约翰内斯堡，9月30日电——一位75岁的白人政治家，绰号“gogo”（意为祖母），正在竞选约翰内斯堡市长。分析人士称，这场将于11月举行的高风险竞选可能重塑南非政治版图。
JOHANNESBURG, Sept 30 - A 75-year-old white politician nicknamed "gogo", meaning grandmother, is running for mayor of Johannesburg in a high-stakes November race that analysts say could reshape South Africa's politics.
海伦·齐勒曾任开普敦市长和西开普省省长，她以“修复”约翰内斯堡为竞选口号，并拍摄了在坑洼中游泳、在被淹街道上划船等走红网络的视频。她的参选给目前领导该市联合政府的非洲人国民大会（ANC）施加了压力，也让厌倦了多年机能失调的部分居民感到振奋。
Helen Zille, a former mayor of Cape Town and head of the Western Cape province, has campaigned to "fix" Johannesburg with viral videos showing her swimming in potholes and paddling down flooded streets. Her run has put pressure on the African National Congress (ANC), currently leading a coalition in the city, and excited some residents fed up with years of dysfunction.
这场竞选将考验对公共服务匮乏的不满能否压倒对非国大的忠诚度，后者因终结种族隔离制度而仍受许多人敬仰。若齐勒获胜，其亲商业的民主联盟（DA）将控制南非的经济中心，并可能在2029年全国大选前改变政治格局。
The race will test whether frustration over poor service delivery can outweigh loyalty to the ANC, still revered by many as the party that ended apartheid. A Zille victory would give her pro-business Democratic Alliance (DA) control of South Africa's economic hub and could shift the political landscape ahead of national elections in 2029.
尽管是非洲最富有的城市，约翰内斯堡却面临长期停电和缺水问题，市中心建筑有时会被帮派“劫持”——即被接管——并向居住者收费。过去五年里，该市已更换了七任市长。
Despite being Africa's richest city, Johannesburg faces chronic power cuts and water shortages, and downtown buildings are sometimes "hijacked" — or taken over — by gangs, which charge people for staying in them. The city has had seven mayors in the last five years.
糟糕的服务考验选民忠诚度 汽修店老主顾拉希德·纳贾姆在齐勒到访其店铺并倾听诉求后，被民主联盟赢得了支持。他说，官员们无视了他多次恳请修复附近漏污的污水处理厂。
POOR SERVICES TEST VOTERS' LOYALTY Car repair shop owner Rashied Najam was won over by the DA after Zille visited his shop and listened to his problems. Officials had neglected repeated pleas to fix a leaking sewage plant nearby, he said.
“一个完全是我对立面的女士，海伦·齐勒，来到这里，见到我，跟我握手、拥抱我，”纳贾姆说。齐勒后来还在他的店里举办了竞选活动。
"Here comes a lady that's my total opposition, Helen Zille, and she meets me and she shakes my hand and hugs me," said Najam. Zille later held a campaign event at his shop.
这是他第一次计划不支持非国大——这位解放英雄纳尔逊·曼德拉所属的政党。“我爱他们。但他们让人失望，”他说。
This is the first time he is planning not to support the ANC, the party of liberation hero Nelson Mandela. "I love them. But they're disappointing," he said.
非国大约翰内斯堡地区主席洛伊索·马苏库是该党潜在市长候选人之一，她承认公共服务交付存在问题，并将其归咎于城市的快速增长。
The ANC's Johannesburg regional chairperson Loyiso Masuku, one of its potential candidates for mayor, acknowledged problems with service delivery and blamed it on the city's rapid growth.
“在应对基础设施挑战方面，我们会主动采取措施，”她说道，并补充说，像纳贾姆这样的居民“理应获得更好的服务”。不止坑洞，还有一场种族考验齐莱说，约翰内斯堡的治理难度将远高于开普敦。
"We're going to be proactive in terms of how we deal with our infrastructure challenges," she said, adding that residents like Najam "do deserve better services". BEYOND POTHOLES, A RACIAL TEST Zille said Johannesburg would be much tougher to govern than Cape Town.
“让预算和资源分配机制切实运转起来、消除腐败，并把注意力放在基础事务上，将是约翰内斯堡面临的最大挑战，”齐莱在一场采访中说。
"Just getting functional budgeting and allocation working, getting rid of corruption, and focusing on the basics is going to be the big challenge of Joburg," Zille said in an interview.
但这场竞选也触及了南非根深蒂固的种族分裂，考验着这个以黑人居民为主的城市中的选民，在种族隔离制度结束30年后，是否愿意跨越这些界线。批评者经常指责民主联盟维护白人少数群体的利益，而该党否认这一说法。
But the race also taps into South Africa's deep-seated racial divisions, testing whether voters in the mostly Black city are willing to cross those lines three decades after the end of apartheid. The DA is often accused by critics of defending white minority interests, which it denies.
尽管对该党的执政表现深感不满，许多南非人仍“非盟就是自己的黑人身份”，政治分析人士威廉·古梅德说。
Despite frustrations with its governance, many South Africans "equate the ANC with their Black identity," said political analyst William Gumede.
“从投票角度看，我们还没有足够多的人跨越种族隔离时代按种族身份划下的藩篱……进入一个依据各方竞争进行投票的新时代，”他说。
"We don't yet have enough people who have moved from a voting point of view from the apartheid racial identity barrier... to a new era where they vote based on competition," he said.
“但约翰内斯堡实际上可能正是我们跨越这道藩篱的地方。” 联盟政治将决定胜者 83岁的雅各布·塞恩是约翰内斯堡所辖索韦托镇的居民。他说，自1994年首次多种族选举以来，他一直投票给非盟，今后也绝不会改投其他政党。“我认为他们看到了自己的错误，也会改正这些错误，”他说。
"But Johannesburg could actually be where we cross the barrier." COALITION POLITICS TO DECIDE WINNER Jacob Seane, 83, a resident of Soweto, a township within Johannesburg, said he had voted for the ANC since the first multiracial elections in 1994 and would never change. "I think they saw their mistakes and they will fix their mistakes," he said.
齐莱说，民主联盟内部民调显示，她以约40%的得票率领先。益普索9月份的民调显示，非盟得票率为31%，民主联盟为28%。由于预计没有政党能够单独获胜，该市政府很可能将依赖联盟谈判。
Zille said internal DA polling showed her leading with about 40% of votes. An Ipsos poll in September showed the ANC at 31% and the DA at 28%. With no party expected to win outright, the city's government will likely depend on coalition negotiations.
民主联盟此前曾两度拥有约翰内斯堡市长，但在2029年到来前重新赢得该市控制权，将是一次重大利好。
The DA has had a mayor of Johannesburg twice before, but winning the city back would be a major boost ahead of 2029.
当被问及能否跨越种族界线争取选票时，齐莱说：“我只希望，当人们把选票投入投票箱时……过去的牵绊不会太过强大。” 路透社
Asked about winning votes across racial lines, Zille said: "I just hope that when people get into that ballot box ... the tug of the past isn't too strong." REUTERS