Hellen Zille at a Workers' Day celebration on the Midvaal near Meyerton, South Africa on May 1, 2012. (Photo by Gallo Images / Foto24 / Lucky Maibi)
Western Cape Premier Helen Zille has confirmed that she was approached by several DA members who asked about whether or not she would be open to becoming mayor of Cape Town again.
Zille told News24 on Wednesday that while she is “not ruling anything out,” she wants to finish her tenure as Premier of the province. She served as mayor of Cape Town from 2006 to 2009.
This follows a story in Die Burger on Friday, which reported that some senior members of the DA’s Cape Town caucus see Zille as the ideal figure to lead them.
“As you know, we have term limits, so I can’t re-stand to be premier. There are a number of things I could do when I leave the premiership, but I would like to finish my job here,” Zille said on Wednesday.
“I’m not ruling anything out in the future, but I really do feel that I should consolidate and finish my term properly,” Zille continued.
READ MORE: De Lille ‘not finished’ with DA, says Mazzone must ‘stop talking’
Zille mentioned that she wants to complete several critical projects in her last few months as premier.
She did say she is “not ruling out” a return to the mayorship once her terms ends, while adding that she “really hadn’t thought about it much at all.”
According to Zille, “quite a number” of people had approached her about taking over from De Lille when she vacates her post in November, adding that she finds the requests “humbling.”
Zille does not want to look at retiring after 13 years as an executive in government, saying “I definitely won’t be retiring. I have to work. It’s my life.”
While some within the party’s senior structure still consider Zille an asset to the DA, her being appointed mayor again would likely be a controversial move considering the backlash she has faced in the past year over her tweets about colonialism.
She claims that the controversy was mainly manufactured by “trolls and bots.”
The DA were set to meet on Monday over finding a new mayor, according to Western Cape DA leader Bonginkosi Madikizela.
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