DA nominates 26-year-old Mnikathi for uMngeni deputy mayor

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in KwaZulu-Natal on Monday announced its deputy mayoral candidate for uMngeni Local Municipality would be Sandile Mnikathi. 

The 26-year-old is expected to work side by side with the DA’s youngest mayor-elect Christopher Pappas, who is 30 years old.

uMngeni is the first municipality to be run by the DA in KwaZulu-Natal, after the party secured 47% of votes during last week’s local government elections.

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Mnikathi said he was excited to have been nominated by the DA for the position of deputy mayor in uMngeni. He said their first priority as the newly elected leadership would be to fix the municipality’s finances, focus on youth empowerment and basic service delivery.

“We also have a keen interest in youth unemployment and that is why we are going to set up a database whereby young people can apply to be on that database and they can put their skills and qualifications.

“And in the event there is a vacancy in the businesses that we have spoken to already that matches up with those particular skills, we can alert those businesses and they can set up interviews for those young people,” Mnikathi said.

The DA described Mnikathi as a young and dynamic councillor, saying he was selected after undergoing a rigorous candidate selection process.

“Mnikathi has a proven political track record in the DA. Just last week, he was able to win a ward off the ANC in the local government elections. He is also currently a member of the DA KZN provincial executive committee and provincial management committee,” the DA said in a statement.

The DA wished Mnikathi well on his new role, saying it had “full faith” in him and his leadership capabilities. The party said it believes that working alongside Pappas, they would rebuild uMngeni into a shining example of how a transparent, corrupt-free municipality can deliver services to its residents.

Sandile Mnikathi’s background

Mnikathi, who is a resident of uMngeni, went to Howick Prep and then to Howick Secondary.

He holds a Bachelor of social science degree in political science and philosophy. He also holds an Honours degree in international relations and is currently studying towards a PhD in political science.

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