News24 | Roaring Gusheshe entrance as Zille warns: ‘Last chance to rescue Joburg’

• Helen Zille made a dramatic entrance at DA’s final rally at the Nasrec Expo Centre, driven by a roaring Gusheshe BMW 325i and dressed in a white suit.
• The DA mayoral candidate pledged independent corruption investigations, public hearings and removal of corrupt officials from day one.
• Promises were made to replace pipes, fix substations, restore streetlights, and repair the billing system that is draining Johannesburg’s finances.
• For more political news, visit News24 Politics.

Democratic Alliance mayoral candidate Helen Zille made a dramatic entrance at the Nasrec Expo Centre on Saturday, arriving in an iconic “Gusheshe” BMW 325i with a roaring engine before delivering a rousing final rally speech that painted a vision of a transformed Johannesburg.

Dressed in a white suit, Zille emerged from the classic vehicle to thunderous applause before launching into a combative hour-long address that oscillated between harsh criticism of the governing ANC and optimistic pledges of renewal. She warned voters this may be their “last chance” to save the city from collapse.

Zille outlined an ambitious plan to tackle Johannesburg’s mounting crises – from crumbling infrastructure and failing service delivery to endemic corruption and lawlessness.

“This is our last chance to save Johannesburg,” Zille told the crowd, framing the 4 November municipal elections as a watershed moment.

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“The question is no longer WHAT must be done. The question is WHO CAN DO IT?”

The speech’s strongest angle centred on service delivery failures that have become emblematic of Johannesburg’s decline – broken water pipes, persistent power outages, uncollected refuse, and dangerous streets plunged into darkness by non-functioning streetlights.

Zille painted a vivid picture of daily life for Johannesburg residents, contrasting the grim reality with what a DA-run city could deliver.

The DA's Johannesburg mayoral candidate, Helen Zille, arrives in an iconic BMW 325i.

Supplied/DA

“Try to imagine waking up in a Joburg that works. You turn on the tap. There is clean water. You switch on the kettle. There is electricity,” she said, drawing applause from supporters.

The contrast with current conditions, where businesses are forced to drill boreholes and buy generators just to remain operational, was stark.

Five-point rescue plan

At the heart of Zille’s pitch was a detailed five-point plan to rescue Johannesburg, beginning with fixing the city’s broken finances.

She pledged to cut wasteful expenditure, repair the dysfunctional billing system that sees payments disappear instead of funding services, and redirect resources to essential service delivery.

“We will fix the billing system so that when you pay for services, your money actually funds those services,” Zille promised.

The second pillar involves appointing competent, honest officials – including qualified engineers and financial managers – while removing underperforming staff who have presided over the city’s decline.

But it was Zille’s third pledge that drew the loudest cheers: declaring war on corruption from day one.

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She committed to establishing independent investigations with public hearings, acting on evidence from the Auditor-General, the Zondo Commission and whistleblowers, rebuilding the city’s anti-corruption capacity, and opening all procurement to public scrutiny.

“We will act on corruption evidence. We will open procurement to public scrutiny. And we will remove corrupt officials,” Zille declared.

The fourth component focuses on making the municipality responsive to residents’ needs – answering phones, tracking faults, resolving billing queries, and dramatically speeding up building plans and business permits that currently languish for months.

Finally, Zille pledged to restore law and order by supporting honest metro police while removing corrupt officers, targeting cable thieves and criminal syndicates destroying infrastructure, and repairing dangerous municipal properties and broken streetlights.

Specific service delivery commitments

Beyond the strategic framework, Zille outlined concrete service delivery pledges that a DA government would prioritise.

These include replacing ageing water pipes and fixing failing substations, maintaining and repairing the city’s potholed roads, restoring the thousands of broken streetlights that have turned once-safe neighbourhoods into crime hotspots, and cracking down on illegal dumping and hijacked buildings.

DA supporters packed one of the Nasrec Expo Centre halls to listen to the party's Johannesburg mayoral candidate Helen Zille deliver her vision.

Supplied/DA

She pointed to an anomaly that has become a rallying cry for DA campaigners: that there are more working streetlights in Khayelitsha, a Cape Town township, than in affluent Sandton.

“How is it possible that Khayelitsha has more working streetlights than Sandton?” Zille asked. “Because we run Cape Town, and we make it work.”

Track record versus promises

Throughout the speech, Zille leaned heavily on the DA’s track record in Cape Town and other municipalities to bolster her credibility.

She claimed that Cape Town replaces water pipes significantly faster than Johannesburg, that Cape Town has created 120 000 more jobs since 2016 than other metros, and that DA-run Midvaal has achieved 12 consecutive clean audits.

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By contrast, she lambasted years of ANC governance that has failed to replace pipes, fix roads, stop corruption or bring municipal finances under control.

“The ANC has had 30 years. Thirty years of broken promises. Thirty years of crumbling infrastructure. Thirty years of corruption and looting,” Zille said.

She also warned voters against coalition governments involving the ANC, EFF, Patriotic Alliance or ActionSA, arguing they would prioritise protecting political positions over serving residents.

Realistic timeframe

Acknowledging the scale of Johannesburg’s challenges, Zille was careful to set realistic expectations about the pace of change.

“We cannot fix Joburg in a day. But every day, we will fix Joburg,” she said, outlining first-year priorities focused on rebuilding foundations, repairing finances, and beginning infrastructure repairs to pipes, substations and roads.

The candour appeared designed to manage expectations around a potential DA government, while maintaining momentum for change.

Urgent call to action

Zille closed with an urgent call to action, urging supporters to vote DA on both ballots on 4 November and to bring family, friends and neighbours to the polls.

READ MORE | Helen Zille spins BMW ‘gusheshe’ in latest campaign stunt

The rallying cry framed the election in existential terms: either voters seize this opportunity to rescue Johannesburg, or watch the city continue its decline under the same leadership that created the crisis.

“It is now or never, Joburg. LET’S MAKE IT NOW! LET’S GET JOBURG WORKING!” Zille shouted as the crowd erupted.

With just days until voters head to the polls, the DA is betting that Johannesburg residents’ frustration with broken services, corruption and municipal dysfunction will translate into support for an opposition party promising competent governance and accountability.