By Thapelo Molefe
The Afrika Mayibuye Movement has named entrepreneur and media personality Themba Lukhele Nzimande, better known as “Skeem GP”, as its mayoral candidate for Ekurhuleni ahead of the 4 November local government elections.
The announcement was made by movement leader Floyd Shivambu during a community meeting in Kliptown, Soweto, where retired Major General Prince Nkitsing Mokotedi was also named as the candidate for the City of Tshwane.
The meeting, held as Afrika Mayibuye marked a year since its formation as a political party, was also used to announce candidates for several other Gauteng municipalities.
Shivambu subsequently identified Bishop Vincent Jones as the movement’s candidate for Emfuleni Local Municipality, Apostle Buti Michael Nthako for Sedibeng District Municipality and Johannes Moatlhodi for Midvaal Local Municipality.
Afrika Mayibuye said a candidate for Lesedi Local Municipality was also announced at the meeting, although the candidate’s name was not included in a subsequent public list released by Shivambu.
The movement has not yet revealed its candidate for the City of Johannesburg.
Shivambu said Afrika Mayibuye had deliberately chosen to announce its mayoral candidates at a community meeting rather than at a traditional press conference because the residents who would ultimately hold them accountable should hear the names first.
“The people who are going to hold those mayors accountable should be part of the announcement,” Shivambu said.
“You will notice the pattern that we are announcing mayors who come from the areas where they are going to be mayors of. We were even born there. We know the challenges of the people,” he said.
Lukhele, who grew up in Katlehong on the East Rand, has previously spoken publicly about his criminal past and imprisonment before rebuilding his public profile as an entrepreneur, author, motivational speaker and media personality.
Shivambu did not dwell on Lukhele’s past during the announcement, instead focusing on Afrika Mayibuye’s broader argument that its candidates should be rooted in the communities they seek to govern and be able to respond to local problems.
He said the movement was seeking to distinguish itself from political parties that became visible during election campaigns through the distribution of T-shirts and other campaign material.
“We do not use that money organising music festivals and just buying T-shirts for people with the aim that we’re going to bribe voters with T-shirts,” Shivambu said.
He criticised the idea that voters could be persuaded through campaign merchandise, saying residents were more concerned about basic services and economic opportunities.
“Our people need water. Our people need jobs. Our people need service delivery. Our people need access to quality care,” he said.
Shivambu pointed to projects the movement said it had already undertaken in communities as evidence that it intended to focus on practical interventions rather than waiting until it controlled government.
Afrika Mayibuye said on Sunday that it had donated a borehole in Kliptown to support small-scale agriculture as part of activities marking the movement’s first anniversary.
Shivambu also said the movement had provided water to communities without access to clean drinking water, supported agricultural projects and established a community healthcare programme through Mayibuye Medics.
He said Mayibuye Medics provided monthly healthcare support to elderly residents in Kliptown.
“We do not wait for tomorrow, because we are an organisation that cares about the people,” Shivambu said.
He said another borehole was being drilled in Gauteng and that a water project in Ekurhuleni was ready to be handed over before the movement’s manifesto launch.
Shivambu said the movement’s political programme was based on its call for “total freedom and emancipation now”, which he said meant prioritising solutions to problems that could be addressed immediately.
He also criticised age limits used in some employment and youth programmes, saying an Afrika Mayibuye-led municipality would seek to broaden employment opportunities for people older than 35.
There is no general South African policy restricting ordinary municipal employment to people aged between 18 and 35. Municipalities are subject to the Employment Equity Act, which prohibits unfair discrimination on grounds including age, although specific internships, youth employment initiatives and other targeted programmes may impose age requirements.
“We will also immediately abolish the nonsensical municipality policies that say that only those who are between the ages of 18 and 35 must be given jobs,” Shivambu said.
“Jobs are going to be given to everyone. As long as you are able to work, you are capable of working, you will be employed by a Mayibuye-run municipality.”
Another major commitment made by Shivambu was to tackle historical municipal and electricity debt, particularly in Soweto.
He said an Afrika Mayibuye-led City of Johannesburg would seek to cancel historical electricity debt accumulated by Soweto residents.
“The first thing that we will put in the city of Johannesburg is to eradicate the historical debt of all the Soweto residents in relation to electricity,” he said.
Implementing such a promise would, however, not rest solely with the City of Johannesburg. Large parts of Soweto receive electricity directly from Eskom, meaning a Johannesburg administration could not unilaterally cancel debt owed by residents directly to the national power utility.
Shivambu linked the current debt problem to Soweto’s history of rent and service-payment boycotts during apartheid, which were used as a form of resistance against the apartheid government’s local authorities.
“The rent boycotts were legitimate instruments to fight against the illegitimate government of apartheid. To now come back later and say the people of Soweto must pay money for utilising an instrument of protest is not sensible,” he said.
The Soweto rent boycott that began in the 1980s included non-payment for services such as electricity, but a 1990 settlement ending the five-year boycott provided for more than R500 million in arrears linked to the boycott to be written off.
Shivambu said Afrika Mayibuye would seek similar interventions in other municipalities where residents were struggling with historical debts.
He also said the movement would involve traditional and royal leaders in municipal governance, particularly in areas where traditional leadership remained influential.
“We will not place our councillors above the traditional and royal leaders. We will make them work together,” he said.
Shivambu said traditional leaders remained closely connected to residents and should therefore be involved in addressing local government problems.
Religious leaders would also form part of the movement’s approach to governance, he said, because churches and religious institutions frequently receive complaints from residents about failures in service delivery.
“When people do not have water, when people do not have jobs, when people are struggling with everything that otherwise was supposed to be attended to by government, they go to their church leaders, to their religious leaders,” he said.
Shivambu said this made religious leaders important partners in finding solutions to community problems.
In Tshwane, Afrika Mayibuye has turned to Mokotedi, a former senior police officer and public administrator with more than three decades of experience in public service.
Mokotedi has held positions in the South African Police Service, the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, or Hawks, the National Prosecuting Authority and the Independent Electoral Commission.
His qualifications include a BA, a BA in Police Science, a postgraduate diploma in Social Research Methods, an LLB, an MPhil and a Master of Management.
He is also the founder of The Ethics Coach and has been involved in community and faith-based work in Tshwane.
Shivambu said the movement believed Mokotedi had the administrative and governance experience required to lead the capital city.
Afrika Mayibuye has meanwhile kept the identity of its Johannesburg candidate under wraps.
Shivambu said the candidate was completing an assignment elsewhere and would be announced separately once she became available.
He said the candidate had emerged through the movement’s internal processes and rejected speculation about prominent figures outside the organisation being considered.
“There is no Helen Zille who is going to be a mayor of Johannesburg. There is no Frank Chikane who is going to be mayor of Johannesburg,” Shivambu said.
“The executive mayor of Johannesburg will be coming from Afrika Mayibuye Movement.”
Shivambu said Afrika Mayibuye planned to launch its local government election manifesto in Tembisa on 19 September.
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