News24 | ‘DA is the way to go’: Party's newest recruit was sitting ANC councillor in Cape Town

The DA's newest recruit, Thembinkosi Mjuza, was officially announced in Cape Town on Thursday.

Suné Payne/News24

• The DA in the City of Cape Town announced Thembinkosi Mjuza as its newest recruit.
• He had previously been a councillor in Ward 39 in Gugulethu.
• The ANC, however, said Mjuza was part of a group of councillors who were expelled when it emerged they had joined other parties.
• For more political news, visit News24 Politics.

Former City of Cape Town councillor Thembinkosi Mjuza’s task as the latest DA recruit is to win the ward he won under an ANC banner five years ago.

Mjuza was officially revealed as a DA member on Thursday and a ward candidate for the party in the upcoming local government elections.

The announcement came after speculation on social media that he was on the DA’s candidate list for the elections, rather than the ANC’s.

Mjuza will contest Ward 39, which he held under an ANC banner after the 2021 local government elections.

The party won the ward with 68.43%, followed by the EFF with 13.96% and the DA in third with 6.1%. The ward is in Gugulethu, an area which has traditionally been an ANC stronghold, but the DA has been trying to extend its reach into historically black suburbs.

💙 The DA welcomes former ANC Ward 39 Councillor Thembinkosi Mjuza.

He has chosen visible service delivery, investment and job creation over an ANC that has lost touch with communities.

On 4 November, voters can choose a party that puts residents first.#VoteDA pic.twitter.com/lSw99BbAgi

— DA Western Cape (@WesternCapeDA) September 3, 2026

The DA’s Cape Town metro regional chairperson, JP Smith, described Mjuza as a “diligent” member of the opposition benches.

He said:

I want to acknowledge that we didn’t start talking yesterday; we’ve been talking for a few months now, and that you [Mjuza] considered this position carefully.

“If I must say, of the top five ANC councillors who gave us the hardest time in council, you would need to be among the top five,” added Smith.

“I hope that we will give you the chance to be as diligent a member of the leading administration, the governing administration, and to put your visions and insights into practice, in a way that the ANC caucus could not do for you, under its current leadership,” he said.

The ANC’s Western Cape spokesperson, Sifiso Mtsweni, told News24 that Mjuza was part of a group of party members expelled last week after they “joined other political parties,” and the ANC subsequently removed them from their positions.

READ | DA is not a ‘whites-only’ party: Clear messaging will attract black voters, say delegates

Mjuza, a lifelong Gugulethu resident, told News24 his decision to leave for the DA stemmed largely from frustration with factionalism within the ANC, rather than a focus on service delivery.

He said it all came to a head during a community meeting on 16 June, where Mjuza stated he had felt “very sensitive because of the ill-treatment that the community had to undergo”.

He added that it was at that meeting that the ANC would put forward open nominations for candidates who would eventually run for the party in the upcoming elections.

Here, Mjuza claimed, his supporters had wanted to nominate him to contest the ward, but they were denied the opportunity to do so as their preferred candidate.

“It’s elderly people, it’s youth, it’s normal residents who just come here, and some of them were turned away by a political party that is embracing or proclaiming to be a democratic party.”

After this, he decided:

It’s not like it’s the end of the road.

He then started looking at other options.

Mjuza revealed that he was approached by the SACP and the MK Party before ultimately deciding to join the DA.

About the ANC, he said: “We don’t share the same principles. It’s like finding yourself on the wrong path. The DA is the way to go.”

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