Helen Zille and fellow councillors accessed the Johannesburg Metro Centre last week, defying the instructions of security guards.
Johannesburg mayoral candidate Helen Zille has taken her campaign from waterlogged roads to the former headquarters of the city.
Johannesburg’s Metro Centre was declared unfit for use almost three years ago, scattering the city’s administrative offices across multiple locations.
The building is subject to redevelopment plans projected to cost roughly R2 billion, with rented temporary offices at one location in Newtown expected to cost roughly R280 million over the next eight years.
Zille stated her and her team entered the building to expose the rot and waste that she believes is characteristic of the current administration.
However, political allies-turned opponents accused the raiding party of violating the city’s procedures and abusing their oversight roles.
‘Conduct lawful oversight’
Zille and her team accessed the Johannesburg Metro Centre last week Friday, but on Thursday released the first of what the campaign states will be a series of videos.
The video shows Zille and her team using guerrilla tactics to access and explore the dilapidated multi-storey colossus.
Zille commended the security guards for their efforts, admitting that the DA members were removed by them. They then repeated their attempts to gain entry.
“Eventually, we did manage to find a chink in the defence and got through undetected,” said Zille.
The “gogo” accused the current administration of deliberately stalling the refurbishment of the building so that connected individuals could benefit financially.
Zille said in the video that her party was launching a Public Access to Information Application to view the details of the leases.
“Where public money is involved at this scale, transparency is not optional, it is essential.
“We wanted to conduct lawful oversight to see what the building looked like after years of rotting without maintenance,” Zille stated
‘Reckless’
ActionSA, however, complained about Zille’s stunt in the days immediately after the alleged security breach.
The party accused the mayoral candidate and her colleagues of lying to security to gain entry to a building that had been deemed unsafe by the city.
“This conduct is reckless, unlawful and a direct breach of the Code of Conduct for Councillors, which explicitly prohibits councillors from interfering with administration or misleading municipal staff.
“The Municipal Structures Act gives councillors oversight powers, but those powers are exercised through council and its committees,” the party stated earlier this week.
ActionSA urged the city’s speaker of council to pursue the matter and for City Manager Floyd Brink to lay criminal charges if laws were violated.
“The DA must explain to residents why they believe the law does not apply to them,” the party concluded.
Plans far from finalised
A 19 March progress report on the refurbishment states many assets remain in the Metro Centre because larger items could not be moved from the upper floors.
“The non-operational lifts at the Metro Centre had delayed the relocation of furniture earmarked for transfer to the Newtown Building.
“The Johannesburg Property Company repairs and maintenance department is overseeing this process, with a service provider appointed on 22 December 2025 to repair the goods lift and two passenger lifts,” the report stated.
As of February, the refurbishment project was at the needs analysis report, technical options analysis, preliminary costing and risk identification phase, with that phase at 23% completion.
The last planning phase – the preparation and submission of the feasibility study report – is set to begin by the first quarter of 2027.
Once submitted, a public participation process must be conducted, followed by an opportunity for Treasury to view the feasibility report and make its recommendations.
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