by LUKE ZUNGA
JOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – HELLEN Zille, the mayoral candidate for Johannesburg and Federal Chairperson for the Democratic Alliance (DA), stormed into the 2026 local government campaign by swimming in a roadside water puddle caused by an unfinished burst pipe repair.
The pool was so large that she could backstroke in it.
The area of the burst pipe had been excavated for some three years, with treated water gushing into the pool and being wasted into drains.
There are people employed to fix the infrastructure, but they are not doing so, thereby sabotaging the politicians, particularly the African National Congress (ANC).
Unfortunately, the ANC does not see that technocrats are at the centre of governance problems. The so-called skilled workers are sidestepping the politicians.
Helen Zille missed what researchers have already declared openly: that it is the officials, the educated people working in offices—the so-called professionals or technocrats—who are not doing their work.
Until we understand the negative roles played by educated employees in sabotaging the smooth upkeep of metros, people are fighting the wrong battle.
Most of the professionals or technocrats are searching for self-gain, while people are blaming the President and Ministers.
The same scenario is evident across Africa: Zimbabwe, South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, etc. Politicians are ultimately responsible, but they are faced with technocrats who are more educated than them and who can explain their failures in different ways.
Voters focus on the President and Ministers for criticism but fail to see the bigger picture.
It is a systemic problem in all departments. There are too many offices in between, and complaints and instructions are lost along the process.
When people submit complaints or requests, they do so to departmental offices, not directly to the Minister or Mayor.
A complaint is first directed to that department by personal assistants before being escalated to the department head.
The departmental offices have procedures to be followed before reaching the Head of Department (HOD), who will escalate it to the Director-General (DG), who may then escalate it further to the Mayor or Premier—or not.
The Mayor does not know what is happening until a senior official raises the matter. Officials often cover for one another, leaving the Mayor and Premier with limited oversight.
Officials can do hundreds of things without the Mayor or Premier knowing. Until the system is streamlined, this gap creates room for corruption and poor performance, which Helen Zille is exposing.
One aspect she exposed was unfinished work. Contractors often win tenders through corrupt practices involving some members of tender adjudication committees, paying bribes either from initial payments or their own pockets.
This compromises the project from the outset. Invoices are then submitted to the department for payment, but officials may delay or withhold payment until contractors follow up.
At that point, officials may demand a portion of the invoice. The remaining funds are often insufficient to complete the project, leading to abandonment.
No matter what the President does, this contract-awarding corruption will persist.
The downfall of Africa lies with the educated class, not poor citizens or political leaders.
One way to reduce—though not eliminate—this corruption is through technology: systems that track completed and pending work and flag issues to the Mayor and Premier.
Readers of CAJ News are encouraged to develop technological systems to log government assignments and track them online, generating exception reports for leadership.
Another solution is to expand economic opportunities so that crime becomes unnecessary. Countries can achieve this by organizing capital to support startups.
Helen Zille has demonstrated that future politics will centre on service delivery—proving that improvement is possible and giving people hope for a better life.
Social media is her platform, and judging by public reactions, she will be a strong contender to beat.
– CAJ News