CAPE TOWN, WESTERN CAPE — The GOOD Party has officially unveiled its 2026 election manifesto, positioning the transformation of the City of Cape Town into a “pro-poor city” as its central mission. Party leader Patricia de Lille, alongside Cape Town Mayoral candidate Brett Herron, launched the comprehensive policy platform in Athlone on the Cape Flats, outlining actionable strategies for spatial justice, economic relief, and a groundbreaking pre-election partnership with Rise Mzansi.
At the core of the GOOD Party’s platform is a commitment to dismantling apartheid spatial patterns through transit-oriented development. The manifesto pledges to release well-located, municipal-owned land for affordable social and mixed-income housing, halting the practice of selling public assets to commercial developers. Furthermore, the party plans to directly upgrade informal settlements with clean piped water, flush sanitation, and electricity connections, rather than merely managing settlement decay.
Addressing economic justice and cost-of-living relief, the party has committed to reviewing property, water, and electricity tariffs to reflect actual household affordability, moving away from paper property valuations. The platform also promises to stop punitive utility cut-offs for struggling families and end aggressive debt collector practices that target poor households for historical municipal debt. To support the informal economy, the party aims to deregulate local trade policies, cut red tape, and improve public spaces for spaza shops and market traders.
The manifesto emphasizes equal service standards, demanding enforced equal response times and protected budgets for infrastructure, street lighting, refuse removal, and road repairs across all suburbs and townships. On the safety front, the party proposes expanding municipal law enforcement units and integrating them with neighborhood watches, social services, and community policing structures. To combat gender-based violence, the party plans to repurpose unused municipal properties into safe houses.
To ensure accountability, all GOOD Party candidates are required to sign mandatory public integrity pledges. These pledges commit to immediate disciplinary action and removal from office for any corrupt activities or misconduct. The party also stresses the professionalization of municipal officials, city engineers, and financial management staff, ensuring appointments are based strictly on technical competence and merit.
A significant portion of the launch focused on the party’s strategic alliance with Rise Mzansi. De Lille clarified that the two parties are sharing resources and technical expertise ahead of the November 4 local government elections, contesting in 25 municipalities across five provinces. She described the arrangement as a deliberate precursor to a formal merger by 2029, a timeline necessitated by current legislation that would otherwise force the parties to forfeit their provincial and national seats if they merged prematurely. Under this alliance, members are encouraged to cross-support each other; for example, current GOOD Party MMC Sarah Mabotsa is running as the Rise Mzansi mayoral candidate in Tshwane, while the coalition supports Lukhona Mnguni’s candidacy in Johannesburg.
Reflecting on her political track record, De Lille highlighted the party’s growth from securing nine seats with just over 4% of the vote in the 2021 Cape Town Council elections. She also pointed to her past tenure as Mayor of Cape Town, noting that she secured 67% of the vote in 2016, largely driven by previously disadvantaged areas. During that time, she championed the release of 21 pieces of well-located land within a 5-kilometer radius of the city center and designed 40 redress projects to upgrade township infrastructure. She criticized current top-down governance models for lacking the political will to continue these pro-poor policies.
Looking ahead to the first 100 days in office, the GOOD Party has outlined a clear, community-focused roadmap. Newly elected councilors will be required to first return to their communities to thank voters, then conduct a transparent audit of inherited municipal finances. This will be followed by the co-creation of the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) with local residents and an immediate review of the city’s credit policy to deliver swift cost-of-living relief to all households.
By combining grassroots community engagement with strict fiscal accountability and strategic political alliances, the GOOD Party aims to present a unified, viable alternative to voters frustrated by fragmented opposition and unfulfilled political promises.
