Helen Zille's Joburg mayoral candidacy gets a nod

CAPE TOWN - Helen Zille’s campaign to run as the Democratic Alliance’s mayoral candidate for Johannesburg has received one of its more surprising endorsements from former trade unionist and political commentator, Ebrahim Harvey.

Harvey said the city is in its worst state of decay since its existence, and Zille’s track record as a former Cape Town mayor and Western Cape Premier makes her one of the best-suited candidates to arrest the decline.

While acknowledging the inequality across the city, he said it’s no coincidence that the metro is the best-run in the country.

In a weekend opinion piece, the left-leaning author Ebrahim Harvey, who penned former president Kgalema Motlanthe’s autobiography, said he believes former DA leader Helen Zille has the attributes required to turn the city of gold around.

Zille recently made her intentions known to vie for a second mayoral term, but the party is yet to make its choice.

"When you make an objective assessment, you’ve got to be non-racial, anti-racist in your views, and I really think and I believe it, that she’s probably the most formidable, confident person."

Harvey, who has recently moved to Cape Town, said that while service delivery in the city’s townships is a legitimate concern when compared to that in the suburbs, they are still in a better state than in other parts of the country.

He’s also drawn parallels between inferior apartheid-era education and how cities are being managed.

"There’s a historical link between competency, skills, and race, colour and ethnicity in this country."

Harvey said the African National Congress (ANC) has lost the ideals it once strove for to better the lives of citizens.