LGE 2026 Manifestos: The twelve manifestos side by side, on powers and on themes

What we did: we took the manifesto data for the twelve parties as at 22 October 2026 and counted every promise by party, by theme and 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We also keep Integrity Watch, a public register of documents that were corrected, withdrawn, refunded or punished after someone found made-up material in them.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 sets the twelve manifestos side by side, on whose power their promises are and on which themes they fall under.

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. As at 30 October 2026, parties have reported 27 manifestos. Ukweli can reach a readable document online for 15 of them and has analysed 12 of those 15. For the rest, 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.

How to read the graphs #

Each logo is one party’s manifesto, as Ukweli analysed it. The twelve parties are the same twelve as before.

On graphs 1 to 3, across tells you how many promises Ukweli found in the document. It does not tell you how much a party cares about anything.

Up is a percentage of the party’s own assessed promises. A promise is assessed when Ukweli can test it against the Constitution’s lists of what a council does. Between 62% and 88% of a manifesto’s promises could be tested, depending on the manifesto. The number tested runs from 31 for the SACP to 340 for AMM.

A higher position is a bigger percentage, not a better party. Position is two counts, not a score.

Where logos would overlap, they are moved aside and joined to the exact point by a line. The table under the graphs gives every count.

Three parties have small numbers. The SACP has 31 assessed promises, IFP has 46 and GOOD has 48. One promise moves their percentage by 2 to 3 points.

Graph 1. Promises within a council’s own powers #

Across all twelve manifestos, 392 of the 1,865 assessed promises are within a council’s own powers. That is 21.0%. For single parties the figure runs from 12.1% to 33.3%.

Four parties are above 21.0% and eight are below it. The twelve-manifesto figure counts every promise once, so a long manifesto weighs more in it than a short one.

Graph 2. Promises not under a council’s own control #

This graph adds two kinds of promise: those outside a council’s powers, and those led by another sphere, where the council has a role. Across all twelve manifestos, 516 of the 1,865 assessed promises are of these two kinds. That is 27.7%. Of the 516, 327 are outside and 189 are led by another sphere.

For single parties the figure runs from 12.1% to 60.2%. Seven parties are above 27.7% and five are below it.

A promise outside a council’s powers is not a false promise.

Graph 3. Promises under a council’s own control #

This graph adds two other kinds: promises within a council’s own powers, and promises about how the council runs itself. Across all twelve manifestos, 1,132 of the 1,865 assessed promises are of these two kinds. That is 60.7%. Of the 1,132, 392 are within a council’s powers and 740 are about how the council runs itself.

For single parties the figure runs from 36.9% to 79.2%. Seven parties are above 60.7% and five are below it.

No promise is on both graph 2 and graph 3. A party’s own conduct has 216 promises, and one promise is shared. Add those, and graphs 2 and 3 cover every assessed promise.

Graph 4. The ten themes in each manifesto #

Percentage of each manifesto’s promises under each of the ten themes

Manifesto	Water and sanitation	Electricity and energy	Roads, transport and other infrastructure	Housing, land and title deeds	Waste, environment and climate	Safety and crime	Jobs, local economy and small business	Health, social support, youth, sport and culture	Running the council	Party conduct and general pledges	All ten themes
ACDP134 promises	7.5%	6.7%	6.0%	10.4%	4.5%	13.4%	16.4%	13.4%	17.2%	4.5%	100.0%
ActionSA357 promises	2.8%	1.7%	5.0%	3.1%	7.0%	14.8%	7.3%	6.4%	40.3%	11.5%	100.0%
AMM462 promises	5.2%	1.3%	10.2%	4.1%	3.0%	2.8%	21.4%	11.0%	32.3%	8.7%	100.0%
ANC331 promises	3.9%	2.4%	7.6%	3.9%	4.5%	8.5%	12.7%	7.3%	40.8%	8.5%	100.0%
BOSA133 promises	3.0%	0.0%	9.0%	6.8%	0.0%	12.0%	23.3%	9.8%	28.6%	7.5%	100.0%
DA250 promises	10.0%	10.8%	6.0%	8.8%	9.6%	13.6%	13.6%	6.0%	18.8%	2.8%	100.0%
EFF294 promises	6.1%	5.1%	9.5%	9.2%	5.8%	6.1%	17.7%	22.1%	13.3%	5.1%	100.0%
FF Plus121 promises	4.1%	2.5%	3.3%	5.0%	7.4%	5.0%	4.1%	5.0%	49.6%	14.0%	100.0%
GOOD†77 promises	0.0%	3.9%	6.5%	20.8%	0.0%	6.5%	13.0%	13.0%	33.8%	2.6%	100.0%
IFP†68 promises	4.4%	1.5%	19.1%	1.5%	0.0%	8.8%	13.2%	17.6%	27.9%	5.9%	100.0%
SACP†41 promises	7.3%	0.0%	7.3%	17.1%	0.0%	4.9%	17.1%	12.2%	17.1%	17.1%	100.0%
UDM151 promises	1.3%	0.7%	9.3%	8.6%	6.6%	8.6%	12.6%	11.9%	32.5%	7.9%	100.0%
Average of the twelveeach party counts once	4.6%	3.0%	8.2%	8.3%	4.0%	8.8%	14.4%	11.3%	29.3%	8.0%	100.0%
All twelve pooledevery promise counts once	4.8%	3.3%	7.9%	6.5%	5.0%	8.8%	14.7%	10.7%	30.4%	7.8%	100.0%

Swipe sideways to see the whole grid.

Smaller percentageLarger (50% and above)

Each row is one manifesto. Each column is one of the ten themes from Folio 20. Each cell is the percentage of that party’s own promises that Ukweli placed under that theme. A darker cell is a bigger percentage. Rows run in alphabetical order.

The last column adds each row across. It is 100% every time, because Ukweli places every promise under exactly one theme. The two rows at the bottom are not parties. One averages the twelve parties. The other counts all 2,419 promises together.

In 11 of the 12 manifestos, “Running the council” is the biggest theme or ties for biggest. It takes from 13.3% to 49.6% of a manifesto.

Water, electricity and waste each take no more than 10.8% of any manifesto. Together they are 316 of the 2,419 promises, or 13.1%.

A zero in a cell means Ukweli placed no promise under that theme. It does not mean the manifesto never mentions the subject. A promise that lists water, sanitation, electricity, roads and refuse together goes under roads and infrastructure, because no one service is its subject.

Graph 4 divides by all of a party’s promises. Graphs 1 to 3 divide by its assessed promises. The two bases differ.

What the graphs show together #

The topic of a promise goes a long way towards deciding whose power it is. Among the promises Ukweli could test, most on water are within a council’s powers. Most on housing are led by another sphere, and most on jobs are outside a council’s powers.

So part of where a manifesto sits on graphs 1 to 3 follows from the topics its promises cover. Graph 4 shows that mix.

The theme “Running the council” and the kind of promise about how the council runs itself cover much the same subjects: money, staff, reporting and public participation. A manifesto with more promises under that theme will therefore show a bigger percentage on graph 3. That is how the two counts are defined. It is not a finding about any party.

We also looked for a link between a manifesto’s size and each of the percentages on graphs 1 to 3. Among these twelve manifestos we found none that stands out.

What these counts do not say #

A party’s count says where Ukweli placed a promise, not what its manifesto contains. A low percentage in one place is not silence on the subject.

A manifesto’s promise count measures what Ukweli extracted, not what the party wrote. In the DA manifesto, 17 lines that Ukweli read as headings, slogans or framing lines are not counted. In the SACP text, 6 poster lines are not counted either.

The SACP text is a newsletter that contains its manifesto, not a standalone manifesto file. GOOD’s analysis covers its Cape Town plan only.

Our view #

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

Counting where a party’s promises sit does not say which party will keep its word. It shows how many of each manifesto’s assessed promises a council could do itself, and how many need another sphere of government.

The useful question for any candidate is the same: who else must act, and what will you do to make that happen?

Questions to put to any candidate #

1. Which of your promises 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. Which of your promises will you report on to residents, with a number and a date?