Yeah.

Well, in Cape Town, we have a free basic services package.

And ironically, even though Cape Town is a lot smaller than Jo'burg, we have about double the number of people on the extended social package in Cape Town.

So we would start finding people.

people who genuinely deserve a proper free basic services package and make sure they apply and make sure they get on it.

There'll be a big drive to achieve that.

There are lots of people who can pay but won't or don't.

Most people would support this, your remedy if indeed it was to avoid doing those things but isn't this just merely a reflection of the cash strapped nature of metro municipalities in general that people are getting money from wherever they can and yes if you do ring fence that money you will have severe problems in other areas like for example fixing roads where there is no direct user payment

How do you begin to even resolve the multiple crises?

Well, you can't do anything without money.

And Joburg has a very serious liquidity crisis.

There is no money to even put petrol in vehicles or to buy stationery for their licensing offices.

That's how bad it is.

And all over Joburg, you see projects that are started and not continued because they haven't paid the contractors.

And these are big projects, many of them.

Now, of course, there's a national component of this, there's a provincial component of this, but the question is so heated in Joburg, I wonder how you would approach this question as mayor.

And can you just tell us what that project is?

Yes, I'd love to tell you about that project because it was one of my favorite moments in the campaign.

We went to this place called Water Wax, actually, and it's spelled Water W-A-X, but I'm sure it comes from Waterworks in Protea.

And the people who've been living there for 15 years have never had water.

And most often no tankers come.

And they have to walk many kilometers or even catch public transport into Indonesia to go and fetch water.

And Joburg Water came a year ago and started drilling a borehole.

What do you make of this? Do you feel vindicated?

Is there one that's the biggest?

Well, the fact that Joburg's bankrupt is the biggest.

And I think that if we won, we would unlock billions of value in Joburg, in investment and in other developmental areas.

initiatives.

The private sector has made it very clear they're there to help rescue Joburg.

The Treasury is committed to helping rescue Joburg.

In fact, they've got a turnaround plan, which we've discussed and which we're discussing again at a colloquium that we're having very shortly.

But when do they start feeling?

The full interview with Alec Hogg is on biznews.com.

Let me assure your viewers and everyone that I haven't had a single word of negotiation with the ANC or even discussion with the ANC about setting up some kind of deal after the elections.

Absolutely not.

We are going for this overall majority, which we can get if people faithfully do what they should do to rescue the city.

Now, it's interesting enough that Corne Mulder was the architect behind the votes in the Western Cape, where the Freedom Front Plus stood with the ANC to vote a DA mayor out of Oatshurne.

And the same thing happened in Tierwaterskloof, where the ANC and Tini Zimmermann stood together, Tini Zimmermann being the Freedom Front Plus's councillor there, stood together to vote the DA out.

So the only people that are conniving are the smaller parties with the ANC.

But when do they start feeling it?

Well, people must understand that you have to do a hell of a lot of work before people see the results.

Let me just look at building a house on a clean plot with nothing.

You first got to buy the plot.

You've got to take transfer of the plot.

You've got to get an architect in.

You've got to get a civil engineer in.

Is that a real thing? Are you going to second him and maybe other people from within your party who've got good track records?

What exactly is the DA's concern with this approach by some of these parties, MK Party, EFF, and Action SA?

Well, in the past, parties used to submit one name for their list and then supplement that list after the election and before the first council meeting where you elect the mayor and the speaker.

Now, the Act was amended in 2021 in part to prevent this kind of undemocratic behavior because when voters are voting for a party that is unlikely to win any ward seats but likely to win quite a few proportional list seats, and Action SA and EFF are two of those parties as an example, they will win quite a number of list seats but probably no ward seats then their list becomes very important because then people know who they're voting for.

So the idea of the amendment was to make it more democratic, to say voters, and this is about voters, not rewarding candidates who worked hard in the election.

Voters have a right to know who they are voting for.

And that is why the IEC publishes the list.

So everyone knows who they are voting for.

So when you go to the courts today, do you want the court to confirm that the parties cannot supplement their peer lists before the first council meeting or an interpretation of the Act? Are you more concerned about the quote-unquote undemocratic approach that these parties have taken?

Take your mic, please.

Thank you, Clement.

Good morning, participants and listeners.

Johannesburg is South Africa's most important city.

It is still the economic heartland of our country, but it is failing fast.

The water system is collapsing, so is the electricity grid.

Broken roads and traffic lights are a part of all of our daily lives.

Helen, there was one question specifically addressed to you and then the other one around upgrading informal settlement.

The full video is on biznews.com.

There are tough people in the world who are up for a fight, and no one has been hammered in politics, literally no one more than I have.

I mean, my own party turned against me, and it was the most important political fight I have ever had in my life, was to prevent the DA adopting wokeness, and it was well on its way to doing that with the support of the choir of most journalists.

Not you, Alec, but for the most.

And it was the most important fight I've ever had because if we didn't win that fight within the DA, we could never put the party and the country on the route to getting a stable, non-racial democracy.

Now, we're certainly not there yet, but we're a lot further than we were even two years ago, and that takes grit and it takes toughness, Alec.

And I know that Mark Burke, who is very smart, and I believe very ethical, can do that.

Uh, how are you feeling about the, the skepticism that was delivered there?

Well, obviously it's sensible to be cautious given how broken Jo'burg is.

But I'm always fascinated in politics how the debate moves on, and the people who are always critics find a new reason to be critical.

So, let me just give you the miracle of the DA being the biggest party in Jo'burg and in Tshwane and in Ekurhuleni.

If you'd said that a year ago, no one would've believed you.

It, that is how much of a stretch that was, to beat the ANC in their heartland, in Gauteng, and to beat them substantially, was never considered possible.

Now that we're doing it, people are saying, "Well, it's not gonna be possible for you to get an overall majority, and, well, even if you get there, you won't be able to fix it." Come on, guys.

What was it that Corné said that you didn't like?

She argues the city is facing a choice between continued collapse and the long road back to recovery.

So I said, "Well, you know, you're inviting the DA's mayoral candidate to come and talk.

What do you think I'm gonna talk about?" "Oh, no.

We want to know about this part of your history and that." I said, "Listen, we're facing the most important election that Joburg has faced in this new democracy.

This is Joburg's last chance.

This election is not about Helen Zille, and it's not about DA candidates.

It's about is Joburg salvageable?" And when the stakes are so high, you've gotta understand what politics really is about.

If, if you vote for your candidate in that ward for Freedom Front, but then on the party list, if you vote for the DA, say, uh, 'cause they want you to be mayor rather than whoever their candidate might be, would that then be a possibility that, that voters should be looking at, almost like a strategic vote?

Well, people can do that.

People can do that.

But we would really like to appeal to people not to end us up with unwieldy coalitions.

There are only two parties that can win in this election, only two.

One is the DA, one is the ANC.

For every person that gives even a ward vote to another party makes it more possible that the ANC could emerge as the biggest party, and it matters to be the biggest party.

What are you making about all of that, and how will that impact, uh, your mayoral bid?

Has that message resonated with those people yet? I

think it's starting to penetrate.

I think it's starting to penetrate.

I keep saying that our biggest threat in this election is not the ANC or the EFF or Action SA or any other party.

Our biggest threat in this election is people who support the DA inherently or are close to the DA in the ideological point of view, but who decide not to vote for one reason or another.

People are writing to me saying, well, I'm going to be overseas at the time.

Where can I vote abroad? Well, you can't.

Can you vote, if you vote for your candidate in that ward for Freedom Front, but then on the party list, if you vote for the DA, say, because they want you to be mayor rather than whoever their candidate might be, Would that then be a possibility that voters should be looking at, almost like a strategic vote?

Did she help him then? And whether the legacy that Mashaba is now claiming is the same as the one that she remembers.

What I did do was that I played a very big role in making sure that he could become our mayor and our mayoral candidate back at the, back at the time.

I didn't really know him that well.

I thought, here's an entrepreneur who's really made it big, and he must have what it takes.

Unfortunately, I've come to different conclusions since then.

Look, the legacy of Herman Mashaba is not the legacy he claims.

But I'm not going out there to bash my opponents.

Um, do you believe that? What are you hearing?

Look, there's so many contradictory arguments here.

I mean, Eskom has said again that the city has defaulted on its loan repayment again, and they have threatened again to cut off the city because the city power is not paying Eskom.

But people are paying for their electricity.

In Johannesburg, the situation is so dire that they shift money around everywhere to try and patch up the worst leaks quickly so that they can continue shoving money around to bring the fleet back on service, for example, or to pay Eskom, or to just push the money around quickly before they are going to be cut off or penalized in some major way.

Go ahead.

No problem, uh, Clement.

I want to tell you, your last two callers have been absolutely spot on.

Here's Helen Ziller.

Look, let me say this.

If we get from 45% up, we'll be able to put together what I think will be a viable coalition.

It's much, much preferable for us to get 50% plus one.

because then we can really go ahead and take the tough decisions that we need to.

I mean, the kind of thing that happens is if you, for example, let's just say we want to do performance management, and that's sort of a side issue given the enormous corruption and other things.

But if you just want to do performance management, and you are managing somebody out of the system, they are bound to join the party of one of your coalition partners.

Have your ideas and your thoughts about Joburg changed much?

Well, Alec, things are actually a lot worse than I expected.

And the people are doing a lot more than I assumed.

It's amazing how many active citizens there are in Joburg solving problems.

Last night I was at a meeting And the representative of a ratepayers association said to me that eventually in complete exasperation.

They had collected money from their entire suburb and are now hiring contractors to fill their potholes.

I mean, this is the kind of thing that goes down in Joburg.

How would you define success?

Here's Zilla on what she has found in Joburg.

Well, Alec, things are actually a lot worse than I expected.

And the people are doing a lot more than I assumed.

It's amazing how many active citizens there are in Joburg solving problems.

Last night I was at a meeting and the representative of a ratepayers association said to me that eventually in complete exasperation, They had collected money from their entire suburb and are now hiring contractors to fill their potholes.

I mean, this is the kind of thing that goes down in Joburg.

So people pay their rates and taxes and their service charges, but they don't get the services.