- Nkabinde won ward 8 with 1,311 votes, securing 51.1% of valid ward votes.
- UDM leader Bantu Holomisa praised Jacob Zuma for bringing the son of his late comrade into the MK Party.
The son of slain KwaZulu-Natal warlord Sifiso Nkabinde is following his father into politics after winning a Richmond council seat for the MK Party.
Sinqobile Praisegod Nkabinde was elected councillor for ward 8 with 1,311 votes, or 51.1% of valid ward votes. The DA finished second with 656 votes, while the ANC received 402.
Sinqobile is the eldest son of Nkabinde, a powerful and controversial political figure in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands.
He grew up in the United Democratic Movement alongside his mother and siblings after his father joined the party.
UDM leader General Bantu Holomisa told Scrolla.Africa that MK Party leader Jacob Zuma had made a good choice by taking Sinqobile under his wing.
“Zuma did a very good job in recognising this boy because Sinqobile is a good son who is very respectful. He takes after his father, my late comrade Sfiso, in terms of hard work and political maturity,” said Holomisa.
Sinqobile has also been involved in community development through the Change Richmond Foundation, working with traditional leaders and the National Lotteries Commission.
He previously said the organisation aimed to empower young people and help them develop skills in different sectors.
His election adds another chapter to a family history closely tied to Richmond’s turbulent politics.
His father was widely described as a warlord because of his control over armed self-defence units during KwaZulu-Natal’s political violence. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s report linked his power in Richmond to a violent campaign against Inkatha opponents.
The commission found that he supplied weapons to these units and held him accountable for gross human rights violations arising from their operations. He was separately acquitted on murder charges in 1998.
His father was expelled from the ANC on 7 April 1997 amid allegations that he had worked as an apartheid spy and fuelled political violence in KwaZulu-Natal. He later joined the UDM.
Nkabinde was assassinated outside a Richmond supermarket on 23 January 1999. At the time of his death, he was the UDM’s secretary-general.
