Port St Johns Mayor Cebisa Mazuza was removed from office during a council meeting on Wednesday, 14 October 2026, just three weeks before South Africa's local government elections, while the ANC celebrated a Constitutional Court ruling that put its candidates back on the ballot.
The twin developments expose a party at war with itself on the Wild Coast. On one front, the ANC convinced the country's highest court to reverse its exclusion from the 4 November elections. On another, its own councillors in one of the municipalities central to that court case toppled their mayor without the sanction of the provincial leadership.
What happened in the Port St Johns council meeting?
According to News24, the majority of ANC councillors in the Eastern Cape's Wild Coast town accused Mazuza of leadership failures and voted her out on Wednesday. She was replaced by fellow ANC councillor Nelson Nontlevu, who told the council he would serve the communities of Port St Johns with dedication and integrity.
Mazuza denied the accusations. Speaking to Newzroom Afrika, she said the real fight was over the appointment of Mandisi Ngxekana as acting city manager, a decision she made while taking guidance from the office of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Zolile Williams. In her account, some ANC councillors pushed for Ngxekana's appointment despite Williams' disagreement, and the dispute escalated from there.
The municipality defended the removal in a statement, saying it was done in line with applicable local government legislation to ensure institutional stability and continuity of service delivery.
Province and MEC push back against the mayor's removal
The ANC in the Eastern Cape did not mince words. Provincial spokesperson Yanga Zicina called the removal an act of ill-discipline that had not been sanctioned by the party.
“The ANC will get close to the developments and will ensure the application of corrective measures.”
MEC Zolile Williams went further. His spokesperson, Pheello Oliphant, told News24 on Thursday that removing a mayor 20 days before the end of the term is irregular and a breach of the law. Oliphant said the MEC is applying his mind to the legalities and will provide guidance to the municipal council shortly before the 4 November elections.
For the people of Port St Johns, a predominantly black town on a coast still marked by the spatial and economic wreckage of apartheid and colonial dispossession, this is more than factional theatre. Municipal instability translates directly into unmaintained roads, unreliable refuse collection, and broken water and electricity services. The poor pay the price when politicians fight over positions instead of fighting for delivery.
Constitutional Court rules for the ANC on candidate lists
While Port St Johns burned through its leadership, the ANC won a major legal victory on Thursday, 15 October. The Constitutional Court ruled in the party's favour after the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) excluded its candidate lists for six municipalities that missed the 28 August registration cut-off.
The affected municipalities are Port St Johns, Ngquza Hill, Sundays River Valley and Walter Sisulu in the Eastern Cape, uMshwathi in KwaZulu-Natal, and Mangaung in the Free State. According to IOL, the ruling allows 181 ANC councillor candidates to contest the municipal elections, and in Port St Johns and Ngquza Hill the exclusion had left the ANC with no candidates at all for the November 4 vote.
The Electoral Court had initially dismissed the party's bid, but the Constitutional Court directed that the IEC's decision to reject the lists be set aside and that the affected candidates be included on the ballot, as the