DA’s “fake doctor” councillor sits at number 4 while the party’s own breach finding stays unresolved
Abdulkader “AK” Elyas pleaded guilty in September 2024 to 5 charges of giving false information about his qualifications, in a plea and penalty agreement with the DA’s own Federal Legal Commission. In March 2026 that same commission found he had not complied with the agreement, and in May the party’s federal executive sent the matter back as a formal dispute. His response was due on 8 June 2026 and no outcome has been made public. In August, the federal executive approved a candidate list that placed him fourth in Cape Town.
A list seat, not a ward seat
Elyas has sat on the Cape Town city council since 30 September 2021. The city’s own records list him under proportional representation, in Subcouncil 16, which means no voter has ever chosen him by name.
Cape Town has 231 councillors. 116 are elected in wards. The remaining 115 come off party lists, where voters choose a party and the party decides the order in which its candidates take up seats. Elyas is fourth on the DA’s list for the city, behind Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis, JP Smith and Xanthea Limberg. If the DA takes 4 or more of those list seats on 4 November, he returns to the council chamber.
What he admitted
Questions about his qualifications surfaced publicly in October 2023, shortly after the DA’s Cape Metro Region congress elected him as an additional member of the metro executive. News24 reported that his professional profile listed a medical degree and an actuarial science degree from the University of Cape Town. The university said its records showed he had completed neither, and the Health Professions Council of South Africa said he had registered as a medical student but never progressed to registration as a practitioner.
Party insiders told News24 that Elyas had arrived at a DA selection panel in 2021 wearing medical scrubs, saying he had come from a hospital call. He was selected.
Elyas told Daily Maverick at the time that he had been a medical student and not a medical doctor, and that the relevant information was with the DA.
On 5 September 2024 he signed a plea and penalty agreement with the Federal Legal Commission, pleading guilty to 5 charges covering party selection and application processes going back several years, including applications to the DA Young Leaders Programme. The panel described the conduct as serious and referred to dishonesty, damage to the party’s reputation and what it called the manipulative nature of the misconduct.
The conditions, and the finding
The commission terminated his membership and suspended that termination on conditions. He was barred from standing for party positions during the suspension, with certain exceptions, and required to pay for a psychological assessment, undergo any treatment a psychologist determined, disclose the results to senior party officials and complete an ethics course before the end of 2024. He kept his council seat.
In February 2026 he told the party he had complied, writing that he had, and remained, compliant with the material conditions of the agreement.
In March 2026 the Federal Legal Commission disagreed on 2 grounds.
It found he was serving as ground war lead and manager of the DA’s Western Cape campaign team for the 2026 local government elections, responsible for door to door canvassing and volunteer organising across the metro. The commission said the position amounted to proof on the face of it that he had breached the agreement.
It also found no evidence that the psychological assessment had taken place, that treatment had been provided or that any results had been disclosed. The letter Elyas submitted stated that the psychologist had been instructed to assist him with therapy and knew of nothing indicating he posed a danger to the public. The commission said the letter showed no sign that an assessment had been conducted.
May to August 2026
In May 2026 the DA’s federal executive referred the compliance matter back to the Federal Legal Commission as a formal dispute, allowing Elyas to answer the findings. Commission chairperson Glynnis Breytenbach issued the directive. A panel was appointed and asked his clinical psychologist for a full report on the assessment. Elyas was given until 8 June 2026 to respond.
No outcome has been made public.
On the evening of 19 August 2026 the federal executive signed off the DA’s candidate selection nationally. The following day, Federal Council chairperson Ashor Sarupen announced a seven stage process in which candidates were screened, tested and interviewed by selection panels where, in the party’s words, integrity was assessed against a clear and consistent set of criteria. Candidate lists went to the Electoral Commission on 28 August.
The federal executive referred the dispute in May and approved the list in August.
The DA’s response
DA spokesperson Jan de Villiers said a process concerning the matter was pending and that it would not be appropriate for the party to comment on the merits while it was under way. Asked why Elyas appeared on the list, and whether the party was investigating how he got there, De Villiers said the investigation had to conclude first.
DA Western Cape leader Tertuis Simmers said the matter had been dealt with and concluded through the party’s disciplinary processes and that the DA would not discuss confidential details. Cape Town metro chairperson JP Smith said internal disciplinary proceedings are confidential.
A near identical case, handled differently
In April 2021, Daily Maverick reported that the DA’s then Western Cape leader, Bonginkosi Madikizela, had claimed a BCom degree he did not hold. Helen Zille referred him to the same Federal Legal Commission. On 28 April 2021 he resigned as provincial leader, as MEC for transport and public works, and from the Western Cape provincial parliament. Premier Alan Winde described the resignation as the honourable thing to do.
Madikizela’s own position at the time was that a tertiary qualification has never been a requirement for political office in South Africa. He resigned regardless. Daily Maverick also reported that the DA acknowledged it had never verified his qualifications.
The argument the party has used before
In November 2023, with the qualifications investigation still open, Elyas contested a position at provincial level at the DA’s Western Cape congress. Daily Maverick quoted the presiding officer for the congress, Desiree van der Walt, saying the investigation had not been concluded and did not affect his candidacy. “There is a process going on, he hasn’t been found guilty yet,” she said.
Nearly 3 years later, the party’s position is again that a process is under way.
Opposition reaction
ActionSA Western Cape chairperson Dereleen James said the party was not surprised, and argued that lawmakers must be held to high standards of honesty and integrity. ActionSA has also said Elyas is in line for promotion to Parliament or the Western Cape provincial legislature, a claim the party has not supported with a document. The GOOD party and ANC representatives in Cape Town have raised similar objections about double standards.
