Elections 2026: Get to know your ward councillor candidates
Candidates share their top priorities, and tell you why they believe they deserve your vote.
The African Reporter invited political parties to submit information on candidates contesting in wards in KwaTsaDuza. The profiles are based on information supplied by the respective candidates. The profiles are intended solely to provide voters with information about the candidates contesting the election and to help them make informed choices at the polls. The views expressed in these answers are those of the respective candidates and do not represent the views of Caxton Local Media or any of the publications. Not all parties responded by the submission deadline.
Andile Sithebe
Ward: 74
Party: Umkhonto we Sizwe
What are your top three priorities for this ward?
- Basic service delivery first: Fix potholes on Springs Road and Denne Road, leaking water pipes, streetlights and constant power outages. Ensure clean streets, reliable waste collection and proper stormwater drainage for every household.
- Safety and community well-being: Work closely with SAPS Kwa-Thema (CPF), community patrols to fight crime and drugs.
- Youth skills development: Create local jobs, build a youth centre in the area for opportunities, support SMMEs, push skills training, sports facilities, and bursaries so our youth are not left behind.
Why should residents vote for you, based on your track record and plans?
I am a resident of Kwa-Thema and a community servant who has always been on the ground – not only during elections. I have served on a Ward 74 committee. As a MK Party candidate, I bring discipline, unity and transparent service to the people. I will be an accessible, accountable councillor with an open-door policy that works for all. Vote for action, not promises.
Nkululeko Manana
Ward: 74
Party: African Royal Rainbow Congress (ARRC)
What are your top three priorities for this ward?
- Combat youth unemployment via localised hiring. The party strongly pushes local businesses to hire South African youth.
- Hands-on infrastructure improvement and safety.
- Safety and security to reduce GBV in Ekurhuleni to foster community safety and stability.
Why should residents vote for you, based on your track record and plans?
The community can vote for me because I have been a resident of Ward 74 all my life. I know the challenges we face and have always been helpful in addressing some of the challenges. I am not afraid to speak up and stand for what’s right. To be a Councillor will only mean I can do more for Ward 74.
Ferguson Mthini Skhonde
Ward: 77
Party: Umkhonto we Sizwe
What are your top three priorities for this ward?
- Service: 48 hour fix of water and lights, tar roads, fix sewer, 24 hour clinic, end bucket system.
- Jobs: 30% local jobs, SMME database, skills & bursaries, support BoMama traders, fair list 6 VDs.
- Safety: CCTV and lights, community policing, publish spending monthly, fix parks.
Why should residents vote for you, based on your track record and plans?
I live in Ward 77, born in Kwa-Thema. I know our pain. Accessible 24/7, accountable. I fight for dignity, jobs, safety. MK puts Ward 77 first. Your voice, your fighter.
Ntombi Shaun Msiza (known as Gugu)
Ward: 77/80
Party: Umphakathi Kai One
What are your top three priorities for this ward?
I am not a politician, I am a member of Umphakathi, standing for umphakathi and their needs. Together as umphakathi to get the houses. I am not promising to build houses, I am promising to get RDP houses for our community of Ekurhuleni as promised by our government to build us houses.
Ekurhuleni jobs for Ekurhuleni people together with the community to get jobs. Everyone has to work, not certain individuals but the community members. Safety in our community as to look out for each other, bringing back ubuntu ebantwini. To be safe in our community.
Why should residents vote for you, based on your track record and plans?
I am not a politician; I am a community member and have the same needs that the community is willing to put umphakathi first. Safety in our community by working together with the community to look out for each other. Solutions on how to put more safety precautions in our community. Ekurhuleni jobs for Ekurhuleni people. RDP house for the community of Ekurhuleni if Kwa-Thema has no land to build. Kwa-Thema is still part of Ekurhuleni and still qualified to have RDP houses. I am still willing and working to serve the community
Disemelo Georgina Mashiane
Ward: 78
Party: Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF)
What are your top three priorities for this ward?
- Will ensure that all qualifying poor households receive free basic services as a constitutional and developmental obligation.
- Ensure that access to municipal support measures is simple, dignified, and free from unnecessary paperwork.
- Work with the SAPS and other stakeholders to develop and participate in integrated crime prevention strategies based on identified crime hotspots.
Why should residents vote for you, based on your track record and plans?
Because our people deserve more than promises, they deserve a clear vision and committed leadership. We envision a ward where every family feels safe, every young person has hope and opportunity, our elderly are respected and supported and every resident has a voice. We will build a cleaner, safer, more united and thriving community where development and opportunities reach everyone, not just a few. We will listen, be present, speak up for our needs, and work together to turn our shared hopes into reality with humility, dignity, honesty, determination, and respect.
Xolile Dzanibe
Ward: 78
Party: African Royal Rainbow Congress (ARRC)
What are your top three priorities for this ward?
- Combat youth unemployment via localised hiring. The party strongly pushes local businesses to hire South African youth.
- Hands-on infrastructure improvement and safety.
- Safety and security to reduce GBV in Ekurhuleni to foster community safety and stability.
Why should residents vote for you, based on your track record and plans?
Xolile Dzanibe is not from the Germiston office, he has been a resident of Kwa-Thema for 30 years, and his family is here. He knows Masimini, High Land and New Paynville by foot, not by map. Time for a neighbour, not a cadre.
Phumlani Dladla
Ward: 78
Party: Umkhonto we Sizwe
What are your top three priorities for this ward?
- Build unity: Promote social cohesion, resolve conflicts and build partnership for a better ward.
- Monitor service: Overseer the quality of municipal services and report back to the community.
- Identify needs: Identify service challenges and development needs in the ward and raise them with the municipality.
Why should residents vote for you, based on your track record and plans?
Before anything I put the community first. Together we will build a better ward and good space for our people. Together we can build a better Ward 78.
Jabu Thela
Ward: 79
Party: Umphakathi Kai One
What are your top three priorities for this ward?
- Fair employment: Advocate for transparent access to local employment opportunities, irrespective of political affiliation. Challenge nepotism and favouritism so that connections do not determine who gets an opportunity.
- Dignity for Ext 8: Pursue proper toilets, improved roads and answers about the promised housing project for residents who have spent over 32 years in shacks and unacceptable conditions.
- Reliable services: Pursue dependable water, electricity, refuse collection and maintained infrastructure. Advocate for adequate staffing, resources and properly managed overtime where needed to resolve backlogs and emergencies, with public progress updates and regular community engagement.
Why should residents vote for you, based on your track record and plans?
I have served as a community leader and an advocate for the people. I understand that leadership means listening, standing with residents and demanding answers. Vote for change: fair opportunities, dignified living conditions and a councillor accountable to you.
As community candidate, my mandate will come from the voters, not a political organisation. I will report back openly, follow up on commitments and involve residents in decisions affecting their lives. Ward 79 deserves leadership that puts people first and works towards a community where everyone is heard, involved and empowered.
Simon Boy Mahlangu
Ward: 79
Party: African Restoration Alliance (ARA)
What are your top three priorities for this ward?
- Uplifting and empowering young people through meaningful opportunities and support, particularly in addressing the growing substance abuse problem in our community.
- I want to educate residents on how government structures operate, empowering them through knowledge and enabling greater participation.
- I aim to empower the community as a whole by engaging residents in developing practical ideas and strategies for sustainable economic growth, moving beyond reliance on outside investment and working towards building the capacity to finance and develop our own community projects.
Why should residents vote for you, based on your track record and plans?
Having served our community for more than 15 years through both religious and non-religious organisations, including serving on various community organisation committees, I have dedicated myself to community service and understand the challenges and struggles faced by our residents.
My plans are rooted in this experience: empowering our youth, addressing substance abuse, educating residents about government structures, and creating meaningful opportunities for community participation and sustainable economic development. I believe our community must be empowered with the knowledge, skills and resources to identify solutions, develop projects and ultimately build the capacity to uplift itself.
Petrus Ndumiso Mtolo
Ward: 79
Party: Umkhonto we Sizwe
What are your top three priorities for this ward?
- Service delivery and dignity: Reliable electricity, water, refuse, roads, streetlights, eradicate bucket toilets and build proper houses.
- Accountability that works: No more reference numbers with no feedback. Report it. Record it. Follow it up. Resolve it. I will be accessible via meetings, WhatsApp and walkabouts.
- Safety and jobs: Fight crime and drugs, prioritise Ward 79 businesses for South Africans, support traders and create skills and learnerships for youth.
Why should residents vote for you, based on your track record and plans?
Ward 79 has suffered 30 years of ANC failure. That is why we must be given a chance to fix it.
Nkhensa Maswanganyi
Ward: 80
Party: Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF)
What are your top three priorities for this ward?
- Transparency in all municipality processes.
- Secure our communities and municipality by-laws enforcement. (this includes managing Duduza Rank’s unnecessary traffic.)
- Constant clean and clear communication.
Why should residents vote for you, based on your track record and plans?
I have community-grounded leadership and practical governance knowledge. I live in the ward I represent and understand daily local struggles, such as water and electricity reliability and road maintenance. In me, Ward 80 has a great listener rather than just a campaigner. Residents will be assisted to identify development priorities rather than imposed top-down answers.
I fully understand municipal council structures and service delivery procedures. I know the municipal legislation (such as the Municipal Structures Act) and the official Code of Conduct for councillors. Effectively voices community service delivery complaints to the municipality and follows up on resolutions.
Unathi Makelani
Ward: 81
Party: Democratic Alliance (DA)
What are your top three priorities for this ward?
Put roads that works, infrastructure that accommodates everyone and a police station that works.
Why should residents vote for you, based on your track record and plans?
I plead with the community to vote for me because I am young. I will lesson and act on the complaints they have. Thumani mina ngiyathumeka. I am ready to be hands on and help my community and be accessible to my community. I promise true leadership and equal opportunity.
Kgotso Kale
Ward: 82
Party: Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF)
What are your top three priorities for this ward?
- Maximise the work on service delivery. Which will ensure that the ward’s infrastructure is in a good state.
- Develop strategies which will curb crime and guarantee the safety of our people, particularly women and children.
- An aggressive investment in a skills development programme, which will assist with empowering youth who face high unemployment rates. One area of force will be in agriculture and Information Technology.
Why should residents vote for you, based on your track record and plans?
As an economic emancipation activist, I believe through councillorship the residents of Ward 82 would be able to experience the importance of land, industrialisation and beneficiation, which will permit the ward to be in a better economic position. As a young leader who has led in students’ politics and currently serves as the chairperson of EFF in the Far-East Sub-Region of Ekurhuleni, I follow the principle of youth leadership and accountability.
For a long time we have stood on the sidelines, watching incompetency disguised as ward councillors, and that time has come to an absolute end.
Ms P. Leeuw
Ward: 82
Party: African Royal Rainbow Congress (ARRC)
What are your top three priorities for this ward?
- Uninterrupted water supply.
- Uninterrupted electricity supply.
- Crime will be prevented.
Why should residents vote for you, based on your track record and plans?
People must please vote for me because I won’t rest until there is efficient water and electricity supply for residents of Ward 82.
Nokukhanya Maudrie Mthembu
Ward: 85
Party: South African Communist Party (SACP)
What are your top three priorities for this ward?
- Reliable services and safety: VD to VD water and electricity audits, preventative maintenance, rapid leak teams, working streetlights, speed humps, and fighting cable theft.
- People’s power and clean council: Regular report-backs, street committees, participatory budgeting, fight tender corruption and privatisation.
- Decent work and livelihoods: Activate worker cooperatives for cleaning/recycling, repairs and food gardens on public land – put people before profit and build socialism where we live.
Why should residents vote for you, based on your track record and plans?
I am a community activist in Ward 85 fighting for better service delivery to our community. I live the SACP values of democratic, accountable and inclusive society. I will put workers and poor communities before private profit, fix neglected services through public maintenance teams, and build people’s power where we live. Vote SACP for a councillor who is a good listener, always on the ground, an organiser and servant of the people.
Steven Rakgoadi
Ward: 85
Party: African Royal Rainbow Congress (ARRC)
What are your top three priorities for this ward?
- Combat youth unemployment via localised hiring. The party strongly pushes local businesses to hire South African youth.
- Hands-on infrastructure improvement and safety.
- Safety and security to reduce GBV in Ekurhuleni to foster community safety and stability.
Why should residents vote for you, based on your track record and plans?
Steven Rakgoadi of Ward 85 is passionate about youth unemployment, wants to link youth to job opportunities at Springs factories and surroundings, partner with East College for skills and training programmes.
Sibusiso Mafuma
Ward: 86
Party: Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF)
What are your top three priorities for this ward?
- Build a business park that will bring jobs and investment.
- Create skill development areas that will give young people practical training and hope.
- Fix water and sanitation for every household.
Why should residents vote for you, based on your track record and plans?
I am standing because our ward deserves better. Our municipality buildings are decaying, our youth are unemployed, and water and sanitation problems are making daily life harder for families across our communities. I will work with residents, community groups, and municipal officials to restore dignity, improve services, and open real opportunities.
Ward 86 deserves accountable leadership and honest work, not empty promises. Together, let us rebuild our ward and create a future that works for all of us. Your vote is your voice, and I will make it count.
Zodwa Jooste
Ward: 97
Party: Umkhonto we Sizwe
What are your top three priorities for this ward?
create the job for community ward 97 Brakpan ekurhuleni and 2 informal sector short electricity and fix potholes prince George street.
Why should residents vote for you, based on your track record and plans?
I live here, I fight for pensioners, disabled, youth and settlements. MK puts Ward 97 first.
Zanana Jonah
Ward: 98
Party: African Royal Rainbow Congress (ARRC)
What are your top three priorities for this ward?
- Combat youth unemployment via localised hiring. The party strongly pushes local businesses to hire South African youth.
- Hands-on infrastructure improvement and safety.
- Safety and security to reduce GBV in Ekurhuleni to foster community safety and stability.
Why should residents vote for you, based on your track record and plans?
I will light up John Dube, Duduza in all dark areas across the ward, strengthen CPF patrols and community safety watch teams. Push for efficient policing and response.
John Maite
Ward: 111
Party: Party: African Royal Rainbow Congress (ARRC)
What are your top three priorities for this ward?
- Combat youth unemployment via localised hiring. The party strongly pushes local businesses to hire South African youth.
- Hands-on infrastructure improvement and safety.
- Safety and security to reduce GBV in Ekurhuleni to foster community safety and stability.
Why should residents vote for you, based on your track record and plans?
As a councillor in Ward 111, I will ensure that the community receive proper sanitation and roads.
Busi Johanna Mndebele
Ward: 111
Party: Umkhonto we Sizwe
What are your top three priorities for this ward?
- Service delivery – Deregistration of stands, proper sanitation and toilets and tar roads maintenance.
- Fight drugs and create jobs – Fighting drugs, destroying youth, opportunities for youth and people above 35.
- Support gogos and child-headed homes – Support for gogos, child-headed homes, change starts with women leading (imbokodo epalini).
Why should residents vote for you, based on your track record and plans?
Before anything I put community first. Imbokodo epalini. Wathinta umfazi wathinta imbokodo. Accessible, accountable and will fight for service delivery. Restoring hope and dignity. Together we can build a better Ward 111.
