Philani Godfrey Mavundla is a South African politician, Zulu nationalist and business tycoon who has been the Mayor of the Umvoti Local Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal since 2023, having previously served from 2011 to 2013 as a member of the African National Congress.
25 Facts About Philani Mavundla
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Philani Mavundla served as the Deputy Mayor of the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality from 2021 until 2022.
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Philani Mavundla is the founder and current leader of the Abantu Batho Congress, a party he founded in early-2020 after he resigned from the National Freedom Party.
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Philani Mavundla became an entrepreneur at the age of 12.
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At the age of 16, Philani Mavundla left school to go and work for a tyre manufacturing company in Welkom in the Free State.
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Philani Mavundla later returned to Durban and worked for a multiple construction companies and earned a boilermaker certificate.
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Philani Mavundla was involved in the construction of uShaka Marine World in Durban, the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre in Durban, the Sibaya Casino in Durban, and the John Ross Highway Bridge in Richards Bay.
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Philani Mavundla is a close-friend of former ANC president Jacob Zuma and was involved with the Friends of Jacob Zuma Trust, a trust set up by businessman Don Mkhwanazi in 2005 to raise money for Zuma's defence against his fraud and corruption charges at the time.
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Philani Mavundla attracted controversy in 2008 when he removed a portrait of Inkatha Freedom Party president Mangosuthu Buthelezi from the uMvoti council chamber and placed it in the boot of his car.
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In 2009, Philani Mavundla burnt a businessman's R2 million truck after it drove over sugar cane at this property in Seven Oaks.
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Philani Mavundla resigned as mayor on 14 June 2013 instead of presenting a budget.
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In June 2019, Philani Mavundla resigned from the ANC and joined the National Freedom Party.
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Philani Mavundla stood as the NFP candidate in a by-election in ward 7 in the uMvoti Municipality in August 2019 and won the seat from the ANC in a landslide.
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Philani Mavundla was seen as a potential successor to NFP leader Zanele kaMagwaza-Msibi.
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Philani Mavundla resigned from the NFP in January 2020 after it was alleged that he would be starting his own political party.
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Philani Mavundla then formed the Abantu Batho Congress soon after.
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Philani Mavundla was then sworn in as a councillor for the ABC in eThekwini.
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Philani Mavundla denied that he was "bought" by the ANC, saying that "buying me would be too expensive".
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An insider within the ABC claimed that Philani Mavundla took the decision to side with the ANC because working with the Democratic Alliance would have been difficult.
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Philani Mavundla resigned from the eThekwini council on 23 February 2023.
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Philani Mavundla contested the by-election in Ward 2 in the Umvoti Municipality on 14 June 2023, and lost as the IFP won the ward off the ANC.
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On 21 June 2023, Philani Mavundla was elected mayor of Umvoti municipality after a coalition agreement between the ANC and ABC was reached to govern the municipality.
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In 2024, Philani Mavundla stated that he and the Abantu Batho Congress would be campaigning for an independent Zulu state, stating that the current Republic of South Africa is a legacy of colonialism that marginalizes indigenous nations and that only by removing Zulus from a colonial governance model forced on them can the Zulu nation develop along its own indigenous model.
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Philani Mavundla has three wives, Cindy, Tersia and Mpume, and 21 children.
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In 2010, one of his wives, Thandi Philani Mavundla, was found dead.