Adjusting to a ‘collapsing’ Joburg is not normal, says Helen Zille

Democratic Alliance mayoral candidate Helen Zille warned that Johannesburg residents have grown used to failing municipal services and described that acceptance as dangerous.

‘New normal’ of decline, she says

Speaking in Orange Grove on Wednesday, Zille said residents have become so resilient that they tolerate deteriorating services and stop complaining.

“I did not know that there is a point where you become too resilient, but when things start collapsing, they do not complain for months. They actually adjust and get used to it, and it becomes the new normal,”

she said.

Promise to restore normality

Zille told listeners the city’s residents need to be reminded that the current state is not normal.

“I need to tell them this is not normal. You have forgotten what normal looks like. Our pledge to you in this election is to bring you back to a new normal that is better than what you now take for granted. That is our promise in this election,”

she said.

She added that she is personally motivated to act because Joburg is her hometown and she wants to “stop the rot in Joburg.”

DA leaders at the same event

Also speaking at the event, DA leader Geordin Hill-Lewis said the party’s local government election campaign is on track and criticised what he described as the lack of visible campaigning by other parties.

“There is just no one else campaigning…I do not know if the ANC have thrown in the towel in this city. I hope they have,”

he said.

Hill-Lewis characterised the DA as a party for all South Africans and outlined the party’s priorities for local government, including clean government, ethics, integrity, investment in public infrastructure and professional appointments.

On the link between local and national government

DA federal chairperson Solly Msimanga told supporters that functioning towns and cities are fundamental to dignity for residents.

“My understanding is that if you have local government that fails, you can not have a national government that works,”

he said.