KWAMASHU, KwaZulu-Natal — The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) has officially unveiled its manifesto for the 2026 Local Government Elections, placing a strong emphasis on resolving water infrastructure challenges and enforcing strict municipal accountability. Speaking at the launch at Princess Magogo Stadium, IFP leader Velenkosini Hlabisa urged South Africans to trust the party with their votes come November 4, outlining a consolidated five-point commitment plan designed to transform local governance and prioritize the needs of ordinary citizens.
Incumbent Mayor Xolani Ngwezi also addressed the gathering, highlighting that rapid population growth has significantly contributed to current water supply and infrastructure challenges. In response, the IFP’s manifesto pledges targeted, actionable solutions to reverse service delivery declines across its governed areas.
A Five-Point Commitment to Ethical Governance
The 2026 manifesto consolidates previous pledges into five clear, measurable pillars that will be used to assess municipal performance annually:
- Ethical Leadership and Moral Governance: A commitment to servant leadership, eliminating corrupt municipal supply chain networks, and enforcing strict codes of conduct for councilors and municipal officials.
- Financial Accountability: Prioritizing clean audits and implementing strict consequence management for municipal managers who oversee irregular, fruitless, or wasteful expenditure. Hlabisa highlighted the City of eThekwini and the King Cetshwayo District Municipality as benchmarks for achieving clean audits, noting that deep-rural municipalities like uMsinga are also being guided toward similar financial compliance.
- Basic Infrastructure and Reliable Service Delivery: Ring-fencing municipal maintenance budgets to fix leaking pipes, clear sewage blockages, and expand clean water provision to rural areas and historically neglected townships. The plan also includes directing local public works toward resurfacing damaged roads, fixing potholes, restoring street lights, and securing stable electricity grids.
- Youth and Women Empowerment: Promoting candidate diversity by nominating a significant proportion of young people and women as ward and proportional representation councilor candidates. The party also plans to expand municipal artisan apprenticeships, internship programs, and local enterprise initiatives targeting unemployed youth.
- Traditional Leadership and Rural Development: Strengthening partnerships with Amakosi (traditional leaders) to streamline land administration, rural development, and spatial planning, while ensuring rural municipalities receive equitable resource allocations for roads, clean water, and public health facilities.
The 100-Day Mayor Assessment
To ensure these commitments do not become mere lists of promises, Hlabisa announced a strict “100-day test” for all IFP mayors. Upon taking office, mayors will be required to sign a contract outlining their execution plan for the first 100 days, guided by the manifesto’s five pillars.
“Maintenance before crisis” is the guiding principle, with the goal that every IFP-governed municipality builds the internal capacity to fix issues like potholes within 24 to 48 hours by the end of their first year.
Tackling the Water Tanker Crisis
Addressing the reliance on water tankers, Hlabisa criticized the current model, warning of potential infrastructure sabotage by tenderpreneurs who profit from exorbitant emergency contracts. The IFP proposes that water tankers should never be a permanent feature. Instead, municipalities should procure and maintain their own tankers strictly for emergencies, while channeling Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) allocations toward permanent, sustainable water infrastructure.
Economic Protection and Local Enterprise
The manifesto also includes a firm stance on local economic support, particularly regarding township spaza shops and informal traders. Hlabisa reiterated that small businesses must be reserved for South Africans to foster local growth and reduce bureaucratic red tape. Foreign nationals wishing to operate in this sector would be required to prove an investment of more than R5 million, aligning with practices seen in other African nations to protect local livelihoods while still welcoming large-scale foreign investment.
Party Stability and Community Safety
Addressing questions about internal party dynamics, Hlabisa confirmed that the IFP’s national elective conference has been strategically delayed until 2027. This decision, mandated by the party’s National Council, aims to prevent internal divisions and maintain stability during the crucial election period. He noted that branch and constituency elections have already been successfully finalized, keeping the party’s expansion plans across all nine provinces intact.
The leader also condemned recent political violence, revealing that the party has tragically buried two ward councilor candidates in the past three weeks. Hlabisa appealed to all political parties to promote tolerance and ensure that communities remain safe and free to choose their representatives without fear.
As the IFP approaches its first local government election without the late Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi, the party leadership remains confident in its upward trajectory. By focusing on verifiable track records, transparent financial management, and direct community engagement, the IFP aims to prove that trust is not just demanded, but actively earned through consistent service delivery.
