Africa Mayibuye launches manifesto in Thembisa as its mayoral candidate defends his past
The year-old movement held its manifesto launch at a Thembisa sports ground on Saturday, with its leader still to arrive as the programme ran an hour late.
Africa Mayibuye launched its local government election manifesto at the Mathlama sports ground in Thembisa on Saturday, 38 days before South Africans vote on 4 November, with the party’s mayoral candidate for Ekurhuleni taking questions on his record while the programme ran more than an hour behind schedule.
The party, which SABC News reported has just marked its first year, is contesting its first municipal elections. Its leader, Floyd Shivambu, had not yet arrived at the ground when the broadcast went out, and the reporter on the scene put the crowd at fewer than 100 people as the scheduled 9am start slipped past 10am.
The mayoral candidate for the City of Ekurhuleni, Temba Nkosi, told SABC News that the party had covered more than 4 300 wards across the country and rejected the suggestion that it was new to the space. He said the manifesto would set out what the party promises South Africans, and that the launch was taking place in a city he described as a crime capital, where more than 10 women had been lost to date.
Asked what his platform offers voters, Nkosi said jobs were a crisis, and that the party would widen its focus beyond the 18 to 35 age group to include people over 35 who he said are marginalised. He said the party would work to revive closed factories, would tackle corruption, and would address water and electricity supply. On revenue, he said the city needed to collect more, including from large companies operating there.
Pressed on his past as a cash-in-transit convict and on his lack of political experience, Nkosi said he had accepted his imperfections in public and had paid for his sins in full. He said he had spent nine years out of prison with no sign of reoffending, described himself as no longer a prisoner of the past but a pioneer of the future, and said he speaks to schoolchildren about his experience. He pointed to his foundation work over 20 years and argued that other leaders have entered public life from outside politics.
On whether a mayoral seat was too senior for a first-term party, he said the role is to provide political leadership and oversight while officials account for service delivery. He said he grew up in the area and would be held to what he promised.
He said he expected the ground to fill later in the day and that buses had brought people in the morning. He also said the party expects to form part of government after the election and is open to coalition arrangements, urging political tolerance between parties.
The party’s other mayoral candidates, as named in the broadcast, include Bishop Vincent Jones in the City of Johannesburg and a candidate in the City of Tshwane, with a candidate also named for the City of Ekurhuleni.
Source: SABC News (YouTube), LGE 2026 | Afrika Mayibuye Movement to launch election manifesto in Thembisa
