Former DA, ActionSA and uMkhonto weSizwe Party member Abel Tau has set his sights on the City of Tshwane mayoral chain after resurfacing in a new political home.
Tau, who briefly served as mayor between 2019 and 2020, has entered the race for the city’s top political position as the mayoral candidate for the newly formed United Progressive People’s Alliance (UPPA).
Announcing his candidacy during a media briefing in Pretoria on Wednesday, Tau said his experience as both an acting mayor and a Member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) put him in a strong position to lead the capital.
Tau said his political journey should not be judged simply by the number of political organisations he has been associated with, but by the principles and convictions that have guided his decisions.
“You can fault me for many things, but you can never fault me for my convictions,” Tau said, suggesting that he had left political parties when he believed they had abandoned the principles on which they were founded.
Reflecting on his time in the Democratic Alliance, Tau said he served as a regional leader and MMC during a period of significant political instability in Tshwane.
He said he eventually resigned after reaching the conclusion that the organisation no longer reflected the principles to which he had initially committed himself.
Tau was subsequently part of the founding generation of ActionSA, serving as its inaugural mayoral candidate for Tshwane. He later led the party’s caucus and participated in coalition negotiations.
His political career then took him to the United Africans Transformation (UAT), where he was a founding leader, before he established and led the Transformation Alliance (TTA), which contested the 2024 elections in Gauteng.
He later joined the uMkhonto weSizwe Party following calls for greater political consolidation on the left, dissolving his own political organisation in the process.
Tau said his latest political move was driven by a desire to build a political home that could unite South Africans.
“I have chosen to be part of building a political home for all South Africans. I don’t believe in creating storms internally in an organisation to ensure that the organisation disintegrates. I believe that the role that one has to take is the role of a unifier,” he said.
Tau also defended his history of moving between political organisations, arguing that voters should prioritise principles and performance over loyalty to individual political parties.
“No one should be married to a political party. Now, that’s not being unprincipled. In fact, that is being principled and patriotic, that you stand for an ideal, not for a political party,” he said.
He argued that voters should hold politicians accountable based on their ability to deliver, and should be prepared to support alternative parties when elected representatives fail to meet their expectations.
Tau said his political journey may appear unusual to some, but suggested that South Africans should be more willing to change political allegiances when parties fail to deliver.
“So to those who think that my behaviour is odd, maybe I’m ahead of the time,” he said.
With the 2026 local government elections approaching, Tau’s return to Tshwane politics under the UPPA banner adds another contender to an increasingly competitive political landscape in the capital.