It has been billed as one of SA’s most important elections since 1994, and is seen as a test for the ANC in SA’s biggest urban centres. Sibongakonke Shoba looks at some of the candidates CITY OF JOHANNESBURG ANCJohannesburg mayor Parks Tau is expected to return as mayor should the ANC retain control of the metro. Tau was re-elected regional chairman in 2014 and is popular within party structures. His first term has not been easy, involving a billing crisis and labour unrest among metro police and Pikitup, amid corruption allegations. Tau has kept the city's finances in good health, something confirmed by ratings agencies. DAHerman Mashaba is a self-made millionaire and founder of the Black Like Me hair-care company. Historically, the DA has pumped millions of rands into promoting its Johannesburg mayoral candidate, as in 2011 when Mmusi Maimane was the candidate. Mashaba publicly joined the DA in 2014 and is a fierce critic of the ANC and its BEE and affirmative action policies.sub_head_start CITY OF TSHWANE ANCstory_article_right1Former public works minister Thoko Didiza's name has come up as one of the ANC's mayoral candidates for Tshwane, where the ruling party risks losing control of the capital.Proposing "big names" for key municipalities is part of the ANC's attempt to win back voters. Didiza is considered a respected leader. In the 2014 general election, the ANC only managed 50.96% support in the area.Mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa is unlikely to return after the controversial awarding of a R2-billion contract for prepaid electricity meters .Didizaresigned as minister when Thabo Mbeki was recalled as president in 2008. She returned to mainstream politics when she was elected to the ANC national executive committee in Mangaung in 2012.Didiza said she was not aware that her name was being pushed for the mayoral post. "I don't know anything about that," she told the Sunday Times on Friday. Other names being mentioned for the positions are those of ANC councillor Johnny Mohlala and ambassador Welile Nhlapo. DASolly Msimanga, 35, was announced as the DA's mayoral candidate for Tshwane in September last year.He is a long-standing member of the DA, having joined after writing a letter to then leader Tony Leon telling him how, as a marketing graduate, he had found the DA's 2004 election message alienating to black people. He rose through the party ranks and was operations director for Gauteng in 2011 when Mmusi Maimane ran for mayor of Johannesburg.Msimanga, who is a member of the provincial legislature, said he was not bothered by the heavyweights the ANC was proposing as mayoral candidates."The party has been failing. They can change the people. It is like putting makeup on a pig."sub_head_start NELSON MANDELA BAY METRO DAstory_article_right2Athol Trollip, the DA leader in the Eastern Cape, is the party's mayoral candidate for the Nelson Mandela Bay metro.He had a head start in his campaign as he was the first mayoral candidate announced by the party last year.With the ANC limping in this metro, the DA believes that taking it over is well within its reach. Trollip's fluency in Xhosa appeals to black voters.His power within the party rests on him winning the metro. United FrontThe United Front, in an alliance with the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa, is banking on Numsa's popularity in the metro. The United Front candidate, former Nelson Mandela Bay Metro mayor Zanoxolo Wayile, was fired by the ANC in 2013 amid council infighting. He was then made an MP. Wayile was a founder of the United Front after Numsa's expulsion from Cosatu. ANCAfter years of infighting, which created a dysfunctional city council in Port Elizabeth, the ANC last year deployed football administrator Danny Jordaan to clean up its image.Jordaan, president of the South African Football Association, is likely to return as the party's mayoral candidate in the Windy City, where the ANC received less than 50% of votes in the 2014 election . Last year it lost a by-election to the United Democratic Movement...