MANIFESTO TEST: PA promises debt write-offs and a 3-month rates holiday

Gayton McKenzie has put municipal bills at the centre of the Patriotic Alliance’s election campaign. Qualifying households would get three months without property rates, while some could have historic debt cancelled. For people paying more and receiving less, the appeal is obvious.

The PA’s manifesto is unusually attentive to the machinery of local government. It distinguishes what one councillor, a coalition partner and a governing party can do, and promises a public report card after 100 days.

Its first-100-days plan would open municipal books, audit infrastructure and qualifications and publish service repair times. It doesn’t do that as part of the government coalitions it’s in, so this would be a start.

The six big promises

1. Anti-migrant programme at the centre of local promise: License traders, enforce bylaws and check that owners are legally entitled to trade, as part of the party’s Abahambe campaign. (The Abahambe campaign is a virulent anti-migrant campaign at odds with the Government of National Unity the party is part of.)

2. Turn tenants into owners: Transfer qualifying council houses to long-standing tenants, including those occupying them for 20 years, with the municipality paying conveyancing costs.

3. Give a rates holiday: Waive three months of property rates for qualifying residential properties below a value threshold yet to be published.

4. Write off old debt: Cancel qualifying indigent and low-income households’ historic arrears. Other households could earn write-downs over 18 months by paying current bills.

5. Protect land for housing: Require affordable or social housing when well-located municipal land is released for development.

6. Back neighbourhood watches: Supply accredited buurtwag groups with training, radios, equipment and insurance, alongside the police.

The rates holiday is not three months of free water and electricity for everybody. Nor is debt relief a blanket amnesty. The party also invokes an April high court ruling against Cape Town’s fixed municipal charges, but its claim about who pays more needs a comparison of complete household bills, not selected tariff lines.

Here’s how it stands up to Daily Maverick’s Manifesto Test.

1. Turn on the taps

Ring-fence water revenue, pay bulk suppliers first, audit reservoirs and pump stations, replace faulty meters and establish 24-hour leak teams. Public fault logs and drought plans are sensible.

But: The PA supports this new municipal reform but has not implemented it in councils where it is powerful, like in Johannesburg.

2. Keep the lights on

Electricity receipts would be protected, Eskom paid first and substations repaired. The PA would disclose municipal electricity mark-ups and make rooftop solar easier.

But: Ring-fencing cannot settle existing Eskom debt or fund grid repairs when collections fall short. Again, the PA has not practised what it preaches.

3. Fill the potholes

The PA connects potholes to blocked stormwater drains. It promises pre-rainy-season cleaning, tracked repairs, back-up power for busy traffic lights and better taxi ranks.

But: The party’s deputy leader, Kenny Kunene, has been in charge of transport and roads in Johannesburg. It is a hot mess.

4. Sort out the s**t

End remaining bucket toilets, repair wastewater works, maintain communal toilets and run 24-hour sewer-response teams. The party invokes McKenzie’s claimed 100-day bucket toilet success in the Central Karoo.

But: The Karoo example does not establish what can be delivered in larger municipalities. There is no costed sanitation timetable or target for the number of households to be reached.

5. Light up our streets

Prioritise lighting on dangerous routes, near schools and transport interchanges. Equip community watches and connect them with municipal CCTV rooms.

But: Volunteers need proper oversight. Neighbourhood watches are not a replacement for policing. The party has not paid attention to the detail of street lighting where it has been in power.

6. Clean up our towns

Guarantee a weekly refuse collection day, publish missed collections and expand recycling and composting. One strong idea is to bring waste reclaimers into municipal systems with protective equipment and fair payment.

7. Help us hustle

Promise one-stop business desks, quicker permits and building approvals, township trading spaces and payment of compliant suppliers within 30 days.

But: Abahambe dominates. The manifesto cites 81,039 registered spaza shops, with 18,722 licensed or permitted, figures reported to Parliament. Licensing is a real problem, but enforcement must distinguish undocumented operators from foreign nationals lawfully entitled to trade. Immigration is a national responsibility. The manifesto promises appeals and lawful inspections, safeguards that must be honoured in practice.

8. A home for everyone

This is a stronger section. Audit council rental stock within 100 days, transfer qualifying homes, clear title deed backlogs, upgrade informal settlements and protect municipal land for affordable housing.

But: Deceased estates, unsafe buildings, transfers and lost rental income cost money. There is no target for homes transferred, and homelessness gets limited attention.

9. Break the nyaope curse

Support rehabilitation through churches and community organisations, skills training and second chances for people with criminal records. This speaks to the PA’s roots among former prisoners.

But: No funding, treatment-place targets or aftercare plan are supplied.

10. Give us a city worth living in

Keep libraries, halls, pools and sports fields open. Protect cultural traditions, including the Kaapse Klopse. Provide free public Wi-Fi at libraries, halls, clinics and taxi ranks, with monthly reports on working hotspots. Publish quarterly data on broken lights, sewer spills, water losses and missed collections.

But: Wi-Fi needs recurring funding, while ward committees and meaningful participation receive less attention.

Will you play nicely together?

The PA says it will work with anybody, provided its voice counts and its programme can be delivered. It wants published coalition agreements, funded portfolios and a dispute process. It reserves the right to support a motion of no confidence when partners breach agreements or obstruct its work.

That is candid, but it also exposes the risk of small-party leverage becoming permanent council instability. The PA already shares responsibility for governing Johannesburg, where deputy leader Kenny Kunene holds the transport portfolio. Voters can judge performance, not only pledges.

What’s cool?

A R450,000 cap on replacement mayoral cars, police threat assessments before public funding of bodyguards, published councillor attendance and spending, and 100-day reports. The PA also promises to budget for maintaining Wi-Fi before installing it. This is a useful shift from announcements to measurements.

Reality check

The PA would fund its promises by collecting from big defaulters and government departments, fixing billing, reducing service losses and cutting wasteful consultancy spending. Johannesburg council minutes confirm that a PA motion on qualifying prescribed municipal arrears passed in November 2023.

But the manifesto does not calculate what councils would lose through a rates holiday, what debt can legally and realistically be written off, or when extra collections would arrive. A write-off might persuade a household to pay again. It is not guaranteed revenue. Nor can a council spend savings it has not yet realised. The proposed holiday would need to be lawfully adopted in rates policies and municipal budgets.

This is among the more practical municipal manifestos. Its great weakness is the gap between a persuasive promise to hard-pressed residents and the numbers needed to make it work. Obviously, we dislike the idea of Abahambe and fundamentally disagree with it. DM