By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
ActionSA launched its 2026 Local Government Elections (LGE) Manifesto at the Johannesburg City Hall on Saturday, 26 September 2026.
The manifesto sets out nine broad priorities, including reliable basic services, improved financial management, professional municipal administrations, anti-corruption measures, safer communities, economic development, more inclusive services and cleaner, more resilient municipalities.
ActionSA has committed to restoring water, electricity, sanitation, roads and refuse removal in dysfunctional municipalities nationwide.
Party leader Herman Mashaba pledged a pro-business environment, informal settlement upgrades and principled coalition governance that prioritises service delivery.
“A municipality cannot deliver reliable services if it cannot manage its finances properly,” Mashaba said.
ActionSA also said it would introduce credible, fully funded budgets, improve revenue collection and metering, strengthen billing systems and implement financial recovery plans. Furthermore, it proposes reducing what it regards as unnecessary political staffing, with municipal appointments based on “qualifications, competence, experience and merit”.
To that end, officials would be expected to meet defined performance standards and be held accountable for failing to deliver, according to the manifesto.
Corruption and procurement are also in the spotlight, with the party promising greater transparency around tenders and contracts, investigations into suspicious conduct and protection for whistle-blowers.
“Every rand stolen through fraud, inflated contracts or dishonest officials is a rand that cannot be spent fixing roads, maintaining water infrastructure or delivering the services people depend on,” Mashaba said.
The party proposes putting more municipal law-enforcement officers on the streets and targeting infrastructure theft, illegal connections, hijacked buildings and criminal syndicates.
The manifesto also calls for municipalities to use their lawful powers to address illegal immigration, while working with the Department of Home Affairs and the South African Police Service where national enforcement powers are required.
Mashaba conceded to the prospect of coalition government in many of the country’s municipalities after the elections, saying that ActionSA is cordial to the idea of forming a coalition government with every party that aligned with its ideas of service delivery and restoration of municipalities but noted that the party.
However, he said that ActionSA will not bind itself to coalition agreements and conditions before the elections, and that the party will take a firm stance on its policies and principles which it will not compromise to secure political office.
“We will not enter into any pre-election conditions. We are going to contest elections on our own values, policies and records. We are going to ask South Africans for support and hope that they are going to give us outright majority in some municipalities,” Mashaba said.
The party – born from a breakaway from the Democratic Alliance (DA)in August 2020 – will contest local government elections on 04 November 2026.
ActionSA is currently South Africa’s sixth largest party, despite having only contested six municipalities countrywide in 2021. Read full manifesto here: https://www.actionsa.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/ActionSA-LGE-Manifesto-2026-Final-.pdf.