Big promises. Let's unpack them.

• In the first 100 days: fix streetlights, potholes, water leaks, sewer spills and illegal dumping in every ward
• Spend at least 8% of the value of municipal assets on maintenance every year
• One million work, training and enterprise opportunities
• Automatically sign up grant households for free basic water, electricity, sanitation and refuse
• Every ANC councillor signs a public performance agreement and can be recalled for persistent failure

• One million work, training and enterprise opportunities through EPWP and CWP
• Pay every compliant supplier within 30 days
• Publish clear turnaround times for planning approvals, building plans and licences
• Trading spaces and hubs for small businesses, informal traders and gig workers

• Spend at least 8% of the value of municipal assets on maintenance every year
• Cut water lost to leaks to below 30% in every metro
• Fix potholes, roads, bridges and stormwater drains
• Report faults by WhatsApp, SMS or phone and get a reference number within two working days

• A Community Safety Forum in every municipality, with cameras and lighting for every crime hotspot
• Stronger municipal law enforcement working with SAPS
• Act against illegal liquor outlets and drug-related crime
• Reclaim hijacked buildings and disrupt slumlords

• ANC members facing serious criminal charges must step aside (Step Aside Rule)
• Lifestyle audits for mayors, mayoral committee members and senior managers
• Blacklist corrupt and non-performing contractors faster
• Act on Auditor-General findings within 12 months

• Automatically sign up grant households for free basic water, electricity, sanitation and refuse
• No unjustified above-inflation tariff increases

• Upgrade local power networks to cut outages and speed up repairs
• Increase monthly free basic electricity for qualifying households
• A clear, itemised electricity bill so you can see what you pay for

• Upgrade informal settlements and provide serviced sites
• Speed up title deed transfers
• Publish a list of all municipal land and buildings, ward by ward, within 100 days

• 10 000 apprenticeships, learnerships and graduate internships in ANC-led municipalities
• Artisan apprenticeships in plumbing, electrical work and welding, with a permanent post for those who qualify
• Dignified toilets at every public school
• Every municipal library open, lit, accessible and connected

• Promote new HIV prevention options through local clinics

• Work with Home Affairs to tackle illegal employment, trading without permits and fake documents
• Give subsidised housing to qualifying South Africans

• End cadre deployment and appoint municipal staff on merit
• Money paid for water and electricity is spent only on those networks
• Let municipalities buy and sell their own electricity
• Push for more policing powers and funding for capable municipalities
• Publish every contract price, including any amount paid above the cheapest qualifying bid

• Review and cut red tape, fees and approval delays
• Automatic approval of permits if the council misses its deadline ("silence is consent")
• Simple online trading permits and more trading spaces for informal traders
• Replace race-based BEE with empowerment based on poverty (a national DA proposal)

• Spend water payments only on water and sanitation infrastructure
• Bring in utilities, neighbouring councils or private operators where a council cannot deliver
• Smart water meters and public reports on where leaks are and how fast they are fixed
• Spend at least 8% of the value of municipal assets on maintenance

• Push for municipal police to get investigative powers and work directly with prosecutors
• Municipal police services in all major and secondary towns the DA governs
• CCTV, gunfire detection and public crime dashboards
• Training, grants and equipment for neighbourhood watches

• End cadre deployment and appoint municipal staff on merit
• Municipal accounting officers personally repay losses they cause
• Publish every contract price, including any amount paid above the cheapest qualifying bid
• Award infrastructure work only to pre-vetted panels of qualified contractors

• Find and register every household that qualifies for free basic services
• Set aside part of national funding only for free basic services
• Cut off services for people who refuse to pay or connect illegally

• Spend electricity payments only on the electricity network
• Let municipalities buy power directly from private producers
• Pay households a fair rate for solar power they feed back into the grid
• Prosecute illegal connections and cable theft

• Speed up title deeds for state-subsidised homes
• Release unused state land for affordable housing
• A fair, public housing allocation system with independent audits
• Municipal police to respond quickly to illegal land grabs

• Internships, graduate recruitment and apprenticeships in municipalities
• A safe routes to school plan with paving, lighting and learner transport
• After-school sport, arts and culture programmes

• Make sure municipal clinics have the medicine, equipment and staff they need
• Shut down illegal liquor outlets

Not addressed in their manifesto.

• Expropriate all land without compensation, held by the state and traditional leaders
• Nationalise the Reserve Bank, large banks and strategic mines
• A state job for everyone willing to work, above a R4 500 minimum wage
• Free, compulsory education from pre-school to postgraduate
• Hold a referendum on the death penalty

• A state job for everyone willing to work, above a R4 500 minimum wage
• Lending targets for small businesses owned by black people, women and young people
• Nationalise the Reserve Bank, large banks and strategic mines

• State companies to provide cheap electricity, water and transport

• Hold a referendum on the death penalty
• A specialised gender-based violence unit at every police station
• More police recruits, training and equipment

• More money and capacity for the police investigative directorate
• Clean out crime intelligence operatives linked to criminal syndicates

• A Basic Income Grant above the R1 558 poverty line for those who cannot work
• Raise the child support grant to R760
• Raise old-age and disability grants to R4 500

• Reverse the move away from coal and renew Eskom’s coal power stations
• Speed up new nuclear power
• Repeal private power producer deals and the unbundling of Eskom

• Expropriate all land without compensation, held by the state and traditional leaders
• A state construction company to build housing
• Expropriate abandoned property for public housing

• Free, compulsory education from pre-school to postgraduate
• Breakfast, lunch and an after-school meal at every school

• Implement National Health Insurance (NHI)
• Fund all health facilities to run 24 hours a day with enough ambulances

• Give the army control of the borders
• Root out corruption at Home Affairs and strengthen the Border Management Authority

• Hire municipal workers directly within 24 months instead of using labour brokers and tenders
• Automatically sign up SASSA grant recipients for free basic services within 90 days
• Write off old municipal debt owed by poor households
• Fix water leaks within a day of being reported
• Electricity fault teams that respond within one hour

• Bring security, cleaning, waste collection and maintenance in-house to create permanent jobs
• At least 40% of municipal jobs for young people aged 18 to 35
• At least 80% of municipal buying from local small businesses and co-ops in manufacturing
• Free driver's licence training and one test for unemployed young people

• Fix water leaks within a day of being reported
• Get rid of all bucket toilets and unsafe pit toilets
• Run water tankers in-house and use them only in emergencies
• Clean up illegal dumping sites through the Andries Tatane Campaign

• Work with SAPS on crime prevention targeted at crime hotspots
• CCTV, drones, gunshot detection and real-time monitoring centres
• Set up municipal courts to enforce by-laws
• Rural safety programmes against stock theft and vandalism

• Publish all tenders, awards and contracts, and blacklist anyone found guilty of wrongdoing
• Lifestyle audits of municipal officials
• Ban people linked to gender-based violence, extortion or organised crime from municipal tenders
• EFF councillors pledge not to do business with the municipality

• Automatically sign up SASSA grant recipients for free basic services within 90 days
• Write off old debt of poor households and stop disconnecting them
• Increase free basic water and electricity
• Transport for older people on the days they collect pensions and grants

• Electricity fault teams that respond within one hour
• No extra charges on prepaid meters, and free prepaid meter installation
• Solar panels and solar geysers for households still waiting for electricity
• Hire engineers and electricians directly to maintain the network

• Stop selling municipal land and use it for redistribution to black communities
• Expropriate abandoned land and buildings for young people to farm and run businesses
• Serviced sites for qualifying households while houses are being built
• Houses for all persons with disabilities within the first 12 months

• Municipal bursaries for scarce and technical skills

• Work towards 12-hour and 24-hour clinics where demand and resources allow
• Ambulances within 20 minutes in towns and 30 minutes in rural areas
• Targeted health support for vulnerable groups, including migrants

Not addressed in their manifesto.

• Fix the basics first: planned maintenance and quick repairs before systems collapse
• Report leaks, potholes, refuse failures and broken streetlights, and track the repair
• Reserve spaza shops for South Africans
• Change the Constitution to clarify traditional leaders' powers
• Publish budgets, tenders, spending and performance results

• Simpler business permits and registration, online and in person
• Funding and market access for small, locally owned businesses
• Market stalls and set business zones for local vendors
• Equipment, inputs and advice for small-scale farmers

• Planned maintenance of water, sanitation, electricity, roads and refuse
• Fix leaks and burst pipes, and use water tankers only in emergencies
• Repair roads, bridges and stormwater drains, and upgrade rural roads
• Report potholes and track repairs, and train residents to fix potholes

• Repair streetlights and high-mast lights to make streets safer
• Encourage spending on gender-based violence desks, shelters and social workers
• Close spaza shops and food outlets that break health and registration rules

• Refer corruption, fraud and tender-rigging claims for prompt investigation
• Discipline or prosecute those responsible, and recover losses
• Publish budgets, tenders, spending reports and performance results
• Protect whistle-blowers from retaliation

Not addressed in their manifesto.

• Maintain the local electricity network
• Repair streetlights and high-mast lights

• Find land, cut housing backlogs, redevelop hostels and formalise informal settlements

• Bursaries, internships and help registering for higher education
• Training in coding, AI, robotics and other digital skills
• Free Wi-Fi zones in communities

• Work with other government departments so residents have working clinics, medicines and ambulances
• Sanitary products so no girl or woman misses school or work

• Prosecute people who front for businesses owned by undocumented foreign nationals
• Inspections to close non-compliant businesses and arrest people trading illegally

• Mass deportation of illegal foreigners and a wall on the border
• Bring back the death penalty for the most serious crimes
• Compulsory military or public service for unemployed young people
• Bring religious teaching back into schools
• Remove anyone suspected of corruption from office immediately and arrest them

• Conscription, so every school leaver has work
• Take 1% of sales from profitable companies to fund a lending bank for poor entrepreneurs
• No minimum wage for businesses in their first year
• Set aside some government buying only for small businesses

• Make better water, sanitation and electricity in poor settlements a top priority
• Fix old water pipes with cheaper relining technology to cut water losses

• Death penalty for murder, child rape and muti killings
• Arrest gang members first and charge them later, modelled on El Salvador
• Specialist police units, starting with a missing children's unit
• Specialist courts for rape cases

• Remove anyone suspected of corruption from office immediately and arrest them
• Heavy sentences for corruption; ministers could face life in prison or the death penalty
• Random integrity tests for all office-bearers
• Record all public procurement on a blockchain so it can be checked

• Grants for disabled, very poor and elderly people; others should be encouraged to work

• End load shedding for good
• A mix of renewables, gas, coal and new nuclear power
• Cut off and prosecute big businesses that don't pay for electricity and water

• Put housing waiting lists on a blockchain to stop corruption
• Seize unsafe hijacked buildings and turn them into homes for South Africans
• Ban new shacks after a set date
• Building materials so people can build their own homes

• Build more secondary schools, with a daily meal for learners
• Test teachers and retrain those who fall short
• Free university for deserving students in scarce skills

• More mobile clinics in rural areas
• Drug treatment centres in areas hit hardest by drugs

• Mass deportation, with detention camps for processing
• Build a wall on the border
• Severe penalties for businesses that hire illegal foreigners
• Long prison sentences for deported people who come back illegally

• Rates and tariff increases no higher than inflation
• Spend a large share of your ward's rates in your ward
• Hire the best person for the job, regardless of skin colour
• Spend at least 8% of infrastructure value on maintenance every year
• Fewer bosses, more experts and tradesmen

• Councils should help private businesses create jobs, not create jobs themselves
• Scrap needless red tape on rezoning and trading permits
• Base empowerment on poverty and need, not race
• Scrap small fees like trade permits to help struggling businesses

• Make upgrading sewage treatment works a top priority
• Use modern technology to find and fix water leaks quickly
• Working refuse removal, legal landfills and recycling projects
• Spend infrastructure grants in full on water, sewage, electricity and roads first

• CCTV cameras and working streetlights
• Get police, neighbourhood watches, rural safety groups and private security working together
• Enforce by-laws, after updating outdated ones
• Fire-fighting equipment in every town, including for veld fires

• Recover money lost to corruption, fraud and irregular contracts
• Make all council contracts public
• Cancel unlawful contracts with service providers
• Hold councillors to account for adopting unfunded budgets

• Rates and tariff increases no higher than inflation
• Use national funding to give poor households basic services
• Accurate monthly bills from real meter readings, not estimates
• Fix unfair rates on farmland

• Tamper-proof smart meters to stop illegal connections
• Area meters to detect electricity theft
• Rebates for households that switch to renewable energy

• Protect property rights and the value of existing neighbourhoods

Not addressed in their manifesto.

Not addressed in their manifesto.

Not addressed in their manifesto.

• Keep rates and tariff increases at or below inflation, unless openly justified
• End cadre deployment and hire on qualifications and merit
• Published monthly service standards for leaks, potholes and missed refuse
• Lifestyle audits for politicians, senior officials and procurement staff
• Use every lawful municipal power to tackle illegal immigration

• Cut red tape and publish turnaround times for planning and building approvals
• Make it easier for local small businesses to win municipal work
• Paid internships and apprenticeships for young people
• Rebuild CBDs and town centres and reclaim hijacked buildings

• Fix ageing pipes and tackle leaks and illegal connections
• Use water tankers only for emergencies, not instead of working pipes
• Set clear standards for fixing potholes and sewage spills
• Regular refuse collection in formal and informal areas, with a way to report missed pickups

• More municipal law-enforcement officers on the ground
• Specialised units against cable theft, service theft and drugs
• Strengthen municipal courts so by-laws are enforced
• Keep streetlights working where darkness creates danger

• Lifestyle audits for politicians, senior officials and procurement staff
• Publish tenders, bidders, contract values and changes
• Blacklist suppliers involved in fraud or who fail to deliver
• Recover stolen money through legal action

• Keep rates and tariff increases at or below inflation, unless openly justified
• Find and register households that qualify for free basic services
• Accurate bills and quick resolution of billing disputes
• Rebates for qualifying pensioners and other vulnerable households

• Replace ageing substations, transformers and cables
• Act against illegal connections, meter tampering and cable theft
• Buy cheaper electricity from other producers where the law allows

• Upgrade informal settlements where the land is safe
• Speed up title deeds
• Use municipal land for affordable homes to buy or rent
• Regulate short-term rentals where they push up housing costs

• Support early childhood development centres to meet the rules

• Longer hours at municipal clinics where demand justifies it
• Mobile clinics for informal settlements and rural areas

• Use every lawful municipal power to tackle illegal immigration
• Refer suspected cases to Home Affairs and SAPS and follow them through