JOHANNESBURG, GAUTENG — As the 2026 Local Government Elections in South Africa approach on November 4, the political landscape is more crowded than ever, with 546 of the 732 registered parties contesting for municipal control. With local service delivery facing a perennial crisis, newly emerging and left-wing political formations are using their final campaign weeks to present radical manifestos focused on water infrastructure, job creation, and the restructuring of municipal finance.
In a comprehensive pre-election debate, party leaders outlined their strategies to fix dilapidated infrastructure, tackle massive unemployment, and restore basic human rights to cash-strapped municipalities.
Afrika Mayibuye Movement Targets Infrastructure and Detenderization
Floyd Shivambu, President of the Afrika Mayibuye Movement (AMM), emphasized that his party’s manifesto, launched in late September, is anchored on three core pillars: job creation, water access, and service delivery.
Shivambu criticized existing government policies that exclude citizens over the age of 35 from limited job opportunities and highlighted the severe water crisis, noting that 32 years into democracy, many households still lack clean, running water and rely on unreliable water tankers.
The Afrika Mayibuye Movement has fielded candidates in over 4,300 wards across all provinces, including prominent mayoral candidates for major metros like Cape Town, Tshwane, and Ekurhuleni. Shivambu also proposed a comprehensive review of the City of Johannesburg’s corporate service delivery model, originally adopted in the late 1990s as the Igoli 2002 program, questioning the sustainability of running municipal services through separate corporate entities.
To combat corruption and the so-called “water tanker mafia,” Shivambu advocated for “detenderizing” the state. He argued that municipalities must build internal technical capacity to deliver services directly, rather than outsourcing to private contractors, which he claims fuels self-enrichment and political malfeasance.
SACP Advocates for People’s Power and Insourcing
Dr. Alex Mashilo, a Central Committee and Politburo member of the South African Communist Party (SACP), presented a manifesto themed “Team building people’s power where we live.” He argued against the privatization and outsourcing of municipal services, pointing to the collapse of electricity and water infrastructure as direct results of relying on private contractors.
Highlighting the severe economic crisis, Dr. Mashilo cited stark statistics: 13.1 million South Africans are unemployed, 45.1 million live below the upper-bound poverty rate, and 13 million live below the food poverty line. He argued that relying on capitalists to create jobs is unsustainable, as profit maximization inherently leads to retrenchments. Instead, he highlighted the SACP’s “People’s Red Caravan” initiative, which mobilizes communities to produce their own food without relying on state tenders.
Addressing the SACP’s decision to contest the elections independently while still technically part of the governing tripartite alliance, Dr. Mashilo stated that the alliance no longer serves as a vehicle for all its partners’ historical missions. He emphasized that the SACP is moving forward independently to advocate for a socialist transition and to stop the use of state power for private wealth accumulation. He also called for the immediate insourcing of municipal services and the recruitment of qualified engineers to replace unqualified political appointees.
Land Party Proposes Free Basic Services and Strict Foreign Ownership Laws
Gcobani Ndzongana, Leader of the Land Party, positioned his organization as a humanistic vanguard for the poor and working class. The Land Party’s manifesto includes sweeping proposals such as scrapping all municipal bills and providing free water and electricity to residents.
Ndzongana proposed ending the “drip policy” of restricting water flow for those unable to pay, calling it a human rights violation. To fund these free services, he argued that municipalities must redirect existing budgets and eliminate the estimated R250 billion lost annually to fruitless and wasteful expenditure. He specifically criticized the privatization of water, citing the Overstrand municipality’s R74 million contract with a private water company, which he claims has left the majority of residents without affordable access to water.
On employment, Ndzongana proposed a strict quota system, forcing businesses operating in their municipalities to employ 90% South Africans and 10% foreign nationals. He also stated that security and general work must be strictly reserved for locals to safeguard national sovereignty.
Furthermore, the Land Party’s manifesto dictates that foreigners cannot own land or property in South Africa. They would only be permitted to lease land or buy properties for a specific period, with ultimate ownership remaining with the state. The party also plans to establish safety community forums to provide “people’s justice” and support collective, small-scale community farming to boost local food production.
The Core Debate: Fixing the Water Crisis and Municipal Funding
The debate underscored that water infrastructure is the most critical challenge facing the 2026 Local Government Elections in South Africa. With some municipalities losing up to 60% of their bulk water supply due to leaks and dilapidated pipes, all three leaders agreed that the current model is failing.
While Shivambu focused on unlocking national conditional grants like the Water Services Infrastructure Grant and growing local economic activity to expand the municipal revenue base, Dr. Mashilo stressed the need to replace rusted steel pipes with modern PVC technology through insourced municipal teams. Meanwhile, Ndzongana maintained that freeing up wasted municipal funds and canceling costly private contracts is the only way to make basic services affordable for the working class.
With election day looming, voters are now tasked with weighing these contrasting, yet equally radical, approaches to fixing South Africa’s local governance crisis.
