DURBAN, KwaZulu-Natal — As preparations intensify for the eThekwini Metro Elections 2026, the Democratic Alliance has officially released its comprehensive candidate list for Durban, outlining a strategic blueprint to unseat the African National Congress (ANC) and resolve the municipality’s severe service delivery failures.
DA KwaZulu-Natal Chairperson Dean Macpherson led the announcement, presenting a roster of 112 ward councillor candidates alongside the party’s mayoral hopeful. A major highlight of the lineup is the inclusion of Marco Mbambo and David Ngubane, both former ANC ward councillors who recently defected. Mbambo and Ngubane are now set to campaign for the Ward 8 and Ward 16 seats, respectively. Macpherson noted that the party’s strategy directly targets the metro’s collapsing infrastructure, frequent utility outages, uncollected refuse, and rising crime rates.
Detailing the composition of the team, Macpherson explained that 65% of the ward candidates are newcomers, while 35% are returning incumbents. He emphasized that this specific ratio was carefully calculated to inject fresh energy while retaining institutional knowledge. Finalizing the roster, he added, required making difficult organizational choices and extensive consultations with local civic groups to ensure the selected individuals possessed the exact skills and commitment needed to govern the city effectively. The broader team brings diverse expertise from the commercial sector, religious institutions, and grassroots community organizations.
eThekwini mayoral candidate Haniff Hoosen expressed absolute confidence in the newly minted team, framing the upcoming poll as a definitive crossroads for the city. Highlighting the caliber of the candidates, Hoosen stated, “There are highly qualified people in this room, many of whom have experience, some of whom are new but young, fresh, and energetic to get the city working again.” He directly appealed to the electorate, urging them to “wake up to a DA mayor on the 5th of November,” and boldly declared that the ruling ANC is “finished.”
The drive to contest the election is deeply personal for several of the new candidates. Thabani Ndlovu, who is running for Ward 99, cited the area’s dual crisis of poor service delivery and stagnant leadership as his primary motivation. “We have people who are too comfortable in their positions and they think that change will never come,” Ndlovu observed, explaining that these very challenges propelled him to step forward as the DA’s candidate.
Similarly, Ryan Hendra, the candidate for Ward 27, chose civic participation over relocation. Reflecting on the city’s deterioration over the last half-decade, Hendra explained that he could have chosen to “semigrate” to the Western Cape, where municipal systems function smoothly. Instead, he decided to stay and fight the decay. “I chose to stay because this is my home and I love this place,” he said.
With the candidate list now finalized, the Democratic Alliance is shifting its focus to building campaign momentum across all wards. The party maintains that its unified, action-oriented ticket is the only realistic mechanism to reverse the metro’s decline and restore reliable governance to the residents of Durban.
