Speaking in Mary Fitzgerald Square on Saturday, 8 August, Geordin Hill-Lewis announced a new rule for DA-governed municipalities.

âEvery rand collected for water will be protected for water. Every rand collected for electricity will be protected for electricity. Your money will no longer be treated as a political slush fund.

âIt must be used to repair pipes, maintain substations and replace cables. It must never disappear into big salaries, political projects or corrupt contracts,â the DA federal leader told the crowd.

Water and power infrastructure in parts of Johannesburg, one of the key battlegrounds in the 4 November local government elections, has collapsed due to the repeated failure by successive administrations to invest in maintenance and new infrastructure, while revenue is often diverted to fund other programmes or wasted due to maladministration.

Many municipalities across the country are facing the same challenge and are being forced, either by the Department of Water and Sanitation or Eskom, to ensure that water and electricity revenue is ringfenced and goes towards the systems residents are paying for.

Hill-Lewis said the DAâs local government election manifesto was intended to turn broad political promises into practical, costed plans informed by the partyâs experience in government.

âThe DA does not only work for those who vote for it; it works for all,â he said to thousands of supporters.

According to a Social Research Foundation (SRF) poll released this week, the ANC is currently leading nationally with 34%, followed by the DA at 27%, MK party at 15% and EFF at 7%.

In Johannesburg, the SRF put the DA in front with 42%, followed by the ANC with 17%.

âEvery vote mattersâ

Hill-Lewis urged voters to participate in the November elections, warning that small margins could determine the outcome. (The votersâ roll closed on Friday, 7 August.)

He pointed to the DAâs May victory in Ward 28, Emfuleni, which was secured by just eight votes.

âThatâs how close it can be. Every vote matters to help turn things around,â he said.

Acknowledging that political parties are not perfect, Hill-Lewis said the crucial issue was whether officials were honest and committed to serving residents. He also pointed to the DAâs financial audit record as evidence that it was capable of governing responsibly.

Service delivery and clean governance

The party says its municipalities have a stronger record on financial management, with more than 60% of DA municipalities achieving clean audits, compared with roughly 5% of ANC-run municipalities.

However, the partyâs governance record has also faced scrutiny. The DA-run City of Cape Town was criticised in a Public Protector report released in July over failures to progressively provide basic services in Khayelitsha and Langa Flats, including unresolved sewage problems and other service deficiencies.

The Constitutional Court also ruled in July that Cape Townâs sale of the Tafelberg site in Sea Point was unlawful, adding to scrutiny of the partyâs claims around service delivery and spatial transformation.

Nationally, only 39 of 257 municipalities achieved clean audits in 2024/25, according to the Auditor-General, while water and electricity infrastructure continue to lose a significant proportion of supply through leaks and illegal connections.

Jobs and safety

Hill-Lewis said jobs under a DA government would be awarded to qualified professionals rather than politically connected individuals.

The party also pledged to increase law-enforcement capacity in unsafe areas and to bring crime-fighting closer to at-risk communities.

The manifesto comes as the DA seeks to expand its footprint from the 31 municipalities it currently governs to 60.

Hill-Lewis pointed to the DA-led Midvaal Local Municipality, in Gauteng, as an example of what he described as effective governance, citing a recent development in Savanna City that included a new hall and sports field.

As he watched children playing there, Hill-Lewis said he could see Johannesburg and Emfuleni in the distance.

âI could see the consequences of bad governance and the consequences of good governance,â he said.

The DA has set its sights on returning to power in Gautengâs metros â Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and Tshwane.

Johannesburg

Joburg mayoral candidate Helen Zille opened Saturdayâs event with a five-year plan centred on improving service delivery and financial management.

Zille pledged to stop the waste of public money, ensure consequences for officials who fail to perform and protect revenue collected for water and electricity.

Johannesburg residents have faced persistent water interruptions in recent months, forcing communities, schools and businesses to rely on municipal water tankers.

Zille also raised concerns about what she described as âwater mafiasâ, alleging that criminal groups have sabotaged repairs to damaged infrastructure to profit from the broken system.

âWe will stop wasting your money and we will stop the overpayments of goods and services that are never delivered,â Zille said.

Her plan includes restoring daily services such as waste removal, water and electricity, redirecting money from what she described as ANC âcadre enrichment schemesâ towards maintenance, repairing roads and ageing water pipes, and securing reservoirs and pump stations.

She also pledged to create a modern city government where residents can report problems, track complaints and receive updates on repairs, with performance monitored using data and technology.

Her final pledge was to restore law and order: âIf you are part of a criminal syndicate in Joburg, let me give you some advice: run!â

Ekurhuleni and Tshwane

Ekurhuleni mayoral candidate Khathutshelo Rasilingwane focused on corruption and public safety, citing the 2025 murder of Mpho Mafole, an internal auditor who was killed in Kempton Park. Mafole was allegedly murdered after flagging irregularities involving a R1.8-billion chemical toilet tender.

âCorruption alone has stolen what crime could never. It has stolen our safety and dignity,â Rasilingwane said.

She also referred to the recent ambush in Reiger Park in which two South African Police Service members were killed, highlighting the shortage of police vehicles available to respond to communities.

Rasilingwane promised to improve services and personnel at the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department and to appoint people on merit to ensure law-enforcement structures have adequate resources.

Former Tshwane mayor and current DA mayoral candidate Cilliers Brink criticised the cityâs current leadership, which took over after he was removed through a motion of no confidence in September 2024.

Brink pledged to remove corrupt officials and replace them with professionals, while prioritising clean water, particularly in Hammanskraal, where residents have struggled with water problems for over a decade.

âTshwane has lawless streets because Tshwane has lawless leaders,â Brink said, promising to redirect municipal revenue towards restoring law and order and upgrading infrastructure.

Coalition maths

In many municipalities, which party or parties govern will depend on coalition negotiations after 4 November.

DA Federal Chairperson Solly Msimanga told Daily Maverick that the party would not enter coalition negotiations based simply on the allocation of political positions.

âWe donât want to engage in coalition talks on the basis of positions because thatâs where you have instabilities,â he said.

Msimanga said the DA would consider working with parties that shared its principles and had demonstrated a track record of keeping their commitments in government. DM