The City of Mbombela’s junior mayor, Ayanda Mkhabela, dreams of a community that empowers young people and ensures their needs are met.

As we celebrate Youth Month, Mpumalanga News had a conversation with this future leader who wants to make a difference. He is also the junior provincial deputy speaker in the Children’s Parliament, having been nominated by the junior council.

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A junior mayor is a youth leader elected to represent students and young people within a local municipality. Ayanda describes it as being a middleman between the community, learners, and the municipality.

The 16-year-old Lowveld High School learner said he didn’t realise the impact of the role until after he was elected. According to him, it was as if destiny had found him.

“My friend told me to go, but he didn’t brief me properly. I thought I was going for a debate, however, on arrival I realised that it was the final stage of the selection for the junior city council. Various schools were given topics to engage on – they were easy for me since we deal with most of them as young people on a daily basis. During the nomination I nominated myself and the learners voted for me as junior mayor.”

Ayanda said he wants learners to be given a chance to voice their challenges. He added that he doesn’t want to just have a title; he wants to make a difference.

“Our plan is to have suggestion boxes at local schools so that learners can let us know what challenges they are facing. I want everyone to be respected and to have their basic learning needs met,” he explained.

“We want to tackle bullying and look into infrastructure. There are schools that are underdeveloped.”

Ayanda is involved in various projects that he hopes will bring much-needed change to local communities.

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As a deputy speaker, he participated in the 2025 Nelson Mandela Children’s Parliament in Cape Town and Rosebank. Whilst there, he had the opportunity to engage with other junior leaders who advocate for children’s rights. He described this as something that really stood out for him.

Ayanda, currently a Grade 11 learner, hopes to study law.