JOHANNESBURG, Gauteng — As the race to the November 2026 Local Government Elections intensifies, the United Africans Transformation (UAT) has positioned its “People’s Manifesto” as a radical, community-driven blueprint to fight poverty, end hunger, and overhaul basic service delivery across South Africa’s municipalities. UAT President Dr. Wonder Mahlatsi recently detailed the party’s strategic commitments, emphasizing that the policy document was drafted not in corporate offices, but directly on the streets with affected communities.
With just 50 days remaining until the polls, political parties are heavily focusing on basic service delivery, local economic development, and clean governance. Dr. Wonder Mahlatsi stressed that the United Africans Transformation’s approach is fundamentally distinct because it prioritizes returning power to the people and addressing the immediate economic conditions that plague marginalized neighborhoods.
Core Pillars of the People’s Manifesto
The UAT’s election campaign is anchored by five strategic local commitments designed to tackle systemic municipal failures:
- Fair Land Redistribution and Local Spatial Reform: The party pledges to conduct comprehensive municipal land audits to identify unused, neglected, or well-located municipal land. This land will be repurposed for residential housing, agricultural projects, and community developments. The policy also includes upgrading informal settlements by delivering serviced stands equipped with clean piped water, electricity, and proper sanitation.
- Local Economic Empowerment and Job Creation: Aiming to stimulate local economies, the UAT plans to cut red tape for microenterprises, spaza shops, and informal traders. The party will prioritize local procurement to ensure municipal tenders and development projects directly benefit local workers and community-owned cooperatives.
- Infrastructure Maintenance and Basic Service Delivery: Resources will be directed toward repairing leaking water infrastructure, restoring damaged electrical grids, and maintaining township roads. A major focus will be placed on eliminating illegal dumping sites and restoring reliable, regular municipal refuse removal.
- Ethical Governance and Anti-Corruption: The manifesto demands strict accountability and transparency to eliminate corruption, financial mismanagement, and political patronage in municipal supply chains. It advocates for community-centered leadership through active engagement with local residents via ward-level structures.
- Inclusivity and Support for Vulnerable Groups: The UAT is committed to ensuring public municipal facilities, transport, and service centers are fully accessible for persons with disabilities. Dedicated municipal programs will also be rolled out through specialized UAT youth and women wings to tackle unemployment and foster skills development.
Grassroots Origins and Proven Track Record
Addressing questions about how the UAT differentiates itself from other parties with overlapping mandates, Dr. Wonder Mahlatsi highlighted the party’s tangible, on-the-ground interventions. He noted that the manifesto was born from direct engagement in areas grappling with sewage crises, illegal dumping, and water scarcity, such as Mfuleni, Bronkhorstspruit, and Sekhukhune.
As a practical demonstration of their commitments, Dr. Mahlatsi revealed that on August 21, while other political activities were focused elsewhere, UAT members were on the ground in Sekhukhune providing three clean-water boreholes to communities previously forced to share water with animals. Furthermore, in the past three years, the UAT, in partnership with the Tow Project, has built nearly 40 houses for the most vulnerable, including widows, orphans, and persons with disabilities, with a few projects extending into neighboring countries like Lesotho and Mozambique.
The party also runs self-determination programs, including large-scale vegetable gardens at schools and healthcare facilities, such as a 2,000-square-meter garden at the Fun Park Clinic, ensuring that patients and schoolchildren have access to food before taking medication or attending classes.
Governance Capacity and Electoral Strategy
When challenged on the party’s capacity to manage multi-million-rand municipal budgets and complex infrastructure systems, Dr. Wonder Mahlatsi defended the UAT’s qualifications. Holding a PhD, Dr. Mahlatsi cited his own managerial experience in the criminal justice system, international relations as a diplomat, and local government within the City of Johannesburg.
He assured voters that the UAT’s supporting structure includes senior professionals well-versed in the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) and the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA), as well as government procurement processes.
For the 2026 Local Government Elections, the UAT will contest 360 wards across Limpopo, North West, Northern Cape, Free State, Mpumalanga, and the Western Cape. Dr. Mahlatsi emphasized that the party is not merely chasing proportional representation (PR) numbers, but is strategically targeting whole wards to establish “UAT wards” governed by community-nominated leaders who understand local challenges firsthand.
Land Audits and Coalition Stance
On the complex issue of municipal land powers, Dr. Wonder Mahlatsi explained that a UAT-led municipality would immediately audit all land to determine ownership. Neglected or illegally acquired land would be seized and repurposed productively. Depending on the need, land would be leased long-term, granted as stands to the working class for self-building, or managed through collaborative negotiations with traditional leaders and chiefs under the cooperative governance framework.
Regarding post-election coalitions, Dr. Mahlatsi stated that the UAT holds no animosity toward any African political party but will prioritize alliances with like-minded, community-focused parties that share their vision for land reform, food security, and youth empowerment. However, he categorically reaffirmed that the United Africans Transformation remains the sole Pan-Africanist party in South Africa, dedicated to a communal, Ubuntu-driven approach to governance.
As the November 2026 Local Government Elections approach, the UAT’s message is clear: they are a “government in waiting” ready to transition from community-based mutual aid to formal, people-centered municipal leadership.
