Zille and Zohran

The trains hooting as they approach the road crossing is one of the first sounds of the day in Kenilworth, Cape Town. Some train drivers have heavy hands, a guarantee that residents will complain about the noise on neighbourhood WhatsApp groups.

They may have already forgotten the bad old days of Cape Town’s commuter rail service, when the ageing yellow trains were rickety, unsafe and irregular. Now Cape Town has sparkly blue trains that have transformed rail transport in the metro and are a visible sign that the city works.

Helen Zille, who was mayor of Cape Town between 2006 and 2009, may not have had anything to do with the new trains, but the fixed-up city underpins her bid to become Joburg’s next mayor.

Paddling a rubber boat in a pothole makes for good viral content and keeps her in the headlines as she guns for the mantle of “Saviour of Jozi”. The people of the Parks may be won over … but what about the youth of Kathorus, Orange Farm, Mfuleni, Dark City …?

The people of the Parks may be won over … but what about the youth of Kathorus, Orange Farm, Mfuleni, Dark City …?

Compare her campaign with that of Zohran Mamdani, 34, another former Capetonian (he briefly went to school in Observatory), who disrupted New York City politics to become mayor in January.

It’s true that Mamdani has youthful vigour on his side. He also understands the power of TikTok, which he used to tap into the grievances of New York’s young, running for mayor on a message of affordability in one of the most expensive and unequal places on Earth.

The path to mayor of Joburg, also one of the world’s most unequal and divided places, will be hard for Zille. A good bet might be to forget the performative videos and instead get 100,000 volunteers to go out and talk to those millions of voters who have been abandoned by mayor after mayor.

The message is not about fixing Joburg, it’s about fixing hope. That might work.