WATCH | Zille takes a dip in a pothole

The DA’s Joburg mayoral candidate, Helen Zille, took a dip in a waterlogged pothole on Balders Road in Douglasdale on Saturday, using the unusual stunt to highlight what she says is the city’s worsening infrastructure crisis. In the video Zille says the pothole, which residents say has remained unrepaired for more than three years, has become a symbol of ongoing service delivery failures, including recurring pipe bursts and botched repair work in the area. ⛱️🌊 Just another day in the City of Johannesburg.Let’s get Joburg working.

Register to#VoteDA. Visithttps://t.co/SzMWMxGkD8.pic.twitter.com/et8oAkQw8v Standing knee-deep in the murky water, she mocked the situation, describing it as a “free and wonderful Saturday afternoon snorkel pool”. “So, at this wonderful Douglasdale Balders Road pool that has been left for about three years, despite many attempts to fix it, when the grader comes in the dead of night so that people can earn overtime, they burst the pipe again,” she said.

Demonstrating swimming motions in the stagnant water, Zille added: “I can even do the backstroke over here. I can do the crawl over here. I wonder if there are any fishes in here.” She blamed repeated repair failures on poor workmanship and mismanagement, claiming that previous attempts to fix the issue using heavy machinery had only worsened the problem.

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“They came and fixed it with a front-end loader and burst the pipe again. This is what people have to live with in the City of Johannesburg,” she said. Residents in Douglasdale have long complained about the deteriorating state of infrastructure, citing persistent water leaks, damaged roads and slow municipal response times.

Zille said the incident reflects broader service delivery challenges facing Johannesburg, where ageing infrastructure and maintenance backlogs continue to frustrate communities. The City of Johannesburg has yet to respond to the incident.

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