Zandile Gumede

She left the ANC for the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party in July 2026 and became its KwaZulu-Natal deputy convenor. She is on trial on corruption charges that have not yet reached a verdict. Reports in July 2026 said she was expected to be MK's eThekwini mayoral candidate; MK named Zandile Hlophe-Mkhwanazi in August 2026.

Career

Wikipedia gives her birth as 12 May 1961 in Amaoti, Inanda. She served as a ward and proportional-representation councillor, as eThekwini treasurer from 2007 to 2015, and as ANC deputy convenor in KwaZulu-Natal from 2016 to 2019. She was Executive Mayor of eThekwini from 2016 until Mxolisi Kaunda was elected on 5 September 2019. EWN reports that the ANC made her step aside because of the corruption trial. In July 2026 the MK Party presented her at a Durban briefing as its KwaZulu-Natal deputy convenor, and its secretary-general called her recruitment a game-changer.

Controversies

Wikipedia records that she appeared in court in May 2019 on fraud-related charges and was released on bail. EWN reports that she is charged with 21 others, including ANC councillors and municipal employees, with fraud, corruption, racketeering and money laundering over a Durban solid-waste tender valued at about R320 million. The state alleges that in 2016 officials let a waste tender lapse to create an emergency and that she directed the new contracts to companies owned by ANC members. The trial continues in the Durban High Court, with a hearing on whether evidence seized from a former city manager is admissible. It was postponed on 24 August 2026 and no verdict has been given.

Summarised automatically from the linked sources. Wikipedia · EWN · EWN · Wikipedia (MK Party)