By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Cyril Ramaphosa unveiled the African National Congress (ANC) 2026 Local Government Election manifesto at Riverside Park in Diepsloot north of Johannesburg on Sunday, 23 August 2026.
The local government elections are just three months away, and most parties are hitting the campaign trail.
Ramaphosa said his party’s manifesto outlines six actions that will help the ANC rebuild lost trust with its supporters.
He said the first action is to provide, water, electricity and other basic services. He said the ANC also wants to reduce excessive dependence on consultants and contractors – he said this will happen by rebuilding technical, engineering and financial project management capacities in municipalities.
“We want most of the services to be done by workers who are hired by the municipality,” he said.
He said the ANC will fast track the upgrading of informal settlements and ensure that there are services to some of the sites where informal settlements are built. The ANC will also fast track the issuing out of title deeds to recipients of RDP houses.
Ramaphosa also said the ANC will protect households from the rising cost of living through fair and transparent tariffs. He said the party will expand access to reliable internet connectivity and provide free public wi-fi.
He said the second action, is tor create job opportunities and bring in investment into the different municipalities.
“We want our municipalities to be centres of commerce, to be centres of business activity, we want our municipalities to attract investors and I wish that every municipality should have an investment office, where people who want to invest in that municipality go to that office,” he said.
The third action is to build safer streets, cleaner neighbourhoods and healthier communities.
“We will strengthen community policing forums, promote social cohesion and intensify the fight against gender-based violence and femicide. Safe communities are built when residents, the police and local government work together, the president said.”
The six commitments are:
- Providing affordable water and electricity.
- Creating more jobs and attracting investment in communities.
- Promoting safer streets, cleaner neighbourhoods and healthier communities.
- Ensuring municipal finances are used to meet residents’ needs.
- Building municipalities that are well-run and accountable.
- Building municipalities that listen to residents and account to them.
Ramaphosa also placed ANC councillors and mayors on notice, saying political representatives would be required to account directly to communities for their performance.
“The work will begin on the first day after the election. We are going to clock it. We’re going to clock it,” he said.
ANC mayors and councillors will be expected to publish their priorities, establish service delivery baselines and demonstrate measurable progress on urgent community needs.
The party plans to introduce public performance agreements and codes of ethical conduct for all ANC local government representatives.
Councillors will undergo regular performance assessments and leadership development programmes and report regularly to communities.
He also said that the ANC has done well.
“We have constructed roads, built clinics, hospitals, schools, colleges and universities. We opened opportunities that did not exist for the people of our country. Many of this progress has been achieved through an ANC led government.”
The ANC heads into the elections after years of declining electoral – it won 62% of the vote in 2011, 53.9% in 2016 and 47.5% in 2021. A recent Social Research Foundation poll put the ANC at 34% nationally, ahead of the DA with 27%, but the ANC was trailing the DA in Gauteng’s three metros.
Read the full manifesto here: https://www.anc1912.org.za/.