LOCAL ELECTIONS 2026: Zille is targeting the ANC’s heartland in Joburg, but voters are doubtful

“I love the DA,” said Protea South resident Seela Phineas Malesa (67), a party poster proudly displayed in the window of his Soweto shack.

Soweto, with its population of 1.2 million people, has always been an ANC stronghold that’s seen as critical to winning the City of Johannesburg. With the ANC in freefall, the DA’s Joburg candidate, Helen Zille, has been targeting the area in its bid to win support from the almost 500,000 voters she says are needed across the metro to win a majority.

The DA has a small but loyal following in the sprawling region, which Zille hopes to expand to bolster votes from the party’s suburban base in her bid to take a majority or get close to it and form a favourable coalition.

Malesa previously supported the Land Party: “A tide of us had walked out of the ANC, convinced it no longer represented our interests. We wanted our voices amplified, and at that moment the Land Party was very strong.”

On realising that the Land Party had lost steam, they followed local leader Maureen Mnisi to the DA more than 10 years ago. Mnisi now serves as the DA’s Ward 10 PR councillor in Protea South, where the DA has pockets of strong support.

The question is whether these supporters can convince their neighbours to vote DA on 4 November when there’s expected to be a low voter turnout and lingering criticism that the party primarily represents white people continues.

‘Soweto is decisive’

In a recent interview in which he dismissed Zille’s bid to win a majority, Herman Mashaba, the ActionSA leader, said: “If she thinks she will win Joburg without the support of Soweto, she must be living in another world.”

Mashaba was the mayor of Johannesburg when he was a member of the DA.

In 2021, the ANC led Soweto in every ward, although its numbers have declined in successive elections.

Zille launched her campaign in Soweto on 20 September 2025 at the historic Eyethu Centre and has campaigned there multiple times since (that’s where she filmed the rowing video).

“Soweto is extremely decisive,” elections analyst Wayne Sussman said about Soweto in the race for Joburg.

“Johannesburg is the largest metropolitan area, and if my memory serves me correctly, about almost 30% of the wards in the elections are in Soweto.”

He added: “That is absolutely significant. You compare that to Alexandra, you compare that to a number of other areas, it’s by far the largest area.”

Gareth van Onselen’s Inside Politics reports that the DA won 31,324 ward ballot votes (9.77%) in Soweto under Mmusi Maimane’s leadership in 2016, but that dropped to 9,355 (4.1%) in 2021 as many voters stayed away from the polls.

Turnout is expected to be low in the upcoming elections, but Zille’s Soweto campaign could be crucial to the party’s chances.

Van Onselen has written that both the DA and the ANC have been losing their traditional support base in recent elections, as well as the battle for undecided voters.

Ipsos’ latest Johannesburg poll puts the ANC at 31% and the DA at 27%. The Social Research Foundation (SRF) survey had the DA soaring at 42% against the ANC’s 18%.

Speaking at Daily Maverick’s The Gathering 2026 on Friday, 11 September, Zille said: “The biggest obstacle to us getting a majority in Joburg is DA supporters who don’t go and vote.”

She argued that many wealthier DA supporters had become insulated from the City’s failures through private alternatives such as solar power, boreholes and delivery services. New voters in Soweto could help to plug that gap and, if the DA’s traditional supporters turned out in their numbers, put the party in poll position come coalition negotiations.

Soweto’s potential

“I found a home and comfort in the DA,” another DA diehard supporter, Malitsatsi Magoro (56), said, proudly displaying a DA flag.

She left the ANC after a disagreement regarding her councillor candidacy. She said she was motivated by the DA’s commitment to and respect for its constituencies and argued that it was the only party that had shown it has the capacity to deliver. She’s not a candidate in the upcoming elections.

“South Africans should divorce [themselves] from being beholden to parties solely based on their liberation credentials. We need to embrace the present era and understand that parties such as the DA are equal to the task if not better,” said Magoro, who is from the Waterwax informal settlement in Protea.

“I love the DA and I am confident that we have garnered enough support to see the party and our Johannesburg mayoral candidate Helen Zille triumph.”

Dobsonville resident Pearl Masuku said: “I am not a member of the DA, but they have a strong presence here, and I think they will do well in the elections.”

Kabelo Mofokeng said: “If you take a look at Soweto now and political activity here, the DA is clearly growing, if not in numbers in popularity, followed by the MK party and Al Jama-ah. That’s just my observation as a resident of Soweto, Meadowlands.”

The apartheid question

Despite the party’s support in some areas, past election results show most voters are reluctant to give it a chance.

“I am still finding it hard to trust the DA because they are a white party,” said Senoane resident Simon Malope (55).

However, he said he was more open to different parties than he was five years ago “because of the failures of those in power”.

“Regardless, I must say I have been impressed by the faults that Helen Zille has managed to expose as she swam around the city and forced officials to repair a number of roads. She has been great. Some of us just want a working Joburg,” Malope added.

For countless people, the party’s promises are overshadowed by apartheid’s legacy.

“Will the DA not take us back to apartheid?” asked Sbu Mkhwanazi (39), from Jabulani.

“I don’t trust the DA because of that. Apartheid was the worst thing to ever happen to black people. Somebody assure me that the DA will not take us back and I will vote for Helen Zille come November 4.”

Maphindy Nsele (33), from Nancefield, said: “My issue with the DA is that I do not trust them.

“But they are a white party that has lived up to racist expectations.”

Nsele added: “How many white people has the DA fired for frivolous reasons? And yet look at the line of black people that the party has ejected over the years. It’s a long list, Lindiwe Mazibuko, their best black leader by far, Mmusi Maimane, Herman Mashaba… The list is endless. I don’t trust the DA.”

Zille confident

Speaking to Daily Maverick in Waterwax on 1 September while launching a clean water system for residents, Zille was confident of the DA’s growth in Soweto.

“Oh yes, very much so and very quickly,” she said when asked if the party was actually growing in Soweto.

“Obviously the ANC decline helps… The less votes the ANC gets, the more votes that we get.”

When asked if, given Soweto’s service delivery failures, the DA had any tangible examples of where it had delivered in Johannesburg, Zille said: “Well, we haven’t been in government. It’s government’s job to deliver services. It’s not a political party’s job to deliver services.”

Under Mashaba, the DA led Joburg from 2016 to 2019, and the party’s Mpho Phalatse led the City for just over a year from late 2021.

Nomzekelo Mohamed, the DA’s Joburg campaign lead for high-potential growth areas, echoed Zille’s sentiments.

“The DA has grown significantly in Soweto, and it didn’t just happen overnight. We began this journey in the early 2000s when one could not wear a DA T-shirt without being insulted and ridiculed,” Mohamed said.

Addressing the trust deficit, Mohamed told Daily Maverick that patience is key.

“Growing any brand takes time. It requires resilience, patience and consistency. From where we were in the early 2000s to where we are now, we have gained trust from the community of Soweto. Gone are those days where the DA did not have numbers in Soweto,” Mohamed said. “We have a strong presence in all communities in the area. We are a force to be reckoned with. We have been on the ground for more than a decade and we are not going anywhere.”

Although the DA is confident, it’s far from the biggest party in Soweto and with a record number of parties expected to contest the elections, it faces stiff competition. DM