LOCAL ELECTIONS 2026: Manifesto test: SACP’s power to the people and a working class embraced

The SACP’s lack of governing experience shows up in its manifesto, which has some strengths but weaknesses too.

The SACP is for the first time contesting an election on its own steam outside the tripartite alliance with which it has historically been in a political pact. The ANC has insisted dual members pick sides, making this an important part of the electoral race to watch. The SACP’s manifesto is refreshingly short and principled. Its brevity, however, does reveal the absence of hard experience of governing.

This is one of the SACP’s strongest sections: “Water that flows. Lights that work. Streets that are cared for.”

The party promises ward-by-ward audits of water and sanitation, public maintenance plans, rapid-­response teams for leaks and sewer spills, and properly staffed municipal technical units. Importantly, it explicitly shifts the emphasis from emergency response to preventative maintenance, saying it wants to end dry taps and the reliance on water tankers.

The ideological difference compared with the DA manifesto is stark: rather than concessioning or private sector participation, the SACP’s solution is to rebuild municipal capacity and insource essential work.

Verdict: There is little detail about where the capital investment required to repair ageing water infrastructure will come from, or how dysfunctional water utilities and municipalities would acquire the technical skills to do this themselves.

The manifesto concentrates more on affordability and public provision than on electricity generation or solving outages.

It says electricity has become “six times more expensive in real terms since 2007” and promises “fair, pro-poor tariffs”, protection of lifeline services and an end to “punitive disconnections of the poor”. Cable theft is identified later in the mani­festo as an attack on working-class communities and infrastructure.

Verdict: There is no substantial muni­cipal energy plan here – little about alternative generation, grid investment, load reduction, electricity losses or how municipalities will settle debts to Eskom. That is particularly noticeable because Daily Maverick’s test specifically asks parties how they will “fix electricity, end outages and pay Eskom”.

The SACP is direct: “Municipal roads must be treated as essential public infrastructure, not as an afterthought.”

It promises the maintenance and repair of township and village roads and specifically identifies potholes, washed-away access roads and neglected streets as barriers to jobs, clinics, schools and markets.

On transport, it promises “integrated, affordable, safe and reliable public transport under public and community control”, including cooperative transport initiatives.

Again, the distinguishing idea is public or community ownership, rather than contracting out.

Verdict: There are few measurable targets – no resurfacing kilometres, repair turnaround times or explanation of how failing muni­cipal road agencies would be fixed.