LGE 2026 Manifestos: Ten themes side by side, and how much of each sits within a council’s powers

What we did: we took the manifesto data for the twelve parties as at 22 October 2026 and counted every promise under each of the ten themes, by the verdict on each. Sources are listed at the end.

Party names. ACDP is the African Christian Democratic Party. AMM is the Afrika Mayibuye Movement. ANC is the African National Congress. DA is the Democratic Alliance. EFF is the Economic Freedom Fighters. FF Plus is the Freedom Front Plus. IFP is the Inkatha Freedom Party. SACP is the South African Communist Party. UDM is the United Democratic Movement. ActionSA and GOOD are the full names of those two parties. BOSA is written here as the party writes it in its manifesto.

We also keep Integrity Watch, a public register of documents that were corrected, withdrawn, refunded or punished after someone found made-up material in them.

This folio is about a different kind of check. It lines the ten themes up and asks, for each one, how much of it sits within a council’s powers and how many promises the manifestos make on it.

The 2026 local elections in short #

The vote. South Africans vote in local government elections on 4 November 2026. They choose the councillors who run 257 municipalities: 8 metropolitan (big-city), 44 district and 205 local. The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) certified 136,790 candidates for 10,526 council seats. On 15 October 2026 the Constitutional Court directed the IEC to take the steps needed to put 181 ANC candidates on the ballot in six municipalities, so the final count will change. On 16 October 2026 the IEC said 32 other parties in the same position would get the same relief.

How many parties. 732 political parties are registered with the IEC at various levels. The IEC says 546 of them nominated candidates for this election.

What a council does. South Africa has three spheres of government: national, provincial and local. Part B of Schedules 4 and 5 of the Constitution list the matters a municipality may administer: 38 in all. Among them are drinking water and domestic waste-water and sewage systems, electricity and gas reticulation (the local networks), refuse removal, municipal roads and street trading. Jobs, schools, hospitals, welfare, the courts and immigration are not on those lists. A council can still lobby, partner with or press the government that holds the power.

What a manifesto is. A manifesto is a party’s published list of promises, so that voters can read them and decide.

What Ukweli did. Ukweli has analysed twelve party manifestos for this election. It found 2,419 promises and quoted each in the party’s own words, with its page. It checked each promise it could assess against the Constitution’s lists of what a council does. Where a sentence is too short or vague to test, or Ukweli’s checks did not settle it, the card says “Could not be assessed by Ukweli”. Where a sentence promises several things that fall under different powers or spheres of government, the card says “Mixes different powers”. Both labels describe Ukweli’s check, not the party.

Who is in. The twelve parties are shown below. Ukweli analyses any 2026 local government manifesto it can obtain from the party’s own publication. That is a rule about documents, never a judgement about a party. Parties have reported 19 manifesto launches; for the other seven, Ukweli cannot reach a readable document online. Many other parties contest the election, and this folio does not cover them.

Each party’s assessment is one click away.

ACDPRead the assessment →ActionSARead the assessment →AMMRead the assessment →ANCRead the assessment →BOSARead the assessment →DARead the assessment →EFFRead the assessment →FF PlusRead the assessment →GOODRead the assessment →IFPRead the assessment →SACPRead the assessment →UDMRead the assessment →

Each button opens that party’s assessment on ukweli.io in a new tab, so this page stays open. Party logos belong to the parties and are shown for identification only. Ukweli is not affiliated with any party.

What Ukweli does not do. It does not score, grade, rank or endorse any party. It does not say whether a promise will be kept or whether it is affordable. A promise outside a council’s powers is not a false promise.

Figures in this section as at 22 October 2026. They come from the IEC, the Constitution’s schedules and Ukweli’s 2026 manifesto pages (sources at the end), and they move when a manifesto is added or the IEC publishes a new figure. Errors: hello@ukweli.io.

Who decides what sits within a council’s powers? #

South Africa has three spheres of government: national, provincial and local. A council is the local sphere. The matters a council has the right to run are listed in Part B of Schedule 4 and Part B of Schedule 5 of the Constitution (section 156(1)(a)). National or provincial law can assign it more (section 156(1)(b)). Ukweli’s table of powers holds 38 matters from those two lists, 15 from Schedule 4 and 23 from Schedule 5, and checks each promise against them. The table holds only those 38 matters. Folio 08 explains how.

The ten themes side by side #

Ukweli has published one folio on each of ten themes. Each promise sits under one theme only, so the ten add up to all 2,419 promises.

• Folio 10: safety and crime
• Folio 11: water and sanitation
• Folio 12: electricity and energy
• Folio 13: waste, environment and climate
• Folio 14: roads, transport and other infrastructure
• Folio 15: housing, land and title deeds
• Folio 16: health, social support, youth, sport and culture
• Folio 17: jobs, local economy and small business
• Folio 18: running the council
• Folio 19: party conduct and general pledges

This section uses two counts. The first is the share within a council’s own powers: of the promises in a theme that Ukweli could assess, how many are in the group “Within a council’s own powers”. The second is where the promises sit: how many promises are in the theme, out of all 2,419, including promises that carry no verdict.

Eight of the ten themes are services or matters a voter can name. The first figure below shows the first count for all ten. It orders the eight service themes by the count. Running the council and party conduct are not services, so they follow, drawn as outlines.

Water and sanitation (84.5%) and waste, environment and climate (80.5%) have the highest shares. Housing (14.2%) and jobs (14.3%) have the lowest. In housing, most assessed promises are in the group “Led by another sphere, council has a role”: 59 of 106 (55.7%). In jobs, most are in “Outside a council’s powers”: 165 of 272 (60.7%).

Running the council has the most promises: 736 (30.4%). Of its 659 assessed promises, 521 (79.1%) are in the group “How the council runs itself” and 7 are within a council’s own powers. Of the 153 assessed promises on party conduct, 114 (74.5%) are in the group “A party’s own conduct”. The first figure above shows the share within a council’s own powers for every theme, the graph puts the two counts together, and the table below gives every count.

The key. Across is the share of all 2,419 promises. Up is the share of assessed promises within a council’s own powers.

1. 1 Water and sanitation (Folio 11). Across 4.8%, up 84.5%.
2. 2 Waste, environment and climate (Folio 13). Across 5.0%, up 80.5%.
3. 3 Electricity and energy (Folio 12). Across 3.3%, up 48.5%.
4. 4 Roads, transport and other infrastructure (Folio 14). Across 7.9%, up 48.0%.
5. 5 Health, social support, youth, sport and culture (Folio 16). Across 10.7%, up 37.5%.
6. 6 Safety and crime (Folio 10). Across 8.8%, up 20.6%.
7. 7 Jobs, local economy and small business (Folio 17). Across 14.7%, up 14.3%.
8. 8 Housing, land and title deeds (Folio 15). Across 6.5%, up 14.2%.
9. 9 Running the council (Folio 18). Across 30.4%, up 1.1%.
10. 10 Party conduct and general pledges (Folio 19). Across 7.8%, up 0.7%.

In whole promises, 392 are within a council’s own powers. Water and sanitation has the most (82), then waste (70), health and social (69) and roads (48). Every other theme has 39 or fewer.

Where another sphere of government leads #

Ukweli placed 189 promises in the group “Led by another sphere, council has a role”. Each one cites a row of Ukweli’s table of powers. Four subjects make up 152 of them (80.4%): housing, policing and crime, clinics and primary health care, and a council generating its own power or buying it from private producers. Add traditional leaders in council and disasters, and six subjects make up 173 (91.5%). The table below gives every count.

Three subjects readers ask about #

These are word searches over all 2,419 promises, whatever their theme or verdict. They count the promises that contain a word. They are not Ukweli’s findings, and they do not say what a manifesto contains.

Corruption and wrongdoing words: found in 195 promises from all twelve parties. 113 are filed under running the council and 41 under jobs, local economy and small business.

“Free basic” or “indigent”: found in 41 promises from ten parties. 36 are filed under health, social support, youth, sport and culture.

“Coalition”: found in 32 promises from six parties. 22 are filed under party conduct and 10 under running the council.

How many promises can be checked later #

Ukweli reads each assessed promise for the kind of commitment it makes. A deliverable commits to doing or providing something. Of the 1,865 assessed promises, 721 (38.7%) are deliverables. Only 36 of those 721 contain a number written in digits. The other 685 contain none. A promise with a number or a date is easier for a voter to check later.

Our view #

This is the folio’s own view. It is kept apart from the counts above.

Counting where promises sit does not say which party will keep its word, or which theme matters most to a voter. It shows where a question to a candidate has the council as its answer, and where it needs a second name: a provincial department, a national department or a utility. In the themes with the lowest share inside a council’s powers, the useful question is who else must act, and what the candidate will do to make that happen.

Questions to put to any candidate #

1. Which of your promises on housing, policing and clinics does the council decide, and which depend on another sphere of government?
2. For each promise that depends on another sphere, whom will you ask, by what date, and how will residents see the answer?
3. Most water and waste promises sit within a council’s own powers. Which of yours will you do first, in which ward, and by when?
4. Which of your promises will you report on to residents, with a number and a date?

Promises counted in two folios #

This folio adds no promise and moves none. It counts the same 2,419 promises that Folios 10 to 19 count, once each, under the theme where Ukweli filed them. Folio 08 counts the promises about council business across every topic, and Folio 09 collects immigration promises from every theme. Their counts are not added to the ten here. Each folio stands alone.