The Patriotic Alliance (PA) leader, Gayton Mckenzie, has promised that all municipal debt would be wiped out to provide citizens with a clean slate should his party win the upcoming local government elections.
This commitment formed part of the party’s manifesto launch held in Mangaung on Saturday at the Dr Rantlai Molemela Stadium ahead of the upcoming municipal polls scheduled for 4 November 2026.
“We are going to write off all the debt that you owe the municipality, you can hold us to that… we are going to wipe out all debt, we must all start on a clean slate,” he said.
Mckenzie doubled down on this promise by pledging a three-month payment holiday for municipal rates to give residents a necessary breather from choosing between utility payments and purchasing food.
Addressing housing concerns, Mckenzie highlighted that many families live in rented properties owned by the municipality for decades without gaining ownership.
“Forty years of rent and it brought you nothing, while the councils still carry the house on their books,” he noted.
Mckenzie said his party intends to tackle illegal immigration because the local government bears the direct impact of foreign nationals opening businesses without proper documentation.
“We know Abahambe is a national job, it belongs to home affairs, border management authority, and the police, but the Patriotic Alliance will keep on fighting for as long as it takes, but the pool of ‘abahambe’ is local government,” Mckenzie explained.
He added that nobody enters the country illegally simply to observe the border, but rather because they know they can immediately open a shop.
McKenzie argued that every municipal failure is ultimately a council failure that can be rectified by leadership genuinely committed to fixing local governance.
In addition, Mckenzie said municipal land will be redirected to benefit local residents rather than serving municipal interests alone.
The PA’s sixth priority involves incorporating neighbourhood watch groups directly into the municipal budget to guarantee regular salaries for their community safety services.
