LOCAL ELECTIONS 2026: Criminal convictions, scathing allegations — NMB’s Dodgy Half-Dozen candidates

Two Savannas… allegedly.That’s all it took for former Good party regional chair and now leader of the newly formed People’s Power party, Siyanda Mayana, to find himself in the Algoa Park jail cells on Friday night.Now, on the eve of the Local Government Elections, Mayana faces a charge of driving under the influence of alcohol and has a court date set for April 2027.“I respect the law of South Africa as a law-abiding citizen. I feel like this (his arrest) was just part of the process during a roadblock, that if you are suspected to be drunk after blowing on the breathalyser, you have to be arrested,” Mayana said.“Look, I was not drunk; I only had two Savannas. We were tired coming from campaigning, so we thought to have two drinks before heading home. Unfortunately, they found me with one of the bottles, otherwise I would not have been tested.”Police spokesperson Captain Sandra Janse van Rensburg confirmed the arrest at a roadblock on the R75, around 10.35pm, on Friday. She said Mayana was released on R1,000 bail the following morning and warned to be at court on 30 April 2027, pending the results of a blood-alcohol test.Former Good party regional chair and now People’s Power leader and mayoral candidate Siyanda Mayana. (Photo: Supplied / Siyanda Mayana). Could this hurt his chances at the polls on 4 November? Perhaps.But he is now part of a very select group – call them the Dodgy Half Dozen, or the Tainted Troupe, of Bay politics, if you will.Mayana is now one of six leading political players in Nelson Mandela Bay who have made headlines in recent weeks due to recent, or historic, run-ins with the law for myriad reasons.NMB executive mayor Babalwa LobisheNelson Mandela Bay mayor Babalwa Lobishe. (Photo: Lulama Zenzile) Mayana is no stranger to the spotlight, but normally for his vocal stance against lawlessness, including his allegations against Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Babalwa Lobishe for leasing a municipal transformer, worth R25-million, to private business Coega Steel.Mayana was among the first to raise the alarm about the deal, calling for an investigation and laying a complaint against Lobishe. The DA has since launched a high court application seeking to compel the municipality to recover personally from Lobishe and former acting city manager Ted Pillay any unlawful expenditure linked to the irregular lease, in terms of Section 32 of the Municipal Finance Management Act.Lobishe’s legal battles include a preservation order against her assets to the tune of R82,970.88 when a defamation case against Mayana was dismissed with costs. Besides the Coega Steels saga, she tried to silence Mayana after he registered a case with the Hawks, alleging that Lobishe had received illicit funds into her Capitec Bank account, which resulted in it being frozen. “Mayana is really a lunatic that is crazy about me. I’m [sure about what I am saying]. He’s a lunatic, and I don’t know what his agenda is.” — Babalwa LobisheNMB deputy mayor Gary van Niekerk Nelson Mandela Bay deputy mayor and fraud accused Gary van Niekerk. (Photo: Riaan Marais) Lobishe’s second-in-command, deputy mayor Gary van Niekerk, has also seen his fair share of the court dock in recent months.The National Alliance mayoral candidate is accused of cyber fraud and contravening the Municipal Finance Management Act after he allegedly fraudulently racked up R550,000 in legal fees in 2022. The allegations include that Van Niekerk posed as the speaker of council when he did not hold that office, appointing a firm not on the municipality’s list of preferred service providers, and appointing a firm without approval from the city manager.Earlier this year, he missed a court date, citing a political mission to Germany to “build ties and save lives”, and was subsequently convicted of being in contempt of court. In July, he rejected a plea deal on lesser charges and opted to stand trial on all allegations against him. His trial is set to begin on 8 December 2026.“I welcome the opportunity to present my case in court. The courtroom, not the media, is where the evidence must be tested.” — Gary van NiekerkNelson Mandela Bay ANC councillor and mayoral candidate Andile Lungisa outside the Gqeberha Magistrates’ Court before he was found guilty of assault in 2018. (Photo: Gallo Images / Netwerk24 / Lulama Zenzile) In 2016, a fight broke out during a Nelson Mandela Bay council meeting. Footage showed Andile Lungisa grab a glass water jug and break it over DA councillor Rano Kayser’s head. He was convicted of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm and sentenced to two years in prison.He was released in 2020 and remained on the periphery of Bay politics. That was until earlier this year, when his name emerged as a frontrunner to lead the ANC’s mayoral race in the Local Government Elections, revealing cracks and clear factional lines within the structures of the ruling party.ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula publicly opposed Lungisa’s bid for mayor, while party branches threw their weight behind him.Lungisa took the party and Mbalula to court, challenging his exclusion from the ANC’s candidate list, and it was ultimately determined that his five-year disqualification period, due to his criminal conviction, had expired and he was once again eligible to run for the position of mayor.“Lobishe and them have been distant from the people they lead, hence the communities have resolved on who should be mayor. If you follow our blitzes, you will notice how much I have been campaigning.” — Andile LungisaFF Plus mayoral candidate Bill HaringtonNelson Mandela Bay Freedom Front Plus mayoral candidate Bill Harington (Photo: Facebook / Bill Harington) “My past is not a secret. The party knew about my past.”When asked about his 13-year and 10-month prison sentence for murder, Freedom Front Plus mayoral candidate Bill Harington did not shy away from the truth.In 1991, the 21-year-old police officer was a section head in KwaZulu-Natal, and one of the young constables under his command shot and killed ANC activist Mbongeni Jama. Harington did not pull the trigger, but was convicted of murder for his part in the shooting.During the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings, he admitted his role and apologised to the victim’s family. FF Plus party leaders confirmed knowing about his past and, with the approaching elections, found the timing of its resurfacing “suspicious”, accusing political rivals of digging up old news because they felt threatened by the party’s growth.FF Plus councillor Renaldo GouwsFormer DA member and MP Renaldo Gouws now seeks a return to the council under the banner of the Freedom Front Plus. (Photo: Gallo Images / Die Burger / Lulama Zenzile) While he may not be a prospective mayor, or have faced criminal charges, Freedom Front Plus councillor Renaldo Gouws is no stranger to court.In 2024, the Human Rights Commission took him to court after a 14-year-old YouTube video resurfaced wherein Gouws is heard saying: “Alright, so there’s a couple of things I want to say. Kill the f*ing k*ffirs, kill all the f*ing n*ggers. That’s all I gotta f*ing say. Kill all the k*ffirs! Kill all the f*ing n*ggers!”Gouws argued that the clip was part of a longer video and that it was “patently false” that he called for the killing of black people in the video, and that by itself, the snippet conveyed a “completely wrong impression” of what he intended. At the time, Gouws was a ward councillor for the DA, but the party dismissed him in the fallout of the resurfaced video.After a brief break from the public eye, Gouws returned under the banner of the Freedom Front Plus and seeks to reclaim his old ward councillor seat.“Thousands of people asked me to [come back]. People appreciated the work I did when I was a councillor and also the issues I raised on my social media.” — Renaldo Gouws. DM