By Akani Nkuna
DA Johannesburg mayoral candidate Helen Zille said on Tuesday that the party had an opportunity to capitalise on the ANC being “out of touch with reality” ahead of the 2026 Local Government Elections.
“The ANC is going to lose its majority in every single municipality in Gauteng. Whether we can get a majority [50% plus] one is a big challenge and a big question, but what we know for sure is that the ANC is going to lose their majority,” Zille told DA members in Pretoria, where the party’s Gauteng top brass had convened to unveil the steps to deal with the province’s water crisis.
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“[We] know that service delivery has failed; we know all of the corruption that is going on, but there is another reason that many people do not analyse properly: the ANC leadership has lost touch with the people. After being in power for 35 years, they think they are important. They think they are above everybody else, and they can live a lifestyle that nobody else can even dream about.”
The DA also unveiled a billboard at the meeting depicting Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi taking a shower in a hotel.
Last month, during a briefing on Johannesburg’s ongoing water crisis — which left some areas without water for more than two weeks — Lesufi said he too had been affected by the outages and had resorted to showering at hotels before attending official engagements.
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The comment was immediately met with backlash from residents, many of whom are dependent on erratic water supply from tankers. The premier later apologised for his comments.
Zille was scathing in her description of ANC leaders, accusing them of being “power-drunk” and driven by selfish desires.
“Power has revealed who the ANC leaders are and has revealed who all the other party leaders are. There’s only one party that really, really cares, and governs without corruption, to change the life of poor people, and that is the blue party,” Zille said.
She urged residents to vote for the DA at the local elections, saying the party would combat corruption and restore an uninterrupted supply of water in Johannesburg.
