The launch
President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday launched the ANC’s manifesto for the 4 November local government elections, setting out a six-point programme to restore basic services in every municipality the party governs.
The 65-page document, titled Masakhe: Let Us Build, was unveiled before thousands of supporters at Riverside Park in Diepsloot, a Gauteng community where more than 4,000 government-subsidised flats have been handed to families who previously lived in informal settlements.
The manifesto commits every ANC-led municipality to publish a Ward Delivery Schedule, a State of the Municipality Report and a public register of municipal land and buildings within its first 100 days in office. Free basic services are promised to every indigent household within the same period.
Opening the launch, Ramaphosa said local government is where citizens experience the state most directly. Democracy, he said, must be experienced in people’s daily lives, through reliable water, electricity, sanitation and roads, and not only at election time.
The launch completed a campaign weekend that began with the announcement of the ANC’s Nelson Mandela Bay mayoral slate at the Sandton Convention Centre on Saturday, as this publication reported. The manifesto closes with the party’s election call: Vote ANC, 4 November 2026.
What the ANC’s 2026 manifesto promises
The manifesto organises the ANC’s 2026 to 2031 programme around six action areas, each with named targets:
- Reliable, quality and affordable services and infrastructure
- Driving investment, jobs and local economic development
- Safe, clean, healthy and resilient communities
- Sustainable, people-centred municipal finances
- Capable, ethical local government with zero tolerance for corruption
- Community participation and effective communication
The named targets include at least 8% of the value of every municipality’s assets invested annually in maintenance, all critical senior municipal posts filled within 120 days, and the elimination of unfunded municipal budgets within two years.
The party said the document was drafted through an assessment of its 2021 local-election commitments, with consultation across COSATU, the South African National Civic Organisation, legal professional bodies and residents of informal settlements.
Ramaphosa told the rally the ANC takes credit for what has been achieved under its stewardship, including electrification, housing and the expansion of basic services, and also accepts, in his word, “humbly”, the service-delivery challenges residents still face. He pledged that municipalities would be restored to health within five years.
The first 100 days, in the manifesto’s own terms
Within 100 days, in every ANC-led municipality, the party commits to:
- A Ward Delivery Schedule: every national and provincial project already funded and planned inside the municipality’s boundary, with its value, its department and its year.
- A State of the Municipality Report: published within 60 days, disclosing the governance, financial and service position, what is working and what is not, and presented at a public mayoral imbizo.
- Umhlaba Wethu: a complete public register of the land and buildings the municipality owns.
Every ANC councillor must hold a first ward meeting within 30 days, introducing themselves, publishing their contact details, establishing communication channels and developing a ward plan. A closing imbizo before day 100 accounts for progress, and every municipality publishes a 100-Day Delivery Scorecard.
The manifesto’s own line on the principle is direct, and it sets the party apart from its opponents: “A promise you can hold us to is a promise with a project name and a timeline attached. That schedule is the ANC’s commitment, and no other party in this election can produce one.”
Free basic services and electricity
The manifesto’s most immediate commitment is also its fastest: free basic services to indigent households within 100 days, with every grant-receiving household enrolled on the municipal indigent register.
The change would link qualifying SASSA grant recipients to municipal indigent registers automatically, without repeated reapplication at municipal offices, extending free basic water, electricity, sanitation and refuse removal to an estimated 30 million grant recipients.
Addressing the launch, Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said municipal electricity revenue would be ringfenced for network maintenance at an expected 8% of budget. He said free basic electricity for the poorest households would rise from 50 to between 200 and 300 kilowatt-hours a month, within the existing free basic electricity budget.
How the ANC will account
The manifesto sets out a reporting calendar running from the first month in office to the end of the term: public ward meetings and a monthly repair clock by ward, with repairs met in at least 85% of cases; a State of the Municipality Report within 60 days; a Ward Delivery Schedule within 100 days; senior management appointed within 120 days with lifestyle audits published annually; Municipal Delivery Scorecards every quarter; and a full Manifesto Delivery Report in 2031.
The manifesto’s accountability calendar, in full:
| When | How the ANC will account |
|---|---|
| Every month | Public ward meetings where councillors report on local service delivery and progress against the Ward Programme of Action. |
| Monthly, from the first month | The repair clock published monthly by ward, covering water, sewerage, electricity, streetlights, potholes and refuse, met in at least 85% of cases. |
| Within 60 days | A published State of the Municipality Report, and a costed recovery plan presented at a public imbizo. |
| 100 days | Indigent enrolment for every grant-receiving household, and free basic services delivered to every household entitled to them. The indigent register is updated quarterly thereafter. |
| 100 days | A Ward Delivery Schedule naming every national and provincial project inside the municipality, with its value, its department and its year. |
| 100 days | A Community Safety Forum convened by the mayor, meeting monthly, with a lighting, policing and camera plan for every hotspot. |
| 120 days | A senior management team appointed on merit, with every critical post filled and lifestyle audits published annually. |
| Quarterly | Municipal Delivery Scorecards reporting on progress against the Manifesto and key municipal performance indicators. |
| Whenever updated | A tariff schedule any resident can read and compute, published within 14 days from adoption, with an online calculator. |
| Annually | A Manifesto Implementation Report accounting for progress, challenges and corrective action. |
| Mid-term, 2028 | An independent review of progress against the six Action Areas and the commitments made in this Manifesto. |
| End of term, 2031 | A Manifesto Delivery Report accounting for what was committed, what was delivered, what remains outstanding, and why. |
The document states its own commitment plainly: “That schedule is the ANC’s commitment, and no other party in this election can produce one.” It closes in the party’s voice: “This manifesto is a call to everyone. Let us build. Masakhe.”
The campaign turns to the metros
The launch was the first to proceed without the SACP on the ANC’s official programme. ANC chairperson Gwede Mantashe said the party had walked away.
The ANC has, however, emphasised that the alliance remains an important vehicle for the advancement of the National Democratic Revolution and the national democratic society. The movement has called for meaningful alliance engagement and the overall strengthening of alliance relationships, and for leadership across the alliance to show the maturity that ensures those they represent are part of the build-up, the follow-up and the follow-through of the 2026 elections.
ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula has said Ramaphosa will lead the party’s municipal campaign as its main national face.
For Nelson Mandela Bay, whose mayoral slate of Andile Lungisa, Babalwa Lobishe, Nontombi Nama and Xolani Vela was announced on Saturday, the manifesto’s commitments land directly: a Ward Delivery Schedule for every ward, a State of the Municipality Report presented at a public mayoral imbizo, and Umhlaba Wethu, the register of the city’s own land and buildings.
The People’s Register will report what each of the six action areas means for the metro, against its own service-delivery and budget record, in follow-up coverage.
Download the Masakhe manifesto
Read the ANC’s 2026 Local Government Elections Manifesto in full, 65 pages as launched at Riverside Park in Diepsloot on 23 August 2026. Every commitment, every target, every date.
Sources and further reading
This report is based on the ANC’s 2026 Local Government Elections Manifesto, Masakhe: Let Us Build, and on the party’s official launch at Riverside Park, Diepsloot, on 23 August 2026.