The Knysna municipality faces fresh political uncertainty less than seven weeks before the local government elections, after the ANC moved to remove mayor Thando Matika as an ANC councillor for standing under the SACP banner.
The Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) published its candidate list on September 16, which named Matika as an SACP PR candidate councillor.
The development follows weeks of speculation about Matika’s political future.
The municipality’s website still lists Matika as mayor.
The council is currently made up of the DA with eight seats, the ANC with five, the Knysna Independent Movement (KIM) and the PA with two each, and the EFF and Plaaslike Besorgde Inwoners (PBI) with one seat apiece.
The ANC is in a coalition with the EFF and PBI.
Matika was elected mayor in February 2025 after former mayor Aubrey Tsengwa was removed.
He was elected unopposed.
However, the ANC has now formally asked the municipality to remove him as a councillor.
ANC Garden Route regional spokesperson Moyisi Magalela said the party had noted the publication of the candidate list.
“The list confirmed that Matika has chosen his political side and has decided to stand and campaign under the banner of the SACP.
“The ANC respects his democratic right to make that political choice,” Magalela said.
“However, we believe that political choices must carry corresponding consequences in terms of political representation.
“Matika was elected to serve as an ANC councillor, and he was entrusted with that position under the ANC banner.”
Magalela said the ANC had formally written to the municipality requesting that Matika be removed as a councillor and that the appropriate legal and administrative processes be followed to declare the position vacant and notify the IEC.
“The ANC will follow this matter through the appropriate municipal and electoral processes to ensure that the vacancy is dealt with in accordance with the applicable legislation,” he said.
He said that the move was not about preventing Matika from exercising his political rights.
“We wish to make it clear that this is not about denying Matika his democratic right to associate with or campaign for the political organisation of his choice.
“It is about ensuring that political representation in council reflects the mandate under which a councillor was elected,” Magalela said.
Matika had already indicated that he would not contest the November elections as an ANC candidate.
In a letter dated September 7 to Magalela, he formally declined nomination as an ANC candidate.
Before declining the ANC nomination, Matika had also resigned from the ANC Youth League.
Matika was not available for comment.
He is not the only Knysna ANC councillor confirmed as an SACP candidate.
Lukhanyiso Nohana, the ANC councillor representing Ward 3, has also been confirmed by the IEC as an SACP ward candidate.
The ANC has recalled Nohana from his responsibilities as an ANC councillor, according to the party.
SACP spokesperson Lizwi Gegula confirmed that ANC members in the region had decided to campaign for the SACP.
“We are not fighting with the ANC.
“However, members of the SACP have dual memberships with the ANC and have been long-standing in both parties,” Gegula said.
He said the SACP had previously not contested elections independently and had worked with the ANC.
“Now we have decided to contest the elections, as it is expected some of the members would want to contest for the SACP,” Gegula said.
The SACP is contesting 204 municipalities nationally in the November elections, according to the IEC’s final candidate information.
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