“Viva, DA. Viva.” With this rallying cry, the DA officially kicked off its metropolitan tour in Pretoria, targeting some of the country’s biggest cities in the November elections. 

“Take back your parks. Take back your water. Take back your safety,” Cilliers Brink, the DA’s mayoral candidate for the City of Tshwane, told supporters while taking a few dance steps on stage. 

The DA is one of several political parties stepping up their campaigns ahead of the November 4 local government elections. The EFF and SACP have already launched their manifestos, while the ANC, FF+ and MK Party are preparing to launch theirs. 

The DA’s tour began in Centurion yesterday (August 18), with delegates from across Pretoria attending the event and carrying banners bearing the party’s slogan for the upcoming local government elections: ‘Working for all’. 

“The DA must work for everyone and not just for certain groups,” Brink said. 

“My vote goes to the DA,” said an elderly Atteridgeville resident, who wished to remain anonymous. “Historically, I voted for the ANC, but I realised that the DA is not the white man’s party any longer.” 

He said that people, particularly in townships, had previously been reluctant to openly support opposition parties because of fears of retaliation, but that this was now ‘a thing of the past’. 

The DA launched its national local government manifesto on August 8 in Johannesburg, outlining its pledges ahead of the November 4 elections. 

With less than three months to go before the country heads to the polls, the manifesto focuses on fixing municipal administration, restoring basic services, creating safer communities and using functioning municipalities to attract investment and create jobs. 

DA leader Geordin Hill-Lewis said Tshwane was chosen as the first stop because the party wanted to use the city to set out its plans for improving basic services and making local government ‘work for all’. 

Hill-Lewis said the manifesto contained commitments to deliver reliable water and electricity, safer communities, cleaner towns, jobs, infrastructure and professional municipal governments, while fighting corruption. 

Coalition politics 

The DA has previously formed coalitions with other opposition parties to govern several metropolitan municipalities. However, Hill-Lewis described the experience as ‘coalition chaos’ and said the DA wanted to secure outright majorities in municipalities. 

“That is the only way to really get the cities to work for all,” he said. “The destruction of South Africa’s towns and cities is not normal. It is not normal, and it is not acceptable. And it is not inevitable. It doesn’t have to happen,” Hill-Lewis said. 

He said many South Africans had begun to believe that the deterioration of their cities and towns was simply ‘the way things are going to be’. 

Tshwane corruption claims 

In his speech, Brink focused heavily on what he described as corruption in Tshwane, including the city’s controversial water-tanker contracts, which he said had cost the municipality about R777m. 

Hill-Lewis questioned the links between some of the companies awarded water-tanker contracts and senior political figures. “Who are they connected to? The same cadres and comrades that have always been stealing everything. It’s the same people, just with a different coalition. That is what we have to stop,” he said. 

Hill-Lewis claimed that senior ANC figures in the city had received R31m for water trucking, arguing that the money could instead have been invested in pipes and other infrastructure to address the underlying water problems. 

Brink, in return, criticised the deterioration of public safety in Tshwane. “This city has got 4 200 metro police officers. Where have you last seen them?” he asked. 

EFF manifesto 

The EFF launched its 2026 Local Government Elections Manifesto on July 25 at Thohoyandou Stadium in Limpopo. The launch coincided with the party’s 13th anniversary, with EFF leader Julius Malema delivering the keynote address. 

The manifesto places economic transformation, job creation and free basic services at the centre of its campaign. 

The party wants municipalities to insource services, reduce their reliance on private contractors, expand access to free water and electricity for poor households, and use municipal land for housing, agriculture and community development. 

It also wants municipalities to become drivers of local economic development, supporting SMMEs, co-operatives and local industries while using public procurement to create jobs. 

Other priorities include improving water, sanitation and electricity infrastructure, expanding housing, strengthening municipal safety, investing in youth, sport and culture, and tackling corruption and maladministration. 

SACP goes it alone 

Another significant development ahead of the local government elections was the launch of the South African Communist Party’s manifesto. 

The SACP will contest local government elections independently for the first time in democratic South Africa, rather than campaigning behind its traditional alliance partner, the ANC. 

The party says it remains part of the alliance but is contesting independently to give the working class its own political voice. 

Its manifesto places working-class representation, public services, job creation, public ownership and economic transformation at the centre of its campaign. 

The SACP wants municipalities to be rebuilt as public institutions, with greater use of insourcing and less reliance on private contractors. It also wants improved water, electricity, housing and other basic services while tackling corruption and maladministration. 

The manifesto was launched in Soshanguve on August 16, as the party marked its 105th anniversary. 

Other parties 

The ANC will launch its manifesto this Sunday (August 23) in Gauteng, with the event expected to take place at River Park in Alexandra. 

The party has declared 2026 the ‘Year of decisive action to fix local government and transform the economy’, with its campaign expected to focus on improving municipal service delivery, water and infrastructure, creating jobs and strengthening accountable local government. 

The FF+ will launch its manifesto on September 12 in Pretoria East. By the time of publishing, its manifesto had not been made public. 

Meanwhile, the MK Party’s manifesto launch is set for August 29 in Soweto. The manifesto is expected to set out the party’s vision for service delivery, dignity and accountable local government, with the MK positioning itself as a people-centred alternative in the upcoming elections. 

It has also stepped up its ward-level mobilisation, strengthening volunteer networks and branch structures ahead of the elections. 

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