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This brief summary indicates not only a very exciting and dynamic life, but also allows us a glimpse at the incredible strength and motivation, not to mention the bright intellect, the woman in front of us has at her disposal.
Mrs. Zille revealed to us that it was the most difficult job for her to start a small viable business, the reason being a combination of her age at the time (39), the circumstances of her personal life (seven months pregnant), and the nature of the business. In her public policy consultancy she, as a mother of a baby and a three year-old, advised the political and entrepreneurial world about the new order during a fast changing period in South Africa’s history. According to Mrs. Zille, the challenges she faced were determined by time and place, as well as personal risk. She put everything she had and more into her business.
During his time, her husband was a never ending source of support. As the company constantly grew, her stress level increased with every new employee. She felt incredibly sleep-deprived, stressed, exhausted, and being torn in every direction while giving her best to fulfill her roles as mother, wife and business woman. By saying this, she is sure to win the hearts of her target audience, because it is easy for women from all over the world to identify with these feelings and the chronically bad conscience of a working-mom.
So what has changed since then? Why is her demanding job now less stressful for Mrs. Zille? What keeps her going at 4 a.m. when she gets up to check her e-mails, until late at night after the last dinner party or debate is over? First of all, her children are older now, which allows her to spend quality rather than quantity time with her family. Furthermore, she is no longer flying solo, she leads a team; her stress level has decreased and several working hours have been removed from her day, simply because she has three secretaries and a driver.
Moreover, Mrs. Zille can now draw from her past experiences: She learned all about politics as a journalist. She realized how the pursuance of power and politics are interconnected, how politics is all about power: How to get it, to keep it, and to use it. (Just when we get a glimpse on Mrs. Zille, the power woman, she shares a joke to lighten up the atmosphere “Of course”, she says “being in power is much nicer than in opposition!”)
During her days as political activist in the 80s she established a network among the United Democratic Front she still draws on today. There are not many things as strong as the bond that connects political activists that stood united against the Apartheid regime. Her time working for the public policy consultancy has taught her how to define and solve a problem, how to formulate strategies and policy questions, and how to make the right choices. While working for UCT, she established connections with experts that she can trust and from who she can ask advice. As Minister of Education and as head of the governing body of the Grove Primary School, she learned about the organization of a primary school and the relationships between the colleagues, which prepared her to handle a coalition of seven parties, and how to handle a huge, hostile bureaucracy that has every interest in her personal failure but none whatsoever in her success. From being a member of the opposition, she learnt how to drive a policy against the ANC mainstream party.
So why did Helen Zille stand for mayor? “They promised me I couldn’t win!” she says laughingly. And it did seem unlikely at first: Mayor Zille is in power because she had the majority of only one vote out of 210 with a seven party coalition and an 8th party abstained.
She is thrilled and exhilarated that she did get the chance to take on the biggest challenge of her lifetime. It is a challenge in terms of the workload, the complexity and the personal leadership challenges. She likes to compare the volume of her task to a fire hydrant, which once the pressure is released, sprays an unrestrained fountain of water. She has to formulate new policies and oversee their implementation. Here, good governance is her key. She also takes pride in meticulously following up every individual case that is brought to her. She enjoys getting to the heart of every problem and reflecting on how her policies are going to articulate in every sphere of bureacracy. She has to battle with the changes of mentality in such a fast paced world, and the often times inappropriately slow response of the massive bureaucracy. She fights for less administration and quicker decision-making. This, she describes as an enormous task, because the rules are insufficiently flexible to allow for economic growth and job creation in today’s globalized world. This challenge is not facilitated by her seven party coalition with widely diverging policy positions. The nature of the demanding task becomes particularly apparent in some of Cape Town's sport events: The opening of the gay games, for example, was vital to some, and an affront to others, and partners are diametrically opposed for the 2010 games as well. The question that Helen Zille always faces is: Is it worth bringing the government down by enforcing my policy for this issue?
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Writer Profile
Marcia C. Schenck
I am a junior studying International Relations, History, and African Studies in the United States, Mount Holyoke College. I was born and raised in Germany and South Africa.
I love learning more about South Africa. I volunteered at a local NGO and interned with the Department of Social Services and Poverty Alleviation last summer. This summer I spent in Geneva at the International Labor Organization. I am passionate about travelling, reading, and writing.
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