One Person, One Country, One Story

Through compassion and caring, Helen Zille, premier of South Africa’s Western Cape is developing an increasingly happier tale for her province and country.

By Mike Barish

It is a common, if not cliché, analogy to break periods of human history into “chapters.” On a grand scale, surely, we can find lines of demarcation between periods and eras. Governments collapse, battles rage, nations rise and fall. The entire social science textbook industry is based on identifying these periods, giving them names and memorializing the dates when wide swaths of land or people shifted from one way of life to another.

Such is the story of Cape Town, South Africa.

But apply this analogy on a micro level. High school valedictorian speeches, best man toasts and countless milestone addresses are littered with phrases waxing nostalgic on a chapter of someone’s life coming to an end or a new one beginning. Often, this device is trite or contrived. A simple way of explaining one’s transition into a new role, title or locale and packaging a story into a neat little compartmentalized category. But life isn’t that tidy. Personal transitions, more often than not, are seamless. Logical progressions from one event to the next, are defined not by milestone moments but by where our interests, passions or conscience take us.

Such is the story of Western Cape Premier Helen Zille.

To understand Zille’s ascent to globally respected political leader and key figure in South African history, understand how her life has been shaped and defined by South Africa. How her life, while seemingly easily divided into chapters, is actually one continuous narrative. How her story is South Africa’s story.

Like many of her countrymen of her generation, Zille is a first-generation South African. Her parents emigrated separately from Germany in the 1930s as the political climate there began to change. Politically and socially active, Zille’s parents would model behavior that she would later exhibit in her own life.

“My parents were generally very politically engaged while I was growing up, especially considering that they had been compelled to leave Germany because of the political situation there, and political issues were often discussed in our home,” she says.

Helen’s mother was a member of the Black Sash movement, a non-violent white women’s movement in South Africa that fought against apartheid. By the 1980s, Helen herself was at the forefront of the Black Sash, holding regional and national executive positions as the fight against apartheid gained international attention and support.

“The political injustices of the apartheid government conflicted with the principles I had internalized while growing up and motivated me to get involved,” she says. “When my first son, Paul, was born I had even more motivation.”

THE JOURNALIST
During the 1986 state of emergency, when much of Cape Town was governed by what was essentially martial law, Zille and her husband, Professor Johan Maree, opened their home to anti-apartheid political activists who were sought by the totalitarian regime. Later, she was forced into hiding with her then 2-year-old son, as the government sought to silence any resistance.

“Raising a child under a state of emergency and an authoritarian government focused my attention sharply on the future and where our country was headed,” she says. “It was impossible for me not to be involved.”

All the while, Helen was also working as a journalist at a time when investigative journalism and truth telling were as difficult as they were dangerous. She worked as a political correspondent for the Rand Daily Mail, a now-defunct, Johannesburg-based newspaper with an unabashed anti-apartheid slant. If Helen Zille wasn’t yet a household name in South Africa from her work with the Black Sash, she was about to become one because of her work as a journalist.

In September 1977, noted anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko died in prison from what the government called a hunger strike. The Rand Daily Mail assigned Zille to investigate the story.

“When one of the doctors who examined Biko’s body provided me with information that contradicted the police report, it was clear that this was going to be [an] an extremely important story,” she says. “The public and international community needed to know what had happened.”

Zille’s investigative work shed light on a government cover-up that attempted to conceal the truth about Biko’s death. The story was the talk of South Africa, and the chief of police threatened to shut down the newspaper. Zille began to receive death threats and was forced to appear before the Press Council to defend her article.

South Africa’s story was in the midst of a poignant chapter, but Zille’s life was progressing as it always had.

“It was a very harrowing experience. But…the threats also made me more determined to continue,” she says.

And continue she did. She formed a political consultancy in 1989 and joined the University of Cape Town as director of development and public affairs. Her focus began to turn to education, and in 1999, she became a member of the Western Cape Provincial Legislature and was appointed to the Executive Council for Education. In 2004, she became a representative of the Democratic Alliance (DA) party in South Africa’s Parliament. Within the DA, she served as deputy federal chairwoman as well as national party and education spokesperson.

By this time, apartheid had been abolished in South Africa. Society, government and culture integrated, but there were new problems to face. Tensions still existed, infrastructure was lacking and issues such as crime and education needed immediate attention. A new chapter in the nation’s story was about to be written. Zille’s story kept marching on.

THE POLITICIAN
In 2006, the DA became the majority party in Cape Town and Zille was elected mayor that March. It also brings us to the present: a period in which Cape Town faces a future unlike any that its citizens could have envisioned 30 years ago. When asked about her goals in leading Cape Town forward, Zille delivers a response that is indicative of both her ambitiousness and her perspective on what this chapter in the city’s history well being.

“In a nutshell, our goal is to establish a solid platform of infrastructure and services capable of supporting and encouraging economic growth, development and job creation in Cape Town,” she says.

It is no small task, as Cape Town must increase its “capacity to deliver basic services such as water and electricity reticulation, wastewater treatment, waste removal, roads, municipal public transport and sites and services for housing.” Essentially, she and her administration are building the 21st-century Cape Town.

Shaped by her previous experiences, Zille is not just a politician or former journalist. She is not simply the former mayor of Cape Town. She is an amalgamation of everything she has seen and done, best exemplified when she speaks about how her time as a journalist defined her opinion of and relationship with the media now that she holds political office.

“Government transparency and accountability via the media is a very basic principle of constitutional democracy,” she said.

It is easy to imagine Zille saying those words in 1977, not just a few short weeks ago. Her story flows so freely that the idea of chapters can no longer be considered. The periods of her life blur together and are overshadowed by her overarching personality and character.

As Zille gazes into an ambitious future for Cape Town, she is guided by a political philosophy that is a blend of challenge and determination. Hers is an open and opportunity-based society. She sums it up as neatly as she can in a single sentence: “It is a society in which people have the right, the space and the opportunity to be themselves and pursue their own ends.” As she outlines her philosophy in great detail, her audience comes to realize that her vision for her Cape Town, the Western Cape, her nation and for all of her countrymen mirrors the life that she has led.

“The recognition of individual rights and freedoms is meant to create the conditions in which able citizens can become independent, self-actualizing people capable…of shaping their own destinies despite the inevitable constraints of the circumstances within which they find themselves,” she says.

In essence, she wants everyone to have the opportunities that she was afforded. She wants her people to have the opportunity to write their own stories. She wants this chapter in Cape Town’s history to be an anthology of the countless tales of its people with a happier ending than many of the preceding chapters.

Two of the biggest issues facing modern Cape Town are unemployment and urban renewal. Zille has made great strides in these areas. Over the last three years, more than 3,000 positions have been filled within the city of Cape Town’s administration. Unemployment has dropped by 3 percent during her tenure. She has helped triple the rate of capital investment in infrastructure and double the funding for free services for the underprivileged. Crime has declined by 90 percent over the last five years and much of the credit can be given to the collaboration between the Zille-led DA, the police force and local businesses. As a result, more than 3,000 people have moved back into Cape Town’s inner city, an area that for years was riddled with crime and avoided by anyone with the means to live elsewhere.

Zille readily admits that this current chapter in Cape Town’s history is not without its pitfalls.

“In my role as mayor, the biggest challenge was trying to get the right people in the right places to ensure the city of Cape Town ran as efficiently as possible,” she says. “This has taken a lot of time and some trial and error.” She has marveled at “how quickly functional institutions can become dysfunctional under the wrong leadership, and how long it takes for them to become functional again under the right leadership.”

To combat this, she has immersed herself in a skillful administration.

“Generally I try to surround myself with people who have relevant subject knowledge…skills for their jobs, pro-active dispositions and are trustworthy.”

She notes that she tries to “remain as open as possible to different opinions” and avoid “pulling rank.” Simultaneously, she has opened up major political meetings to the press as part of her commitment to a transparent government. She is so confident in her philosophies, agenda and administration that she has repeatedly challenged the leader of her party’s chief rival, the African National Congress, Jacob Zuma, to a public debate on issues ranging from HIV/AIDS to unemployment. Zuma, the party’s presidential candidate in the 2009 national elections, has repeatedly declined Zille’s invitations to such debates.

In 2008, Zille was recognized by think tank City Mayors with the World Mayor Prize, an honor bestowed by mayors to a municipal leader who displays outstanding leadership and vision. Zille was selected for myriad reasons, but all seemed representative of the common themes of decency and passion. Not one to praise herself or seek accolades, Zille was modest when asked about the distinction.

“I was very surprised to win the award, and naturally I was thrilled,” she says. “I believe that I won because of the great team working with me in my office, in the city of Cape Town administration, at home and in Parliament. These kinds of awards are never solo achievements.”

During national elections this year, the DA won parliamentary control of the Western Cape of South Africa and, as head of the party, Zille became premier of the province. In late April, she stepped down as mayor and stepped into provincial government on May 6. This expands her influence nationally and allows her to continue her work in Cape Town, the Western Cape capital.

THE FUTURE
There is much left to write in this chapter of Cape Town and South African history. The 2010 World Cup will mark the first time that the immense soccer tournament will be held on the African continent, and South Africa will play host. Cape Town is building a new stadium for the event, as well as improving its infrastructure to accommodate the influx of people and international attention. Problems such as AIDS and drug use still demand attention. And yet, there is more hope than worry in Cape Town. The conclusion of the chapter may be in doubt, but there is confidence in the author.

As for Helen Zille, her story continues to be written. There is only one continuous narrative that inspires and excites. Her story is her country’s story, flowing seamlessly from era to era and job to job, as a daughter of immigrants and social activists, a leader of political dissent, a journalist, a politician, a wife and a mother. At all times she has been a seeker of truth and a pursuer of a better life not only for herself, but for all those with whom she shares, as she calls it, a space.

She recognizes that constraints ranging “from poverty to poor education, to prejudicial attitudes and practices…as well as the perpetuation of a debilitating perception of inferiority and race-based victimhood, actually prevents millions of people from experiencing the space, and the opportunity to be themselves and pursue their own ends.” And yet, she is undeterred. She views these not as roadblocks but as opportunities—opportunities that continue to shape South Africa and make up the narrative of her life.

“Changing these conditions is, in a nutshell, what I have committed myself to doing,” she says. “Success is obviously crucial to the sustainable development and future of our country.”

It is this success that will be the next chapter of South Africa’s story and will be the logical—and seamless—progression of hers. One+

MIKE BARISH is a well-traveled freelance writer based in New York.

HelenZille.co.za
Mirroring important social changes worldwide, Cape Town’s Mayor Helen Zille—an acclaimed international politician and winner of the 2008 World Mayor Prize—shares important news and candid opinions on her blog and Facebook page. Visit HelenZille.co.za to join in the discussion.

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