Know Your Power manifesto summary
Know Your Power · 2026 local government elections
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AI-written summary of the party’s own manifesto. Each point links to its page.
Know Your Power summary on every topic
Housing and title deeds
- Establish Inner-City Restoration Task Force to audit hijacked buildings and secure eviction orders within the first 100 days. p.9
- Reclaim up to 3 buildings per week, with visible transformation in the inner city by the end of year two. p.10
- Ensure pre-approved tenants contribute to utilities and maintenance before any building is cleared. p.10
- Prevent re-hijacking through intelligence-led policing and permanent security in reclaimed buildings. p.10
- Allocate every reclaimed building for affordable housing, youth skills centres, and community services. p.10
Water and sanitation
- Deploy technology-enabled leak detection and form local volunteer teams per ward to address water supply issues. p.4
- Replace aging pipelines fully and incentivize rainwater harvesting and greywater recycling with rebates. p.4
- Establish legally protected maintenance budgets and publish ward-level maintenance schedules. p.5
- Create a single fault-reporting platform with live outage maps and automatic updates per ward. p.5
- Launch a Civic Maintenance Corps to involve volunteers in maintenance and support local job access. p.14
Electricity and energy
- Ensure reliable electricity with no unplanned outages without public explanation and advance notice when possible. p.5
- Implement fair billing with meter audits, fixed timelines for corrections, and freeze disputed bills until resolved. p.5
- Establish a single fault-reporting platform with live outage maps and automatic updates per ward. p.5
- Says it has already started an emergency transformer replacement program and reduced fault response times. p.5
- Create dedicated police infrastructure units and smart meters with tamper alerts to combat infrastructure crime. p.5
Roads and public transport
- Rebuild priority roads fully, not just resurface, and follow a scheduled reconstruction plan for residential roads. No new debt will be incurred for funding. p.11
- Activate underutilized rail for freight and workforce transport, focusing on freight-first corridors along existing rail lines. p.12
- Integrate buses, taxis, and employer shuttles for safe last-mile connections and regulate feeder transport services. p.13
- Implement digital tracking from approval to completion for road projects, with payments made only after verified work. p.11
- Develop north-south bus corridors connecting major hubs with express services and park-and-ride facilities. p.12
Waste and refuse collection
Not addressed in this manifesto.
Safety and policing
- Build new police stations in key areas like Alexandra and Soweto to focus on vehicle crime and gang intervention. p.6
- Create task teams trained to respond quickly to gang activities, drug crimes, and vehicle offenses. p.6
- Engage communities through neighbourhood watch programs and reporting networks to promote collaborative policing. p.6
- Implement mandatory body cams for all high-risk police interactions to enhance accountability. p.8
- Says it has already established a reporting structure for incidents involving gender-based violence. p.8
Jobs and the local economy
- Create 20,000–50,000 jobs through large infrastructure projects like roads and hospitals. p.17
- Establish a ward-based fresh produce franchise network to create permanent jobs in communities. p.17
- Implement skills programs in tech, coding, construction trades, and healthcare support to create 5,000–15,000 jobs. p.16
- Prioritise projects that create jobs during construction and maintenance while transferring skills to local workers. p.21
- Attract international capital to generate thousands of jobs and boost urban development. p.24
Rates, tariffs and municipal finance
- Ring-fence maintenance budgets by bylaw to prevent diversion for emergencies or politics. Publish ward-level maintenance schedules and conduct annual infrastructure audits. p.5
- Redirect funds from repeat repairs and cut inflated emergency contracts to avoid new debt. Prioritise proper road rebuilds based on traffic volume and safety risk. p.11
- Implement budget discipline through reprioritised maintenance budgets and infrastructure grants. Ensure accountability with ward-level reporting and public tracking of progress. p.14
- Says it has already identified that South Africa generates significant revenue, including R200+ billion from municipal own revenue like electricity and water. p.25
Corruption, governance and accountability
No summary for this topic. Here are the manifesto’s own words instead.
“ Maintenance was postponed until systems collapsed Budgets were reactive, not preventative Communication failed citizens Corruption thrived in opaque contracting Accountability was absent What changes now: 1. Maintenance first – legally protected Maintenance budgets ring-fenced by bylaw. No diversion to emergencies or politics. Ward-level maintenance schedules published. Annual infrastructure audits mandatory.”View in manifesto (PDF page 5)
“How we fix it: Mandatory body cams for all high-risk interactions Anonymous, incentivized whistle-blower reporting (monetary rewards, priority employment) Independent investigations unit Rotating supervision and random audits 2. Municipal department discretion How it happens: Officials hold unchecked power over permits, licenses, zoning. Discretion is used to extract bribes. How we fix it: Transparent digital approval platforms – all decisions logged, time-stamped, publicly auditable Clear criteria with minimal subjective discretion Random independent audits 3. Tender & procurement corruption How it happens: Officials manipulate specifications to favour certain bidders.”View in manifesto (PDF page 8)
“How we fix it: Digital, transparent tender portal – all tenders, bids, evaluation reports publicly accessible Independent tender evaluation committees with rotation Whistle-blower reporting – secure and incentivized Forensic accounting for high-value contracts Strict penalties: criminal charges, permanent disqualification, recovery of losses Whistle-blower system (integrated across all three): Protection: anonymity, legal shield, relocation if needed Incentives: financial rewards, priority civic hiring, recognition Cultural shift: publicizing outcomes (while protecting whistle-blowers) makes corruption socially and financially unsafe Corruption is not inevitable.”View in manifesto (PDF page 9)
Informal settlements and land
Not addressed in this manifesto.
Support for indigent households
Not addressed in this manifesto.
By-law and municipal law enforcement
No summary for this topic. Here are the manifesto’s own words instead.
“People protect what they help build. Pillar 5: Budget discipline without decline Funded through reprioritized maintenance budgets, reduced emergency repair costs, and infrastructure grants. Accountability: Ward-level reporting. Monthly progress dashboards. Clear departmental KPIs. Public tracking of repeat-flood reductions. This country does not need miracles. It needs discipline, honesty, and shared effort. POINT 11: RULE OF LAW, BUSINESS COMPLIANCE & MARKET INTEGRITY We welcome all businesses that operate lawfully. We will not tolerate fronting, monopoly abuse, zoning violations, or bylaw non-compliance. Previous weaknesses & how we fix them:”View in manifesto (PDF page 14)
“1. Intelligence-led mapping of non-compliant businesses 2. Coordinated enforcement – simultaneous inspections across bylaws 3. Oversight – bi-monthly council reviews, quarterly ward evaluations 4. Business empowerment – co-operatives, supplier access, compliance training Five-year outcome: Fair competition restored. Illegal monopolies dismantled. More compliant local businesses. Higher revenue. Safer communities. This is rule of law, not populism. This is fair competition, not favouritism.”View in manifesto (PDF page 15)
“Weakness Impact Strengthened approach Fragmented inspections Evasion, repeat offenders Multi-department inspections at once Fronting ignored Illegal monopoly control Mandatory disclosure of beneficial owners Weak oversight No accountability Bi-monthly council meetings, ward-level KPIs Complaint-only action Only act after complaints Proactive intelligence-led operations”View in manifesto (PDF page 15)
Youth, sport, arts and libraries
Not addressed in this manifesto.