inside politics

A outline of the methodology that underpins the essay “Election 2026 [18] A ward-by-ward comparison of Zille’s and Mashaba’s JHB campaigns”

Johannesburg comprises 135 wards and seven regions (A to G). Both Helen Zille’s and Herman Mashaba’s Johannesburg mayoral campaigns were tracked, using social media. The results were then attached to Johannesburg wards, mapped and analysed – which can be found in the main essay on this subject (see here).

To do this I am going to focus on on-the-ground, public-facing Johannesburg mayoralty campaign specific events. No doubt there are other, more hidden events – fundraising, briefings, press interviews, etc – but the core concern here is on-ground public campaigning. 

The data source

ASA has a dedicated Twitter account for Mashaba’s JHB campaign – “Mashaba for Mayor” (@actionsajhbcoms) – which describes itself as the “Official ActionSA Joburg Mayoral Campaign Page for #MashabaForMayor”. It documents all Mashaba’s public events.

The DA doesn’t have the equivalent account and, while Zille does have a campaign account – “Zille for Mayor” (@HelenZille4Jozi) – it is not a dedicated coms account in the way ASA’s is and, in fact, the best source for tracking Zille’s movements is her Instagram page: helenzille26. 

Both of these can be supplemented by other accounts – the ASA and DA official accounts, Mashaba’s and Zille’s personal accounts, Facebook, Tik Tok, Instagram and so on. Between them all, the advent of social media means you can pretty accurately track each candidate’s movements and produce a detailed political diary – certainly with enough confidence to say any omissions will be on the margins and inconsequential.

Mashaba’s JHB events are easier to track, a. because there have been relatively few of them and b. because “Mashaba for Mayor” lists them all. Zille’s campaign provided a list of her events, which I then held up to her various social media accounts, to ensure they were like for like.

This is incredibly difficult where Zille is concerned, she has held an extraordinary number of events, and not all of them are given a social media update. So, while there might be some small error in Mashaba’s final diary, it is 95% accurate. Zille’s is probably 80% accurate, but only in the sense that there are events missing.

The timelines

Zille was announced as the DA’s JHB mayoral candidate on 25 September 2025. She was at the time still the DA Chair of the Federal Council, a position she later relinquished at the party’s Federal Congress on 12 April 2026. All-in-all she has had 228 days (at the time of writing) to campaign, 204 days wearing two hats and 24 days to date, solely as the mayoral candidate.

Mashaba started much later. He was announced at ASA’s candidate on 21 February 2026 (giving Zille a 154 day start), meaning he has been campaigning for 74 days (at the time of writing). Unlike Zille though, he remains ASA interim president, and will not ever be able to dedicate himself solely to his JHB campaign

Two political diaries

As a result of this, the full Johannesburg political diary for both candidates can be found here. Just one caveat: as started before, it is likely Helen Zille’s political diary is incomplete and more extensive than was is shown here. That said, each one of these events has been verified and, whatever is shown here, is accurate.