of law to defend elite power is nothing new — it has long been a tool for preserving exclusion in South Africa. From the legal justifications of apartheid to post-apartheid tactics of delay and obstruction, the legal profession has often stood guard over the gates of privilege. It is therefore unsurprising — though no less alarming — that this claim is now being made under oath, in a country where the majority is black.
If this moment does not compel us to speak out, then perhaps we are complicit in the unequal future being forged in our name. As in every contested space, power does not yield without a contestation — it fortifies itself.
The government’s black economic empowerment code for the legal sector reveals that, three decades into democracy, these corporate law firms have not been able to self-regulate in a way that meaningfully includes black professionals at the highest levels. These same firms are adept at identifying black talent on university campuses, sitting on transformation committees, publishing polished equity reports and championing mentorship initiatives.
Yet, when real accountability is required and they are asked to disrupt entrenched patterns of opportunity, democratise access to work for smaller firms or transparently report on transformation progress, they recoil, and compliance is then framed as a threat to their freedom to trade. This is not a principled stand; it is a calculated defence of privilege. It exposes a profession more committed to the appearance of transformation than to its substance.
While these corporate law firms tie transformation in red tape and legal technicalities, we must remember that the Constitution is not neutral. It is a charter for total social transformation and it commits South Africa to a future rooted in social justice, human dignity, equality and freedom for all. It rejects all forms of racism and sexism and it demands that we all play a role in building an inclusive society.
We must abandon the romantic notion that the Constitution will do the work on its own. As a transformative charter, it demands action — not from some anonymous public, but from the very institutions and professions that now invoke it to escape accountability. Section 22 of the Constitution protects the right to choose one’s profession and it was never meant to entrench monopoly power. Yet, in the hands of some corporate firms, it is being used to stall transformation and delegitimise a fair redistribution of opportunity.
When a fraternity sees the very Constitution born of struggle being used to shield privilege, the bitter irony must not go uncontested because corporate law firms are not exempt from confronting the dissonance between constitutional ideals and the lived realities of South African society. The rule of law must never be weaponised to preserve an unjust social order. If these firms truly valued legal integrity and constitutional governance, they would have embraced transformation long ago. They’ve had more than 30 years and have consistently chosen not to. Similarly, had they attended to meaningful transformation, government intervention would not be necessary.
Similarly, Kathleen Dlepu, former chairperson of the Legal Practice Council, asked: “What if the voices of resistance to the Legal Sector Code aren’t just coming from the usual suspects? What if, behind the legal jargon and procedural masks, we find the fingerprints of those who once pledged allegiance to transformation, not as outsiders, but from within?”
Her words force uncomfortable questions: Who signed these court papers? Which senior counsel is willing to lend their name to this gatekeeping? Which junior counsel, allegedly the future, is being showcased as window dressing while undermining black advancement? These questions matter because law is never neutral. It either serves power or it serves the people and the South African story requires that the law is used for the good of the people.
The entire legal fraternity bears a social responsibility to take a clear and public stance on what is unfolding. The disproportionate stranglehold on transformation maintained by firms that built their power during the darkest chapters of this country’s history must be called into question. We cannot look to institutions that profited from the systemic exclusion of black people to lead us into a just future especially when their messages, no matter who delivers them, ultimately undermine the legitimacy of black practitioners. Transformation is not a favour; it is a constitutional imperative that rests on all stakeholders.
This is a moment for clarity — not compromise. The legal profession cannot continue to obscure its failings behind rhetoric. It cannot claim nobility while actively defending structural exclusion and those of us who believe in the Constitution’s vision must be willing to call this out for what it is — a crisis of legitimacy. Beneath the veneer of constitutional argument lies a longstanding truth — the powers that control corporate law in South Africa hold the view that transformation in the legal profession is, and has always been, treated as optional. Similarly, this is a moment to acknowledge that entry into elite corporate law circles has often required silence about the racial inequalities that continue to shape our profession.
People died for this democracy. Scores of people willingly and unwillingly gave up their singular human experiences in the name of the idea that, one day, this country would not require the well-being and prosperity of black people as a sacrifice for a firm to remain in business. We cannot let those sacrifices happen in vain.
Bwanika Lwanga is a corporate and commercial attorney and a columnist with an interest in African regional trade, spatial justice and social justice issues.
Abongile Nkamisa is a lawyer and legal researcher interested in corporate accountability, access to information and law to advance social justice.
Digital occupation: How surveillance technologies repress dissent from Gaza to Cape Town:
From the skies above Gaza to the streets of Cape Town, surveillance technologies are no longer confined to military zones. Tools once developed for war and occupation are now being deployed to monitor, profile and suppress civilian populations — particularly those being used in solidarity with Palestine or challenging systems of injustice.
One such tool is SocialNet, developed by US-based company ShadowDragon, a contractor for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a federal law enforcement agency. The software scrapes user data from more than 200 platforms — including Instagram, Facebook, OnlyFans and Bluesky — to construct detailed profiles of individuals’ political views, associations and activities. Once used to hunt “terror suspects” abroad, such software is now used domestically in the US to track activists, immigrants and students.
According to Surveillance Watch, ShadowDragon and similar technologies have been deployed to monitor pro-Palestinian activists — especially after the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack and the escalation of war in Gaza. Peaceful protesters have faced online harassment, disciplinary action and immigration enforcement — all triggered by surveillance-generated intel. The net effect: digital repression masquerading as national security.
South Africa is not immune. Amid pro-Palestinian solidarity actions — marches, boycotts, and teach-ins — activists report being photographed at protests, tracked on social media and warned by law enforcement. In some cases, private security firms with Israeli ties are alleged to have assisted in data collection and monitoring. The methods may differ, but the logic is the same: control space, suppress dissent and treat activism as a threat.
Aerial surveillance systems such as Eye in the Sky reinforce this logic. Originally designed for military reconnaissance, these systems use high-resolution cameras mounted on planes or drones to survey entire neighbourhoods — recording protest routes, tracking crowds and compiling footage for analysis. Often deployed without public oversight or judicial authorisation, they turn urban centres into open-air observation zones.
In Gaza, similar technologies are used by Israeli forces to monitor and target civilian movement. In Cape Town, they watch citizens exercising constitutional rights.
The digital occupation framework reminds us that surveillance is not neutral. It is political. It is often racialised. And it is global. Facial recognition tool NesherAI, allegedly used by the right-wing Zionist group Betar, exemplifies this transnational repression. The software reportedly identified Palestinian student activist Mahmoud Ahmed Khalil on a US campus. A dossier about him was posted publicly and allegedly shared with ICE. The same technologies tested on Palestinians under occupation are now used to suppress solidarity abroad.
South Africa’s Constitution guarantees the right to privacy under section 14, while the Protection of Personal Information Act aims to regulate the collection and use of personal data. Internationally, Article 17 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights prohibits arbitrary interference with privacy. Yet these laws struggle to keep up with the speed and scale of militarised surveillance tools imported — legally or otherwise — into civilian life.
Worse still, these tools do more than watch — they shape behaviour. Protesters begin to self-censor, students avoid organising and communities withdraw from public dissent. The psychological toll of being constantly observed is immense, particularly for racialised or marginalised groups. It mimics the tactics of occupation: isolate, intimidate, control.
As South Africans, this moment demands clarity and political courage. The same state surveillance once used to crush anti-apartheid movements is being repackaged through private tech firms and foreign alliances. The rhetoric is new — “smart cities”, “public safety”, “counter-extremism” — but the effect is old: silence dissent, maintain control, and fracture solidarity.
From Gaza to Cape Town, from drones to data-mining, surveillance is not just a security tool, it is a system of domination. If we do not resist its expansion, we risk accepting a future in which privacy, protest, and political freedom become casualties of a permanent digital occupation.
Sõzarn Barday is a writer and attorney based in South Africa and has a particular interest in human rights within the Middle East. Opinions shared represent her individual perspective.
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