{"id":1135,"date":"2026-08-27T17:09:23","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T17:09:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/northwestunlocked.co.za\/?p=1135"},"modified":"2026-08-27T17:09:24","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T17:09:24","slug":"wolmarans-returns-to-local-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/northwestunlocked.co.za\/index.php\/2026\/08\/27\/wolmarans-returns-to-local-politics\/","title":{"rendered":"Wolmarans Returns to Local Politics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Former Rustenburg mayor and Member of Parliament Matthew Wolmarans is set to return to local politics after being nominated as one of the ANC\u2019s mayoral candidates for Rustenburg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Wolmarans is among eight candidates being considered for the mayoral chain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The list includes former Education MEC Maphefo Matsemela, North West Provincial Legislature member Paul Sebegoe, former Rustenburg Speaker and current special adviser to the Premier Koketso Mogomotsi, current Rustenburg Speaker Lebogang Pule, current Rustenburg mayor Shiela Mabale-Huma, and Rustenburg councillor and Member of the Mayoral Committee Thabang Rampou.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The ANC is expected to announce its final mayoral candidate in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Wolmarans previously served as Rustenburg mayor before later becoming Speaker. His political career was interrupted in 2012 when he was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the murder of whistleblower and councillor Moss Phakoe.However, his conviction and sentence were reviewed and set aside in 2014 after a key state witness changed his evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Wolmarans returned to active politics in 2017 when he was appointed to the National Assembly, replacing Brian Molefe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He remained a Member of Parliament until 2024.His nomination now marks a return to the centre of Rustenburg\u2019s local political landscape, with the ANC set to make its final decision in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former Rustenburg mayor and Member of Parliament Matthew Wolmarans is set to return to local<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1136,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-banner"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/northwestunlocked.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG-20260827-WA0107.jpg",1080,1440,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/northwestunlocked.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG-20260827-WA0107-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/northwestunlocked.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG-20260827-WA0107-225x300.jpg",225,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/northwestunlocked.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG-20260827-WA0107-768x1024.jpg",640,853,true],"large":["https:\/\/northwestunlocked.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG-20260827-WA0107-768x1024.jpg",640,853,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/northwestunlocked.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG-20260827-WA0107.jpg",1080,1440,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/northwestunlocked.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG-20260827-WA0107.jpg",1080,1440,false],"chromenews-featured":["https:\/\/northwestunlocked.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG-20260827-WA0107-1024x1365.jpg",1024,1365,true],"chromenews-large":["https:\/\/northwestunlocked.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG-20260827-WA0107-825x575.jpg",825,575,true],"chromenews-medium":["https:\/\/northwestunlocked.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG-20260827-WA0107-590x410.jpg",590,410,true]},"author_info":{"display_name":"Masego Senosi","author_link":"https:\/\/northwestunlocked.co.za\/index.php\/author\/msenosi\/"},"category_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/northwestunlocked.co.za\/index.php\/category\/top-banner\/\" rel=\"category tag\">News<\/a>","tag_info":"News","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/northwestunlocked.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/northwestunlocked.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/northwestunlocked.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/northwestunlocked.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/northwestunlocked.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1135"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/northwestunlocked.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1135\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1137,"href":"https:\/\/northwestunlocked.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1135\/revisions\/1137"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/northwestunlocked.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/northwestunlocked.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/northwestunlocked.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/northwestunlocked.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}