Zille tops DA internal polling for Johannesburg mayor candidate

Polling systems within the Democratic Alliance (DA) have identified Helen Zille, the party’s federal chair, as the best candidate for the Johannesburg mayorship position, internal sources say.

Zille has fared far better than her close competitors, including Joburg caucus leader Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku and an unidentified “business leader”, the Mail & Guardian has been told.

According to sources who are close to the process, Zille’s name has also been received well in townships in Johannesburg, making her the most appealing candidate if the DA wants to take over the metro.

Some in the DA Johannesburg caucus feel Zille holds an unfair advantage as she has served in senior positions in the party, including being the premier of the Western Cape and mayor, but others believe she is the best bet.

The M&G understands Zille has been barred from taking part in the selection processes and has been replaced by deputy minister of finance Ashor Sarupen.

The move to make her Johannesburg’s mayoral candidate is being viewed as a strategic position as the DA’s internal polling has shown that it would get more votes than the ANC in next year’s local government elections, sources said, adding that a lower voter turnout would benefit the DA.

“The uMkhonto weSizwe party will take numbers from the ANC wards,” one said.

It is still unclear who the ANC will field as its Johannesburg mayoral candidate, as the party still needs to interview the top three candidates who have applied for the post.

In an interview with the M&G, DA Gauteng leader Solly Msimanga said the party had to answer the question of who it needed to turn around Johannesburg. It was unfair to assume Zille would get the nod as all councillors, as well as private citizens, were given a chance to apply for the post and go through the same processes. These include screening, vetting and writing exams. 

“We need to answer that, would somebody come in and do a good job in turning Johannesburg around, is that person in that caucus or somewhere among the ones who applied from the business sector, or is the person somebody who has done the job and turned a city around or been a premier,” he said.

“These are the things we need to grapple with and answer.

“It does not necessarily mean that someone automatically has an advantage because they are a former mayor or a former premier. There are business people who come from big sectors who have applied.”

Sources told the M&G that some DA members were seeking an audience with the leadership of the party to air their views about Zille joining their caucus.

Msimanga said as things stood there had been no request from councillors in Johannesburg to meet with the party’s leadership to deliberate on the Zille matter. 

He added that he had held a meeting with the caucus management two weeks ago, consisting of the legislature and Johannesburg caucus, which had discussed several issues including campaigning, but not any one individual.

Some of the councillors in Johannesburg feel that allowing Zille to be the candidate would stifle them, suggesting she would be a greater help in an advisory role rather than running for mayor.

“People have every right to feel some sort of discomfort, but the fact of the matter is that the party makes it a point of the process of how we do our processes. 

“Every councillor, and members of the public, were invited to apply and those who felt they should apply applied,” Msimanga said.

“There was never an issue of saying this position is reserved for Helen or anybody else; people applied. Everybody had a right to apply, as Helen had a right to apply, if she felt she could apply.”

Asked whether the party stood a better chance of winning Johannesburg with Zille at the helm, Msimanga said a lot of polling had been done which suggested that there was excitement about a number of names and Zille was one of the names polling well.

“There are quite a number of names  that have been looked at.  Belinda [Kayser-]Echeozonjoku has been looked at and there’s also a private candidate that is also being looked at that seems to be polling well.”

Msimanga however declined to name the private citizen, saying only it was somebody who holds a senior position in the private sector.

He confirmed Zille has been removed from the selection process in favour of Sarupen, as she “could not be a player and a referee at the same time”.

Asked which party the DA would be willing to go into coalition with if it did not win an outright majority in Joburg, to ensure its candidate becomes a mayor, Msimanga insisted that it was not going to the elections hoping to come second, but was aiming for first place.

The Johannesburg mayorship candidacy is being seen as Zille’s lifeline in the party, with sources saying the federal chair and party leader John Steenhuisen were not seeing eye to eye on several issues, which had created a power struggle.

These included contentious legislation and policies such as the Basic Education Law Amendment (Bela) Act, the National Health Insurance (NHI) and the Expropriation Act. 

Some in the party feel it has compromised on its non-negotiable principles regarding those issues in joining President Cyril Ramaphosa’s government of national unity.

Sources said that there had been disagreements between Steenhuisen and Zille about how the party should be run.

Asked about this, Msimanga denied there was any power struggle, although he conceded there were different “ideological engagements”. 

He insisted this was not something that was tearing the party apart, adding: “It was an issue of what can be agreed on and what can not be agreed on.”

He said there would always be different ideologies in any political party and that the majority of the time there was robust engagement and debates in the federal executive. Once the executive has taken a decision, however, it is carried through.

“The issues of how we work on the issues of Bela and NHI — you’ll always find people who have different thoughts about that. 

“I don’t think it’s only for the DA, but across political parties, as long as it’s made of individuals. Individuals have thoughts around what they think on particular issues.”

In January, sources in the DA told the M&G that a Cape Town faction perceived to be led by Zille and a faction perceived to be led by Steenhuisen were clashing on certain issues. 

They said the Cape Town cabal was speaking to mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis to persuade him to run against Steenhuisen at the party’s conference next year. 

Both Hill-Lewis and Zille however denied this.

Hill-Lewis told the M&G at the time that he had no intention of standing against Steenhuisen. 

“That will never happen — it is an impossibility,” he said, while conceding he had been asked by some in the party to contest the position. 

He also dismissed suggestions that there were warring factions within the DA, saying: “There’s no truth to your faction question.”

Zille also denied being part of a Cape Town faction in support of axing Steenhuisen, saying her job was to make sure rules were applied fairly and the party constitution was applied equitably to every member. 

Those who were alleging otherwise had no understanding of her job, she said at the time. 

“I’m not a politician. I don’t want to be a political public representative and, in that sense, I’m not a politician. I do not have factions. I’m elected by the federal council to do a job that is fair to everyone and that is what I do,” she said.

“You might agree on a number of issues and you might find yourself disagreeing on a number of issues and that’s the nature of any relationship, so that is where we are. 

“I don’t think that clearly there’s a clear faction of this one pulling with these on this side and that one pulling with people on that side.”