Democratic Alliance (DA) Federal Chairperson, Helen Zille has raised red flags over Johannesburg’s finances, saying a review of the City’s budget revealed irregularities such as duplicated jobs and inadequate funding for maintenance.

On Saturday, the party announced Zille as its Johannesburg mayoral candidate for the 2026 local government elections.

In her acceptance speech at a rally in Soweto, she described the decay of the city as an example of bad governance. She says per priority would be to stabilise the finances of the city.

“In Johannesburg, there is enormous duplication. So you have all these municipal entities and you have those jobs duplicated in the administration for reasons that still can’t be understood. And instead of providing huge professional capabilities through those municipal entities, they are really like the state-owned enterprises; they are there, deployed cadres. Then there is the serious problem of the division of the budget between operational and capital expenditure. Then you have the problem of far too little money going into maintenance. Joburg spends less than 1% of its budget on maintenance, the lowest of any city. It should be edging up to 8%.”

The former Premier of the Western Cape, who is 74 years old, dismissed concerns about her age, saying she is ready and energetic to tackle the city’s challenges.

While her age has sparked much debate, Zille argues her experience makes her well-equipped to turn the city around.

Known for her leadership in Cape Town, Zille has promised to focus on job creation, improving infrastructure, and enhancing service delivery in Johannesburg.

Malnutrition

Meanwhile, the Gauteng Department of Social Development has accused the DA of manipulating figures to mislead the public. This comes after the DA released statements on social media claiming that millions of children are suffering from malnutrition due to the department’s decision to centralise food distribution.

Gauteng Department of Social Development spokesperson Teddy Gomba says these allegations are false and also a manipulation of statistics.