Mr Thomas Mxolisi Kaunda

Thomas Mxolisi Kaunda (born 13 September 1972) was the Mayor of the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality from 2019 until 2024. He was the KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Transport, Community Safety and Liaison from 2016 to 2019 and a member of the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature from 2009 to 2019.

Kaunda was born in the town of Inanda outside Durban in the Natal Province. He became involved in politics at the age of fifteen, as he joined the Congress of South African Students (COSAS). He matriculated from Intshisekelo High School and then went on to study at the University of South Africa, where he achieved a Diploma in Governance and Leadership. He later studied at the University of the Witwatersrand and obtained an Advanced Diploma in Advanced Governance and Public Leadership.

In 2000, Kaunda was elected as a ward councillor of the newly established eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality, a position he held until the 2006 municipal election when he became a PR councillor of the municipality. He served on the municipal Economic Development and Markets Sub-Committee.

He was deployed to the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature following the 2009 general election. In his first term as an MPL, he served as Chairperson of the Transport Portfolio Committee. He was a member of the Finance, Community Safety and Liaison committees. Kaunda was also an alternate member of the Co-Operative Governance and Traditional Affairs committees.

Following his re-election in 2014, he remained Chairperson of the Transport Committee and became a member of the legislature's Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs, and Community Safety and Liaison committees.

In June 2016, Kaunda was appointed as the MEC for Transport, Community Safety and Liaison.

In addition to holding public office, Kaunda has also held multiple ANC party leadership positions. He was elected to the post of ANCYL Provincial Secretary in 2004 and served until 2008, when he was appointed ANCYL Provincial Chairperson, a post he held until 2010. He has been a member of the ANC's Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) since 2012. Kaunda is also a Provincial Working Committee (PWC) member.

Kaunda was elected Mayor of eThekwini on 5 September 2019.

On 12 June 2024, the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal recalled Kaunda as mayor of eThekwini and announced that he would be taking up a seat in the National Council of Provinces. He resigned as mayor on 14 June and was sworn in as a permanent delegate to the NCOP the following day.