By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Former uMkhonto weSizwe Party secretary general Floyd Shivambu, has announced that his Afrika Mayibuye Movement (AMM) will contest the 2026 local government elections.
Speaking at the Mhulu Boutique Hotel in Midrand on Friday, Shivambu said that the Afrika Mayibuye Movement (Mayibuye in short) is registered as a political party in terms of the Electoral Commission Act of 1996, allowing it to contest elections.
“We are going to contest all the wards in the 2026 local government elections. We’re going to contest to win all the municipalities in 2026. We are going to contest to win the general elections in 2029,” Shivambu said.
“We are not contesting for the sake of contesting. We’re contesting with the aim, and we are going to win the elections in 2029.”
Shivambu said the national core team and national officials of Mayibuye have been approved.
The party leadership structure includes a president, two deputy presidents, a secretary-general, deputy secretary-generals, a national chairperson, a deputy chairperson, a national organiser, a deputy organiser and other key roles.
Shivambu will lead the party as its president, with Robert Nwedo and Lubabalo Mcinga as the party’s two deputies.
Nwedo serves as president of the Maanda Ashu Workers Union of South Africa (Mawusa). Mcinga is a former Member of Parliament of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF).
Shivambu said the list of officials will be made available online along with a restoration manifesto called the Afrika Mayibuye Restoration Manifesto.
Shivambu said the manifesto identifies 100 challenges facing South African society, including unemployment, landlessness, national debt and inequality.
He also confirmed that Mayibuye’s membership registration portal is now live, calling on South Africans—particularly the youth—to join.
Positioning itself as a progressive, people-centred movement, Shivambu outlined some of Mayibuye’s guiding principles: Advocacy for free education and greater access to healthcare. Promotion of gender equality and women’s empowerment. Preservation of South Africa’s cultural and historical heritage. And economic policies aimed at inclusive development and total emancipation.
“Afrika Mayibuye Movement will not be a cult, it will not be a family project,” Shivambu said, in what appeared to be a veiled swipe at existing parties often accused of nepotism and centralised power.This is a vehicle for the development of our people.”