MK Party names Bongani Baloyi as Joburg mayoral candidate

UMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party has announced former Democratic Alliance (DA) and ActionSA member Bongani Baloyi as its mayoral candidate for the City of Johannesburg.

Baloyi was announced alongside five others during a media briefing on Friday, 28 August in Umhlanga, Durban.

Baloyi is a former Midvaal mayor in Gauteng, a position he held while serving as a DA member.

He later left the DA and joined ActionSA, where he served as the party’s leader in Gauteng. Baloyi subsequently left ActionSA and founded his own political party, Xiluva, which contested the 2024 general elections and received just over 3 700 votes.

He later joined the Jacob Zuma-led MK Party and has now been selected as the party’s mayoral candidate for Johannesburg.

The MK Party announced mayoral candidates for six metropolitan municipalities on Friday. The party is contesting municipalities including eThekwini, Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni, Mangaung, Buffalo City and Nelson Mandela Bay. The party is yet to announce candidates for Tshwane and Cape Town.

The announced mayoral candidates are:

• Johannesburg: Bongani Baloyi
• Ekurhuleni: Thulani Shongwe
• eThekwini: Zandile Hlophe-Mkhwanazi
• Mangaung: Mapaseka Mothibi
• Buffalo City: Mzwandile Vaaiboom
• Nelson Mandela Bay: Mvuleni Map

uMkhonto weSizwe Party presents the following incoming Mayors.👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿

TOP: Left to Right
Nelson Mandela Bay-Cde Mvuleni Map; Buffalo City-Cde Mzwandile Vaaiboom; Mangaung-Cde Mapaseka Mothibi.

BOTTOM: Left to Right
Jo'burg-Cde Bongani Baloyi; Ekurhuleni-Cde Thulani Shongwe,… pic.twitter.com/8MZpcdLBO1

— Mzwanele Manyi MP (@MzwaneleManyi) August 28, 2026

OTHER PARTIES NAME THEIR CANDIDATES

Meanwhile, several political parties have already announced their candidates as they prepare for what is expected to be a highly competitive Johannesburg mayoral race.

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) has selected Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng, a medical doctor and former United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to health, as its mayoral candidate.

ActionSA has selected its president and former Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba to contest the position. Mashaba served as mayor from 2016 to 2019 while he was a member of the Democratic Alliance.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has chosen former Cape Town mayor and former Western Cape premier Helen Zille as its candidate.

Zille has made service delivery, infrastructure, water, electricity, billing and crime key issues in her campaign as she seeks to return to executive office in a major South African city.

The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) has also entered the Johannesburg mayoral race for the first time, selecting Mlungisi Mabaso as its candidate.

Mabaso currently serves as the IFP’s Johannesburg Human Settlements MMC and has campaigned on issues including housing, service delivery, youth development, safety and local economic development.

Other parties contesting the mayoral race include Rise Mzansi, which has named Lukhona Mnguni; Build One South Africa (BOSA), which has selected Nobuntu Hlazo-Webster; the Land Party, which has selected Ntsiki Mazwai; and Al Jama-ah, which has named Shireen Ebrahim.