EFF leader Julius Malema unveiled the party’s local government election manifesto, promising to provide free basic services to poor households, insource municipal workers and expropriate abandoned land and buildings if the party secures power in municipalities across the country.
Launching the manifesto at Thohoyandou Stadium in Limpopo on Saturday as the party celebrated its 13th anniversary, Malema said the EFF would use local government to drive service delivery, create jobs and improve the lives of residents, while accusing the ANC of presiding over collapsing municipalities.
“Our municipalities have collapsed,” Malema told thousands of supporters.
“That’s why they steal from the poor.”
Central to the manifesto is a commitment to expand free basic services, with Malema promising that pensioners, SASSA beneficiaries and unemployed residents would receive free electricity and water under EFF-run municipalities.
“All the beneficiaries of SASSA shall receive free electricity because they are poor already,” he said.
“All the unemployed should receive free electricity and water and clean water.”
The party also pledged to end the outsourcing of municipal services by employing workers directly through municipalities.
Malema said security guards, auditors and other municipal employees should be permanently employed rather than contracted through private companies.
“We don’t want tenders. We want people to work directly, have an appointment letter, have a medical aid, have a pension fund and also have leave days,” he said.
Land reform also featured prominently in the manifesto, with Malema reiterating the EFF’s long-standing commitment to expropriate abandoned land and unused buildings for housing and economic development.
“When we take over government, we are going to expropriate land that is abandoned and give it to you,” he said.
“We are going to expropriate buildings that are abandoned and give them to the students and give them to the youth to make sure they use them for their own prosperity.”
Malema said municipalities governed by the EFF would prioritise local economic development by supporting small businesses, investing in sports, arts and cultural infrastructure and ensuring communities benefited from economic activity in their areas.
He also promised a 50-50 gender representation policy across municipal management, employment, procurement and economic development, saying women remained disproportionately affected by inequality.
“There will not be more men. If anything, there will be more women because women suffer from triple oppression,” he said.
The EFF leader also vowed to improve healthcare at municipal level by strengthening clinics, establishing community health committees and ensuring earlier detection of illnesses.
Malema said the party would also expand access to affordable electricity and water while working with mines and factories to improve infrastructure in communities.
Malema also criticised the ANC, accusing them of failing to deliver basic services and economic opportunities despite governing for more than three decades.
Malema said communities wanted jobs, reliable electricity, water, properly equipped hospitals and roads free of potholes rather than political rhetoric.
“There is nothing special that Cyril Ramaphosa speaks in Venda,” he said.
“We can’t eat the Venda language. We want jobs so that we can eat.”
He argued that municipalities required greater financial support from national government because they were responsible for delivering services directly to communities.
Malema also sought to showcase the EFF’s governing record in municipalities where the party has participated in coalition governments, pointing to projects in Ekurhuleni, Tshwane, Johannesburg and Nelson Mandela Bay.
He credited the party with helping stabilise Ekurhuleni’s finances, improving sanitation and water services, expanding housing delivery, cleaning parts of Tshwane, establishing substance abuse treatment centres in Johannesburg and reducing electricity debt for poor households in Nelson Mandela Bay.
“We don’t have to wait to be in government to deliver all of this,” he said.
The manifesto launch forms part of the EFF’s campaign ahead of the 2026 local government elections, where the party is seeking to expand its presence in municipalities across the country while positioning itself as an alternative to the ANC and Democratic Alliance.
Malema urged supporters to back the party at the polls, saying an EFF-led municipality would prioritise jobs, reliable service delivery, accountable governance and economic opportunities for local communities.
Malema also used the manifesto launch to unveil the EFF’s mayoral candidates for several of the country’s strategic municipalities.
Among those announced were:
• Mkhululi Dlevu for Buffalo City
• Sinawo Thambo for Nelson Mandela Bay,
• Ncedo Kolanisi for King Sabata
• Dalindyebo Sam Matiase for Mangaung,
• Nthabiseng Tshivenga for Ekurhuleni,
• EFF Treasurer-General Omphile Maotwe for Tshwane
• Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng for Johannesburg,
• Hlengiwe Mkhaliphi for eThekwini,
• Stanley Mkhize for Msunduzi
• Lawrence Mapoulo for Polokwane, Deputy President Godrich Gardee for Mbombela
• Israel Monaise for Rustenburg
• Lerato Tito for Sol Plaatje
• National Chairperson Nontando Nolutshungu for the City of Cape Town.