PAC Names Ka Plaatjie as Johannesburg Mayor Hopeful After 23-Year Absence

Thami Ka Plaatjie rejoined the Pan Africanist Congress on Monday after a 23-year expulsion and immediately became the party's mayoral candidate for Johannesburg. The announcement came during a media briefing where the PAC unveiled candidates across several metropolitan areas. Ka Plaatjie spent his years away from the PAC inside the African National Congress and later served as chief adviser for Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation under former minister Lindiwe Sisulu. He previously held the position of PAC secretary-general and authored a book on Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe, the party's founding member and first president. His political trajectory runs through the very institutions the PAC now positions itself against. The candidate slate extends beyond Johannesburg. Victor Serakalala, the party's deputy president, will contest Ekurhuleni's mayoral race. APA Pooe, secretary-general, was named candidate for Emfuleni. Mbuyiselo Kantsu, national organiser, will run for the mayoral seat in Sedibeng municipality. The breadth signals a deliberate effort to compete across multiple jurisdictions simultaneously. Pooe framed the campaign as a direct challenge to what he described as an era of neglect, corruption, political patronage, and arrogance. The PAC intends to disrupt that pattern, he said. According to Pooe, the party has spent months building what he called an extensive programme to rebuild its election machinery, including a consolidated national election strategy and provincial, regional, and municipal war rooms designed to coordinate campaign efforts on the ground. By contrast, the mobilization effort reaches beyond logistics. Pooe said the PAC has been organizing communities around four core themes: land, dignity, accountability, and dependable local government. That framing anchors the party's appeal to material concerns and governance performance rather than to historical identity alone. According to the [former ANC member rejoins PAC](https://capetownbulletin.com/2026/08/04/former-anc-member-rejoins-pac-named-johannesburg-mayoral-candidate/) announcement, Ka Plaatjie's elevation after expulsion and years away suggests the PAC is trying to consolidate experienced leadership around a single electoral project. Whether months of preparation in war rooms and community organizing can translate into actual votes will become clear when local elections arrive.