IFP to launch 2026 local government election manifesto in KwaMashu

The Inkatha Freedom Party will launch its 2026 Local Government Election manifesto at the Princess Magogo Stadium in KwaMashu, Durban, with party president Velenkosini Hlabisa set to present the platform. As SABC News reported on 20 September 2026, the broadcaster had a team on the ground for the event. The launch is the IFP’s formal opening of its campaign for next year’s municipal polls, the elections that decide who runs South Africa’s metros, local municipalities and district councils.

KwaMashu is not a neutral venue. The sprawling township north of Durban sits inside the eThekwini metropolitan municipality, the country’s third-largest metro economy and the site of some of the most closely watched local government contests in the country. The IFP has deep roots in parts of KwaZulu-Natal and has been competing for urban and peri-urban votes in and around Durban against the ANC, the DA and, more recently, the uMkhonto weSizwe Party. A manifesto launch in KwaMashu signals where the party believes it can grow.

SABC News also reported that IFP women are concerned about the scourge of gender-based violence and femicide. GBVF is not a side issue in South African elections. The country records some of the highest rates of violence against women in the world, and municipal authorities hold direct responsibility for the parts of the system that survivors encounter first: local policing oversight through community police forums, the provision of safe public spaces, street lighting, shelters and the coordination of local victim-support services. A party’s local government manifesto is, in practical terms, where it says what it will do about those things at the level of government closest to residents.

Local government elections in South Africa are held every five years. The last round, in November 2021, produced a set of hung metros and coalition councils that have since been marked by instability in several cities, including eThekwini. The 2026 polls will be the first municipal elections contested with the MK Party on the ballot nationally, and the first since the Government of National Unity was formed after the 2024 general election. For voters in KwaMashu and across eThekwini, the practical questions are the ones that dominate every municipal campaign: water and sanitation, electricity reliability, refuse collection, housing, roads and the responsiveness of ward councillors.

The IFP has governed several KwaZulu-Natal municipalities and has been part of coalition arrangements in others. Its record in those councils, and the record of its opponents, will be part of the campaign. The manifesto launched at Princess Magogo Stadium is the document against which that record will be measured.

SABC News field reporters Thulasizwe Simelane, Samkele Maseko and Ayanda Mhlongo covered the launch for the broadcaster.