Fihla first joined the ANC in 1954 through its Youth League and he was imprisoned on Robben Island from 1964 to 1978 for his work with Umkhonto we Sizwe.
During that time, in 1961, he joined the South African Communist Party and Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), both of which were banned by the apartheid government.
In 1990, after the ANC was unbanned by the government, Fihla chaired the party's new above-ground branch in the Eastern Cape.
[2][3] He resigned from Parliament on 22 March 2013 when he was elected as Executive Mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality.
[1][4] In May 2015, the ANC announced that Fihla would resign in order to cede the mayoral office to Danny Jordaan ahead of the 2016 local elections.