As South Africa prepares for the November Local Government Elections, Polity is engaging with political parties contesting the elections in a series of interviews to examine their manifestos, policy priorities and plans for local government.

ActionSA will contest only 42 municipalities nationwide in the upcoming local government elections, marking a deliberate pivot toward tactical consolidation.

Speaking exclusively with Polity, ActionSA national spokesperson Lerato Ngobeni stated that the party's new approach is driven by lessons learned from the 2024 national elections, where stretching resources across the entire country proved unsustainable.

“We saw that in 2024 we really over-stretched ourselves,” Ngobeni said. “It's better to under-promise and over-deliver. That is the party's strategy.”

The restricted focus was decided during a recent strategic session with provincial chairpersons. The party mapped out areas with solid local structures, active "boots on the ground", and enough capacity to deploy critical party agents to monitor voting and counting processes.

ActionSA’s footprint will remain heavily concentrated where it holds established electoral strength, particularly in Gauteng, where it will contest all metropolitan municipalities. The party is also targeting municipalities across Limpopo, North West, KwaZulu-Natal, and Mpumalanga.

Ngobeni highlighted Limpopo as an area of “exponential growth”, noting that local leadership successfully motivated to contest specific local and district municipalities based on rising support.

Addressing the historical issue of political interference and municipal collapse in South Africa, Ngobeni emphasised ActionSA's candidate selection policy, which allows the party to headhunt external professionals if internal ranks lack the necessary skills.

"They do not have to be card-carrying members of ActionSA," Ngobeni explained, adding that professionalising the public service is a core party value.

She cited the deployment of the late Chief David Tembe as Public Safety MMC in Johannesburg after 2021, and Dr Nasiphi Moya, who successfully transitioned from a technical official to the Tshwane mayor, as key examples of this ethos.

As ActionSA finalises its coalition negotiation framework, Ngobeni explained that the party has established three strict non-negotiable principles for any future political partners.

She said partners must be committed to providing services to all residents, irrespective of their political alignment or voting history and that corruption must be treated as "public enemy number one," backed by swift accountability.

Ngobeni referenced Tshwane, where ActionSA removed its own MMC within two weeks following an investigation into leaked confidential tender information.

Addressing undocumented immigration within the framework of the rule of law is a mandatory requirement, which Ngobeni described as an "existential crisis" for many communities.

ActionSA intends to enforce strict key performance areas and performance agreements for political office bearers and municipal officials.

Commenting on the recent cholera crisis in Bronkhorstspruit, Ngobeni confirmed that the Tshwane mayor's office has instituted an internal investigation regarding failures in procuring water-treatment chlorine.

"An apology is not enough; heads must roll," Ngobeni said, asserting that political partners must not be ambivalent toward incompetence that puts lives at risk.

"If people are not meeting their targets, you treat it the same way that you do in a corporate office. You sign a performance agreement, and that performance agreement will be enforced."

Read ActionSA's manifesto here