Vuyo Zungula unpacks: 2026 election, Joburg, ANC, coalitions, DA, Madlanga Commission, Phala Phala

By what the people want. So you're the ATM's mayoral candidate for the city of Johannesburg. What has been your opening pitch to the citizens of the city to say, vote for me. This is what I and the African Transformation Movement stand for and will aim to accomplish in the city of Johannesburg? I think firstly, it's to remind people that all that they see, whether it is streetlights not being on, it is war.

Water not coming out. Ironically, this morning I was struggling to even take a shower to get here because of the water pressure. So it's the challenges that we face. So you need, we had to remind people that there are these challenges. The only institution that can deal with these challenges, it is the municipality. Because once you talk about the municipality, especially for the city of Jobek, it has to deal with

With the questions of the road infrastructure, water infrastructure, refuse collection, and each and everything that interfaces with the daily living of the people. So sometimes people view these problems, but sometimes they don't understand the role municipality plays in correcting these problems. So that was the first thing. The second thing for us is to say you've seen us, you've seen our work, because our view is that Jobek has got a crisis of criminal networks.

That are embedded in the running of the city, both within the city, which in terms of the political or governance institutions such as the municipality, as well as outside. Because outside, you are going to have illegal mining, you are going to have illicit trade networks, you are going to have hijacked buildings, you are going to have a myriad of criminals that are operating just in JobEg, whether it's drug trade, fake alcohol, all of those things. Inside, you are going to have criminals.

Criminal networks that are water tank mafias that are embedded in the tender or contract space of the city. So, to be able then to deal with those problems, you can't have someone that's timid. You can't have someone who is engulfed with fear when it comes to such things, because you need someone who's going to confront and say, We are going to ensorce these particular responsibilities because we've seen what tenders have done.

We are going to have periodical raids in terms of the hijacked buildings, places that are used as brothels. We're going to engage the president to deploy the SNTF if need be, you know, when the local JMPD or CEPS does not have firepower to deal with some of these issues. In terms of changing the organizational structure of the city, how the city is organized, because currently,