CAPE TOWN, Saturday 29 August 2026 — The ANC has asked the City of Cape Town to remove two of its sitting ward councillors after Thembinkosi Mjuza defected to the Democratic Alliance and Lindile Sonyoka joined the Patriotic Alliance, giving rival parties experienced local representatives ahead of the 4 November municipal elections.
The Western Cape ANC confirmed on Saturday that it had approached Cape Town municipal manager Lungelo Mbandazayo over the two councillors, arguing that their departure from the party means they can no longer occupy council seats obtained as ANC representatives.
The most electorally significant move involves Mjuza, the sitting councillor for Ward 39 in Gugulethu.
The ANC discovered earlier this week that Mjuza appeared on the Democratic Alliance‘s candidate list submitted to the Electoral Commission of South Africa.
Mjuza had continued serving publicly as the ANC ward councillor in Gugulethu in recent months, including participating in the handover of houses to beneficiaries in the area in June.
His switch is particularly relevant to the DA’s election strategy because the party has been attempting to expand its support in predominantly black communities where the ANC has traditionally dominated.
Gugulethu is therefore considerably more significant to the DA’s campaign than simply adding another councillor to its existing majority in the Cape Town council.
The party has already made defections from senior ANC figures a visible component of its campaign in the metro.
Former ANC Cape Town caucus leader Banele Majingo defected to the DA in March 2025 shortly before he was due to introduce a motion of no confidence in then-council speaker Felicity Purchase.
The DA subsequently placed Majingo at the centre of an election billboard campaign in Khayelitsha this February, explicitly encouraging ANC voters to follow him into the party.
The recruitment of Mjuza potentially extends that strategy into Gugulethu with a politician who already has ward-level organisation and recognition.
The ANC’s second departing councillor, Sonyoka, has instead joined the Patriotic Alliance.
Sonyoka confirmed his defection but said he would not voluntarily resign his council seat.
He told Eyewitness News that he had not yet seen the ANC’s request to the municipal manager and intended to remain a councillor until formally removed.
ANC Cape Town leader Ndithini Tyhido said both councillors had unsuccessfully sought another term through the party’s internal candidate-selection processes before joining rival organisations.
According to Tyhido, membership of another political party is incompatible with continuing to hold an ANC council seat.
“You can’t be a councillor for one political party and appear as a candidate on another,” he told EWN.
The ANC’s account indicates that the defections are therefore also linked to its candidate-selection process.
That is important because disputes over candidate lists have historically generated resignations, independent candidacies and defections during municipal elections, particularly when sitting councillors fail to secure another nomination.
The final electoral consequences will become clearer once the IEC completes its verification process.
Political parties and independent candidates had until 17:00 on Friday, 28 August to complete their nominations for the 4 November election.
The commission has said ordinary additions or alterations cannot be made after that deadline.
Final candidate lists are scheduled for publication on 16 September.
Mjuza’s appearance on the DA’s submitted list therefore makes his move more consequential than a general announcement of party membership: it potentially places a sitting ANC ward representative directly into the DA’s election slate.
The reporting reviewed for this article does not establish Sonyoka’s final position on the PA’s submitted candidate list.
The two departures come during a wider contest between the ANC, DA and PA for experienced local politicians in the Western Cape.
The DA recruited former Western Cape ANC provincial secretary Neville Delport in November 2025 along with several former ANC councillors.
Former Cape Town ANC caucus leader Majingo had joined several months earlier.
Outside Cape Town, however, the PA has successfully recruited DA councillors and office-bearers in municipalities where comparatively small changes in council composition can determine control.
Those movements have been particularly important in municipalities including George and Saldanha Bay.
Cape Town differs because the DA currently holds a substantial council majority, meaning the two latest defections are unlikely to change control of the existing administration before November.
Their significance is instead electoral and organisational.
The ANC is trying to rebuild its Cape Town presence after its support in the metro declined substantially over successive municipal elections, while the DA is attempting to broaden its voter coalition beyond areas where it already dominates.
The PA is simultaneously competing aggressively for support in communities where both larger parties have historically had established structures.
The recruitment of sitting councillors provides parties with organisers who already understand ward structures, community organisations and municipal processes.
For the ANC, losing Mjuza is potentially more damaging because the move involves an incumbent ward representative in Gugulethu rather than a politician without an existing constituency.
It also comes after the party had previously dismissed suggestions that Majingo’s earlier defection would lead to a broader movement of Cape Town councillors to the DA.
In February, Western Cape ANC spokesperson Sifiso Mtsweni said Majingo had not brought other City councillors with him despite earlier predictions of additional departures.
Mjuza’s move now gives the DA another sitting ANC ward councillor in the metro.
The immediate administrative question is whether Mbandazayo accepts the ANC’s request and formally declares the two council positions vacant.
The more consequential electoral question will emerge on 16 September, when the IEC publishes the verified candidate lists.
Those lists will show whether Mjuza’s move from ANC ward councillor to DA election candidate has survived the nomination process and whether Sonyoka will similarly contest November’s election under the PA banner.
For Cape Town, the defections provide another indication that competition ahead of November is increasingly taking place not only through manifestos and national campaigns, but through battles for experienced local politicians who already have organisations and constituencies on the ground.
