{
 "meta": {
  "site_name": "Which Party",
  "edition": "LGE 2026",
  "version": "0.4-draft",
  "date": "2026-10-13",
  "figures_as_at": "October 2026",
  "scoring": "Wahl-O-Mat style: same position 2 points, one step apart 1 point, opposite 0; every answered statement counts once; skipped statements and statements where the party has no position are left out of both numerator and denominator.",
  "party_confirmation": "Parties were not asked to confirm their placements. Positions come from published documents and dated public statements only.",
  "licence": "Open data (CC BY 4.0 proposed); every position links to its source.",
  "note": "Positions that rest on a weak reading are listed as 'no published position found'; the research files behind the dataset carry the full trail."
 },
 "statements": [
  {
   "id": "S04",
   "order": 1,
   "section": "A",
   "text": "Municipalities should keep the right to buy electricity from private power companies as well as from Eskom.",
   "explainer": "Since 2020 the rules have allowed this and some municipalities have started. Supporters say it brings cheaper, more reliable power; opponents say it takes paying customers away from Eskom and leaves everyone else carrying its costs.",
   "agree_means": "Let municipalities buy from private power companies too.",
   "disagree_means": "Municipalities buy from Eskom only.",
   "axis": "economy",
   "sign": 1,
   "short": "private power"
  },
  {
   "id": "S05",
   "order": 2,
   "section": "A",
   "text": "Unpaid household electricity debts should be collected, not cancelled.",
   "explainer": "Many households owe electricity bills going back years; Eskom has at times offered to cancel old debt once a household moves to a prepaid meter. Supporters say cancelling is unfair to those who paid and rewards not paying; opponents say most of it will never be collected and a clean start gets households paying again.",
   "agree_means": "Collect the debts from everyone who can pay.",
   "disagree_means": "Cancel the debts for most or all households.",
   "axis": "services",
   "sign": -1,
   "short": "electricity debts"
  },
  {
   "id": "E01",
   "order": 3,
   "section": "A",
   "text": "Eskom's older coal power stations should close on their planned dates.",
   "explainer": "Most electricity comes from coal. The plan closes the older coal stations in stages from about 2030 as solar, wind, gas and nuclear come in. Supporters say old stations pollute more and cost more to run; opponents say coal is reliable and protects mining jobs.",
   "agree_means": "Close them on their planned dates, or sooner.",
   "disagree_means": "Keep them running past their planned dates.",
   "axis": null,
   "sign": 0,
   "short": "coal closures"
  },
  {
   "id": "S01",
   "order": 4,
   "section": "A",
   "text": "Where a municipality cannot keep the water running, it should hire a private company to run its water system.",
   "explainer": "The municipality would still own the pipes and plants; a private company would run them under a contract. Supporters say contracts bring skilled people and money; opponents say water is a basic need that government should run itself, and a profit-making company means higher bills.",
   "agree_means": "Bring in a private company where the municipality cannot cope.",
   "disagree_means": "The municipality keeps running the water itself.",
   "axis": "economy",
   "sign": 1,
   "short": "private water operator"
  },
  {
   "id": "I05",
   "order": 5,
   "section": "B",
   "text": "The state should give a free house to every household that cannot afford to buy one, not only the poorest.",
   "explainer": "Free houses (RDP houses) go only to households earning under about R3,500 a month. Supporters say families just above that line get far less help, at most a once-off grant; opponents say the state cannot afford houses for all, and the waiting list for the poorest is already years long.",
   "agree_means": "Free houses for every household that cannot afford to buy.",
   "disagree_means": "Free houses for the poorest only, or fewer than now.",
   "axis": "services",
   "sign": 1,
   "short": "free houses for all"
  },
  {
   "id": "S11",
   "order": 6,
   "section": "B",
   "text": "The law should make it quicker to remove people who have recently moved onto land without permission.",
   "explainer": "Today every removal needs a court order. For people on the land more than six months, the court must also ask whether the municipality can offer them somewhere else. Supporters say newcomers must be moved quickly, before a settlement becomes permanent; opponents say a faster process means people removed with nowhere to go.",
   "agree_means": "Quicker removal of people who have just moved onto land.",
   "disagree_means": "Keep today's process: a court order for every removal.",
   "axis": "order",
   "sign": 1,
   "short": "faster land removals"
  },
  {
   "id": "S10",
   "order": 7,
   "section": "B",
   "text": "In some cases the state should be able to take land for housing or public use without paying the owner.",
   "explainer": "The 2025 Expropriation Act, not yet in force and under court challenge, allows it in a few cases, such as abandoned land or land kept only to sell on at a profit. Supporters say land taken under apartheid and earlier laws should not be bought back at full price; opponents say property is not secure once the state can take it without paying.",
   "agree_means": "The state may take land without paying, in some or all cases.",
   "disagree_means": "The state must always pay the owner.",
   "axis": "redistribution",
   "sign": 1,
   "short": "land without payment"
  },
  {
   "id": "S13",
   "order": 8,
   "section": "C",
   "text": "Provinces should be allowed to run their own police services that can investigate crime, alongside the national police.",
   "explainer": "Today a city may have metro police, but only the national police (SAPS) may investigate crime. Supporters say police would answer to the people they serve and a province need not wait for national government; opponents say it costs more, and crime that moves between provinces needs one police service.",
   "agree_means": "Provinces may run their own full police services, alongside the SAPS.",
   "disagree_means": "Only the national police may investigate crime, as now.",
   "axis": "power",
   "sign": 1,
   "short": "provincial police"
  },
  {
   "id": "S14",
   "order": 9,
   "section": "C",
   "text": "The death penalty should be brought back for murder.",
   "explainer": "The Constitution would have to change to bring it back. Supporters say it would stop some of the worst crimes and give victims' families justice; opponents say the state should never take a life and a wrong conviction cannot be undone.",
   "agree_means": "Bring back the death penalty for murder.",
   "disagree_means": "Do not bring it back.",
   "axis": "order",
   "sign": 1,
   "short": "death penalty"
  },
  {
   "id": "S18",
   "order": 10,
   "section": "D",
   "text": "Only South African citizens and permanent residents should be allowed to own spaza shops and other small township businesses.",
   "explainer": "Permanent residents are foreign nationals with a permanent residence permit. Today foreign nationals with refugee status or a permit allowing business may own spaza shops; those without legal status may not. No current law reserves township trade for citizens. Supporters say township trade should benefit South Africans first; opponents say it would take a lawful living away from people with legal status.",
   "agree_means": "Only citizens and permanent residents may own these shops.",
   "disagree_means": "Foreign nationals with legal status, such as refugees, may own them too.",
   "axis": "order",
   "sign": 1,
   "short": "spaza shop ownership"
  },
  {
   "id": "S15",
   "order": 11,
   "section": "D",
   "text": "Foreign nationals without legal status should get only emergency care at public clinics and hospitals.",
   "explainer": "Today public clinics treat anyone who comes in, and no one may be refused emergency care. Supporters say public care should go first to people with the right to be here; opponents say health care should not depend on papers.",
   "agree_means": "Emergency care only for foreign nationals without legal status.",
   "disagree_means": "Everyday care too, not only emergencies.",
   "axis": "order",
   "sign": 1,
   "short": "clinic care for undocumented"
  },
  {
   "id": "S17",
   "order": 12,
   "section": "E",
   "text": "Yearly increases to the national minimum wage should be no more than about the rate of inflation.",
   "explainer": "The minimum wage is R30.23 an hour and has risen faster than inflation (the rate at which prices rise) each year since 2022. Supporters say bigger increases cost jobs, because small businesses and farms cannot afford them; opponents say R30 an hour is not enough to live on and food prices have risen faster than wages.",
   "agree_means": "Increases of about inflation, or less.",
   "disagree_means": "Raise it by more than inflation.",
   "axis": "redistribution",
   "sign": -1,
   "short": "minimum wage rises"
  },
  {
   "id": "I04",
   "order": 13,
   "section": "E",
   "text": "Labour laws should make it easier for businesses to hire and dismiss workers.",
   "explainer": "Today a business must follow set steps before dismissing someone, who can take the case to the CCMA, which settles workplace disputes; sector wage agreements also bind small firms. Supporters say the rules make businesses afraid to hire, so fewer jobs are created; opponents say the rules protect workers from unfair dismissal, and weaker rules mean less secure jobs and lower pay.",
   "agree_means": "Easier to hire and dismiss.",
   "disagree_means": "Keep the current hiring and dismissal rules.",
   "axis": "economy",
   "sign": 1,
   "short": "hire and dismiss rules"
  },
  {
   "id": "S08",
   "order": 14,
   "section": "E",
   "text": "Municipalities should employ their security guards, cleaners and other contract workers directly, rather than through contractors.",
   "explainer": "This is insourcing: the municipality employs the workers itself, with municipal pay, benefits and job security. Supporters say it gives workers a secure job and cuts out the contractor's profit; opponents say municipal pay and benefits cost more, and when money is short wages leave less for services.",
   "agree_means": "Employ these workers directly.",
   "disagree_means": "Keep using contractors.",
   "axis": "economy",
   "sign": -1,
   "short": "insourcing"
  },
  {
   "id": "S19",
   "order": 15,
   "section": "E",
   "text": "Unemployed adults should get a basic income grant well above the current R370 a month.",
   "explainer": "The Social Relief of Distress grant (R350 when it began in 2020, R370 now) is extended year by year. A basic income grant would be permanent and larger; proposals differ on the amount. Supporters say it would be the only steady income in many homes; opponents say it would cost tens of billions a year more, meaning higher taxes or cuts elsewhere.",
   "agree_means": "A permanent grant, much bigger than R370.",
   "disagree_means": "Keep the grant at about its current level, or end it.",
   "axis": "redistribution",
   "sign": 1,
   "short": "basic income grant"
  },
  {
   "id": "I01",
   "order": 16,
   "section": "E",
   "text": "People earning more than about R1.9 million a year should pay more tax than they do now.",
   "explainer": "Tax rates rise with income; the top rate is 45% on income above about R1.9 million a year. Supporters say those with the most can pay more towards services for everyone; opponents say higher taxes drive money and skills away.",
   "agree_means": "High earners should pay more tax than now.",
   "disagree_means": "Keep high earners' taxes as they are, or lower them.",
   "axis": "redistribution",
   "sign": 1,
   "short": "tax on top earners"
  },
  {
   "id": "S16",
   "order": 17,
   "section": "F",
   "text": "When awarding tenders, municipalities should keep giving extra points to black-owned businesses.",
   "explainer": "The law lets municipalities give extra tender points to black-owned businesses under black economic empowerment (BEE) rules; price still carries most of the points. Supporters say black business owners were shut out for decades and still need a way in; opponents say tenders should go to the best offer, and ownership points invite higher prices and fronting (pretend black ownership).",
   "agree_means": "Keep the extra points for black-owned businesses.",
   "disagree_means": "Stop giving extra points to black-owned businesses.",
   "axis": "redistribution",
   "sign": 1,
   "short": "tender points"
  },
  {
   "id": "S21",
   "order": 18,
   "section": "F",
   "text": "Party leaders outside the council should have a say in who gets senior municipal jobs such as municipal manager.",
   "explainer": "The council you elect appoints the municipal manager, who runs the municipality's staff. By law the manager must be qualified and may not hold a post in a political party. Supporters say the party voters chose must be able to put in people who will carry out its policies; opponents say it puts loyalty ahead of skill.",
   "agree_means": "Party leaders may put forward or approve names for senior posts.",
   "disagree_means": "Only the elected council appoints them; party leaders stay out.",
   "axis": null,
   "sign": 0,
   "short": "party picks officials"
  },
  {
   "id": "S22",
   "order": 19,
   "section": "F",
   "text": "A party should need at least 1% of the vote to get a seat on a council.",
   "explainer": "There is no minimum today, so in a big city a party can win a seat with under 1% of the vote. Supporters say a minimum stops one-seat parties deciding who governs and makes coalitions more stable; opponents say votes for any party under 1% would count for nothing, which favours the big parties.",
   "agree_means": "Parties under 1% get no seat.",
   "disagree_means": "No fixed minimum, as now.",
   "axis": null,
   "sign": 0,
   "short": "1% council threshold"
  },
  {
   "id": "S26",
   "order": 20,
   "section": "F",
   "text": "Parties should be required by law to make women at least half of their candidates.",
   "explainer": "Today no law forces parties to field a set share of women; the local election law only asks them to aim for half, and some parties apply their own half-women rule. Supporters say a law is the only way to reach equal representation; opponents say parties and voters, not a law, should decide who stands.",
   "agree_means": "Half of every party's candidates must be women, by law.",
   "disagree_means": "No law; each party chooses how many of its candidates are women.",
   "axis": null,
   "sign": 0,
   "short": "women candidates law"
  },
  {
   "id": "S23",
   "order": 21,
   "section": "F",
   "text": "Provincial governments should be scrapped, with their work handed to national government and municipalities.",
   "explainer": "Provinces run hospitals, schools and roads, each with its own premier and provincial parliament. Scrapping them needs a change to the Constitution. Supporters say provinces are an expensive extra layer doing work national government already does; opponents say they keep decisions closer to home and let a region choose its own government.",
   "agree_means": "Scrap provincial governments.",
   "disagree_means": "Keep the provinces.",
   "axis": null,
   "sign": 0,
   "short": "scrap provinces"
  },
  {
   "id": "R06",
   "order": 22,
   "section": "F",
   "text": "The Western Cape should hold a referendum on whether to become an independent country.",
   "explainer": "A referendum is a vote by the province's voters on one question. Parliament has not yet passed the law a premier needs to call one; independence itself would need a change to the Constitution. Supporters say the province's voters should be asked what they want; opponents say even holding the vote would divide the country and encourage other regions to ask the same.",
   "agree_means": "Hold the vote.",
   "disagree_means": "Do not hold it.",
   "axis": "power",
   "sign": 1,
   "short": "Western Cape referendum"
  },
  {
   "id": "S27",
   "order": 23,
   "section": "G",
   "text": "The National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme should go ahead.",
   "explainer": "The NHI Act, signed in 2024 but not yet in force, sets up one state fund for everyone's health care; medical aids would then cover only what it does not. Supporters say everyone would get the same care whatever they earn, from money the country already spends on health; opponents say it needs big tax increases and cuts medical aid to top-up cover.",
   "agree_means": "Go ahead with NHI: one state fund for everyone's care.",
   "disagree_means": "Do not go ahead: keep public care plus private medical aid.",
   "axis": "services",
   "sign": 1,
   "short": "NHI"
  },
  {
   "id": "S29",
   "order": 24,
   "section": "G",
   "text": "The school's governing body should have the final say on the language the school teaches in.",
   "explainer": "The governing body is the school's elected committee, mostly parents; the BELA Act of 2024 lets the provincial department order a single-language school to add another. Supporters say parents know their school best and children learn best in their home language; opponents say the department must find a place for every child, and some schools use language to keep nearby children out.",
   "agree_means": "The governing body decides.",
   "disagree_means": "The provincial department has the final say.",
   "axis": "power",
   "sign": 1,
   "short": "school language"
  },
  {
   "id": "F01",
   "order": 25,
   "section": "G",
   "text": "Public universities and colleges should be free for all students, not only for those from poorer homes.",
   "explainer": "Students from homes earning under about R350,000 a year get state funding (NSFAS) for public universities and colleges; those above the limit pay or borrow. Supporters say no student should start life in debt and families just above the limit are squeezed hardest; opponents say it would cost tens of billions a year, mostly for families who can pay.",
   "agree_means": "Public universities and colleges free for every student.",
   "disagree_means": "Keep state funding for students from poorer homes only.",
   "axis": "services",
   "sign": 1,
   "short": "free university for all"
  },
  {
   "id": "S31",
   "order": 26,
   "section": "G",
   "text": "The government should sell SAA, the national airline.",
   "explainer": "Taxpayers have put more than R50 billion into SAA since 2007; a deal to sell control of it collapsed in 2024 and government is looking for a new private partner. Supporters say government does not need to own an airline and the money is better spent elsewhere; opponents say a national airline links the country and supports local industry.",
   "agree_means": "Sell more than half of SAA to private owners.",
   "disagree_means": "Keep SAA owned by the government.",
   "axis": "economy",
   "sign": 1,
   "short": "selling SAA"
  },
  {
   "id": "S28",
   "order": 27,
   "section": "G",
   "text": "The mines should be brought under state ownership.",
   "explainer": "This is nationalisation. Today almost all mines are privately owned. Supporters say mining profits should go to the public rather than private owners, and point to state-owned mines in Botswana and Chile; opponents say state-run companies such as Eskom and SAA have needed bailouts, and state-owned mines would scare off investment.",
   "agree_means": "The state owns the mines, or a majority of each.",
   "disagree_means": "Mines should stay privately owned.",
   "axis": "economy",
   "sign": -1,
   "short": "state-owned mines"
  },
  {
   "id": "I02",
   "order": 28,
   "section": "G",
   "text": "Government should end race-based measures such as BEE in jobs, contracts and benefits.",
   "explainer": "This would end measures such as black economic empowerment (BEE), workforce race targets and race-based tender preferences; laws against discrimination would stay. Supporters say help should go to people who need it, whatever their race; opponents say apartheid's harm still falls along racial lines and these measures are how it is put right.",
   "agree_means": "End BEE and other race-based measures.",
   "disagree_means": "Keep BEE and other measures that take race into account.",
   "axis": "redistribution",
   "sign": -1,
   "short": "race preference"
  },
  {
   "id": "S30",
   "order": 29,
   "section": "G",
   "text": "The courts should keep the power to cancel a law that breaks the Constitution.",
   "explainer": "Today a court can cancel a law that conflicts with the Constitution; giving Parliament the final word instead would need a change to the Constitution. Supporters say the courts stop any majority from overriding people's rights; opponents say elected representatives answer to voters and judges do not.",
   "agree_means": "The courts keep the final say, as now.",
   "disagree_means": "Parliament gets the final say on laws.",
   "axis": "power",
   "sign": 1,
   "short": "courts over Parliament"
  },
  {
   "id": "I03",
   "order": 30,
   "section": "G",
   "text": "Government should play a smaller part in the economy than it does now.",
   "explainer": "How much should government do itself, through state companies, rules and spending, and how much should it leave to private business? Supporters of a smaller role say private business runs things more cheaply and creates jobs faster; opponents say the state must lead if poverty and inequality are to fall, because private business left alone has not made them fall.",
   "agree_means": "A smaller role for government in the economy.",
   "disagree_means": "Government keeps its role, or takes a bigger one.",
   "axis": "economy",
   "sign": 1,
   "short": "smaller government"
  }
 ],
 "parties": [
  {
   "id": "anc",
   "short": "ANC",
   "name": "African National Congress",
   "leader": "Cyril Ramaphosa",
   "website": "https://www.anc1912.org.za/",
   "vote_2024_national": 40.18,
   "logo": ""
  },
  {
   "id": "da",
   "short": "DA",
   "name": "Democratic Alliance",
   "leader": "Geordin Hill-Lewis",
   "website": "https://www.da.org.za/",
   "vote_2024_national": 21.81,
   "logo": ""
  },
  {
   "id": "mk",
   "short": "MK",
   "name": "uMkhonto weSizwe Party",
   "leader": "Jacob Zuma",
   "website": "https://mkparty.org.za/",
   "vote_2024_national": 14.58,
   "logo": ""
  },
  {
   "id": "eff",
   "short": "EFF",
   "name": "Economic Freedom Fighters",
   "leader": "Julius Malema",
   "website": "https://effonline.org/",
   "vote_2024_national": 9.52,
   "logo": ""
  },
  {
   "id": "ifp",
   "short": "IFP",
   "name": "Inkatha Freedom Party",
   "leader": "Velenkosini Fiki Hlabisa",
   "website": "https://www.ifp.org.za/",
   "vote_2024_national": 3.85,
   "logo": ""
  },
  {
   "id": "pa",
   "short": "PA",
   "name": "Patriotic Alliance",
   "leader": "Gayton McKenzie",
   "website": "https://mypa.org.za/",
   "vote_2024_national": 2.06,
   "logo": ""
  },
  {
   "id": "ffplus",
   "short": "FF Plus",
   "name": "Freedom Front Plus",
   "leader": "Corné Mulder",
   "website": "https://www.vfplus.org.za/",
   "vote_2024_national": 1.36,
   "logo": ""
  },
  {
   "id": "actionsa",
   "short": "ActionSA",
   "name": "ActionSA",
   "leader": "Herman Mashaba",
   "website": "https://www.actionsa.org.za/",
   "vote_2024_national": 1.2,
   "logo": ""
  }
 ],
 "positions": [
  {
   "party": "anc",
   "statement": "S01",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2026 manifesto says municipalities must keep the capacity and responsibility to deliver essential services and that partnerships can add capacity but cannot replace it. Private investment in water is welcomed, but handing the running of a water system to a private company is not.",
   "source_title": "A Better Life for All: ANC 2026 Local Government Manifesto",
   "source_url": "https://www.anc1912.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/ANC-2026-Local-Government-Manifesto.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 59 (Strengthen Municipal Capacity); see also p. 39",
   "source_date": "2026-08-23"
  },
  {
   "party": "anc",
   "statement": "S04",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2026 manifesto counts the legal reform that lets municipalities buy power directly as an ANC achievement and promises wheeling tariffs, embedded generation and municipal self-generation. The party's 2022 conference resolved that municipalities should be enabled to partner with independent power producers.",
   "source_title": "A Better Life for All: ANC 2026 Local Government Manifesto",
   "source_url": "https://www.anc1912.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/ANC-2026-Local-Government-Manifesto.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 20 (Action One, progress); p. 22 (Action One, electricity); p. 54 (Climate-Smart and Resilient Municipalities)",
   "source_date": "2026-08-23"
  },
  {
   "party": "anc",
   "statement": "S05",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2026 manifesto says municipalities will collect what households owe while protecting those who genuinely cannot pay through the indigent register, and the January 2026 statement calls on all electricity users to pay. That is collecting the debts, with targeted relief for the poorest, rather than writing them off.",
   "source_title": "A Better Life for All: ANC 2026 Local Government Manifesto",
   "source_url": "https://www.anc1912.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/ANC-2026-Local-Government-Manifesto.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 39 (Action Four)",
   "source_date": "2026-08-23"
  },
  {
   "party": "anc",
   "statement": "S08",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2026 manifesto commits every ANC-led municipality to review outsourced cleaning, security and similar services within two years with rebuilding in-house delivery as the stated direction, and the 2021 manifesto promised to insource functions municipalities can do better and to end labour broking. That supports employing these workers directly rather than through contractors.",
   "source_title": "A Better Life for All: ANC 2026 Local Government Manifesto",
   "source_url": "https://www.anc1912.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/ANC-2026-Local-Government-Manifesto.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 58-59 (Strengthen Municipal Capacity)",
   "source_date": "2026-08-23"
  },
  {
   "party": "anc",
   "statement": "S10",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "ANC conference policy says expropriation without compensation should be one of the main tools for land reform. The party voted for the Expropriation Act, which allows nil compensation in some cases, welcomed its signing, and its deputy president told Parliament in November 2025 that expropriation without compensation is happening where it is in the public interest.",
   "source_title": "ANC 54th National Conference 2017: Report and Resolutions",
   "source_url": "https://www.anc1912.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/54th_National-_Conference_2017.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 31 (Economic Transformation, land)",
   "source_date": "2017-12-20"
  },
  {
   "party": "anc",
   "statement": "S11",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2026 manifesto says unlawful occupation must be handled through law enforcement and the courts, with referral and support for homeless people affected. The ANC minister's 2026 PIE Amendment Bill (a different bill from the DA's 2023 one) keeps the court order requirement and the duty to offer alternative accommodation while adding fines for people who organise land invasions, so the party is not proposing quicker removals.",
   "source_title": "A Better Life for All: ANC 2026 Local Government Manifesto",
   "source_url": "https://www.anc1912.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/ANC-2026-Local-Government-Manifesto.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 34 (Action Three)",
   "source_date": "2026-08-23"
  },
  {
   "party": "anc",
   "statement": "S13",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "Ramaphosa, as President and ANC leader, told Parliament in a written reply that the Constitution provides for a single police service, that transferring policing to provinces would be invalid, and that government has no such policy. The 2026 manifesto says policing remains mainly a SAPS responsibility, with municipal police strengthened where they already exist.",
   "source_title": "Ramaphosa rejects DA call for policing by provinces (Business Day report of a written parliamentary reply)",
   "source_url": "https://www.businessday.co.za/bd/national/2022-09-19-ramaphosa-rejects-da-call-for-policing-by-provinces/",
   "source_locator": "not visible",
   "source_date": "2022-09-19"
  },
  {
   "party": "anc",
   "statement": "S14",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "ANC leaders have repeatedly rejected bringing back the death penalty. Paul Mashatile, then treasurer-general and now deputy president, called it a cruel system that takes innocent lives, and the ANC parliamentary caucus in 2019 rejected calls for it as populist.",
   "source_title": "Be careful what you wish for, ANC cautions advocates for death penalty (The Herald report on Mashatile and Duarte at the Kgosi Mampuru gallows)",
   "source_url": "https://www.theherald.co.za/news/2021-04-06-be-careful-what-you-wish-for-anc-cautions-advocates-for-death-penalty/",
   "source_locator": "not visible",
   "source_date": "2021-04-06"
  },
  {
   "party": "anc",
   "statement": "S15",
   "position": "none",
   "status": "no published position found",
   "justification": "",
   "source_title": "",
   "source_url": "",
   "source_locator": "",
   "source_date": ""
  },
  {
   "party": "anc",
   "statement": "S16",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The ANC's 2022 conference resolved that government and all its entities must keep implementing preferential procurement for people disadvantaged by unfair discrimination. The 2026 manifesto adds municipal procurement targets for women, youth and disability-owned firms and priority for South African businesses.",
   "source_title": "ANC 55th National Conference Resolutions: Economic Transformation",
   "source_url": "https://www.anc1912.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/ANC-55th-Conference-Resolutions-Economic-Transformation.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 8 (On Transformation, Empowerment (BBBEE) and Preferential Procurement)",
   "source_date": "2022-12-20"
  },
  {
   "party": "anc",
   "statement": "S17",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto commits to raising the national minimum wage in line with inflation, and the 2026 manifesto ties public employment wages to cost-of-living adjustments. An inflation-linked rise is not a rise much faster than inflation.",
   "source_title": "ANC 2024 Elections Manifesto: Let's Do More, Together",
   "source_url": "https://www.anc1912.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/ANC-2024-Elections-Manifesto.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 31 (Priority 3)",
   "source_date": "2024-02-24"
  },
  {
   "party": "anc",
   "statement": "S18",
   "position": "neutral",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2026 manifesto says municipal programmes, procurement and trading spaces must prioritise South African workers and businesses, and that immigration and trading permit laws must be enforced. ANC leaders have called for enforcement against spaza shops run by undocumented foreigners, but the party has not called for a citizens-only rule.",
   "source_title": "A Better Life for All: ANC 2026 Local Government Manifesto",
   "source_url": "https://www.anc1912.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/ANC-2026-Local-Government-Manifesto.pdf",
   "source_locator": "pp. 28 to 29 (Action Two: prioritise South African workers, entrepreneurs and businesses); p. 36 (Action Three: enforce immigration laws; trading without permits)",
   "source_date": "2026-08-23"
  },
  {
   "party": "anc",
   "statement": "S19",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto commits to progressively implementing a basic income support grant for the unemployed by extending the SRD grant and improving its value and coverage, and the party said in May 2024 that the SRD would be the basis for a permanent basic income payment. That is a commitment to a larger grant, though no amount is given.",
   "source_title": "ANC 2024 Elections Manifesto: Let's Do More, Together",
   "source_url": "https://www.anc1912.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/ANC-2024-Elections-Manifesto.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 31 (Priority 3); see also p. 8",
   "source_date": "2024-02-24"
  },
  {
   "party": "anc",
   "statement": "S21",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "In March 2025, after the party's national working committee visited the Free State, the ANC's secretary-general said a skills audit of all senior municipal managers in the province was under way to ensure competent people occupy key municipal positions, and that only those who can effectively deliver services will be retained or appointed; in February 2024 he said the party's deployment committee identifies people whose skills fit posts and encourages them to apply. The 2026 manifesto wants senior posts filled on merit and officials protected from improper political interference.",
   "source_title": "Mbalula: appointments will be based on competence over cadre deployment (Mail and Guardian report of Mbalula in Bloemfontein)",
   "source_url": "https://mg.co.za/politics/2025-03-11-mbalula-appointments-will-be-based-on-competence-over-cadre-deployment/",
   "source_locator": "Mbalula to journalists at the Windmill Casino, Bloemfontein, 10 March 2025, after the national working committee's visit to the Free State: a skills audit for all senior municipal managers in the province; only those who can effectively deliver services will be retained or appointed",
   "source_date": "2025-03-11"
  },
  {
   "party": "anc",
   "statement": "S22",
   "position": "none",
   "status": "no published position found",
   "justification": "",
   "source_title": "",
   "source_url": "",
   "source_locator": "",
   "source_date": ""
  },
  {
   "party": "anc",
   "statement": "S23",
   "position": "neutral",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "ANC conference resolutions call for provinces to be reformed, reduced and strengthened, with a commission on their role, number and boundaries, and the 2022 conference asked for a cost-benefit analysis of the spheres of government and listed the need for a provincial sphere as a question still to be settled. The manifestos keep provinces inside the district development model, so the position sits between keeping them as they are and scrapping them.",
   "source_title": "ANC 53rd National Conference (Mangaung) Resolutions, December 2012",
   "source_url": "https://www.anc1912.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Resolutions-2012.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 28 (Legislature and Governance, Future of Provinces, 4.2.1 to 4.2.3)",
   "source_date": "2012-12-20"
  },
  {
   "party": "anc",
   "statement": "S26",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The ANC applies its own 50/50 rule and, in June 2026, an ANC MP told the parliamentary women's caucus that the party is advancing a private member's bill to require equal representation of women across all political parties.",
   "source_title": "Engagement with CGE on Women's Representation in the 2021 Local Government Elections (PMG record of the Joint Multi-Party Women's Caucus)",
   "source_url": "https://pmg.org.za/committee-meeting/43372/",
   "source_locator": "not visible",
   "source_date": "2026-06-25"
  },
  {
   "party": "anc",
   "statement": "S27",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto commits to implementing the NHI, the overwhelming majority of ANC MPs voted for the NHI Bill in June 2023, and the party restated its support for the Act in August 2024 and vowed to defend it in court.",
   "source_title": "ANC 2024 Elections Manifesto: Let's Do More, Together",
   "source_url": "https://www.anc1912.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/ANC-2024-Elections-Manifesto.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 31 (Priority 3); p. 36 (Priority 4)",
   "source_date": "2024-02-24"
  },
  {
   "party": "anc",
   "statement": "S28",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The ANC's 2012 Mangaung conference resolved on state intervention in the minerals sector through a strengthened state mining company, a share of mineral rents captured through the tax system and increased state ownership only where appropriate on the balance of evidence, and it has not proposed nationalising the mines since. That is a position against bringing the mines under state ownership.",
   "source_title": "ANC 53rd National Conference (Mangaung) Resolutions, December 2012",
   "source_url": "https://www.anc1912.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Resolutions-2012.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 23 (Economic Transformation: The Minerals Sector)",
   "source_date": "2012-12-20"
  },
  {
   "party": "anc",
   "statement": "S29",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The ANC's parliamentary study group urged full commencement of the BELA Act and said governing bodies keep language policy powers only subject to the provincial head of department's approval. The secretary-general also insisted on full implementation of the language clause.",
   "source_title": "ANC Study Group on Basic Education urges the President to promulgate commencement of all sections of the BELA Act with immediate effect",
   "source_url": "https://ancparliament.org.za/?p=34863",
   "source_locator": "not visible",
   "source_date": "2024-11-05"
  },
  {
   "party": "anc",
   "statement": "S30",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "In May 2026 the ANC said it respects the Constitutional Court's judgment and the supremacy of the Constitution, and that it is committed to constitutional democracy and the rule of law. That is the opposite of Parliament passing laws the courts cannot overturn.",
   "source_title": "The ANC statement on the Constitutional Court judgment",
   "source_url": "https://www.anc1912.org.za/the-anc-statement-on-the-constitutional-court-judgment/",
   "source_locator": "not visible",
   "source_date": "2026-05-08"
  },
  {
   "party": "anc",
   "statement": "R06",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "Ramaphosa, in a written parliamentary reply, said South Africa is one sovereign democratic state and that he has no intention of considering or holding a referendum on the secession of any part of the country.",
   "source_title": "Ramaphosa rules out referendum on Western Cape secession (Cape Argus report of a written parliamentary reply)",
   "source_url": "https://capeargus.co.za/news/2025-12-31-ramaphosa-rules-out-referendum-on-western-cape-secession/",
   "source_locator": "not visible",
   "source_date": "2025-12-31"
  },
  {
   "party": "anc",
   "statement": "I01",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto commits to raising additional revenue through progressive tax reforms, and the 2022 national conference resolved to explore a wealth tax to reduce inequality. Both point to people at the top paying more than they do now, though neither names a rate or an income threshold.",
   "source_title": "ANC 2024 Elections Manifesto: Let's Do More, Together",
   "source_url": "https://www.anc1912.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/ANC-2024-Elections-Manifesto.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 27 (Priority 2, Pursue a developmental macroeconomic framework)",
   "source_date": "2024-02-24"
  },
  {
   "party": "anc",
   "statement": "I02",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto commits to keep promoting employment equity so that black people, women and persons with disabilities are represented across the economy, and to expand the black industrialist programme. The 2022 conference resolved to intensify black economic empowerment and preferential procurement for people disadvantaged by unfair discrimination.",
   "source_title": "ANC 2024 Elections Manifesto: Let's Do More, Together",
   "source_url": "https://www.anc1912.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/ANC-2024-Elections-Manifesto.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 21 (Priority 1); p. 24 (Priority 2); summary p. 4 to 5",
   "source_date": "2024-02-24"
  },
  {
   "party": "anc",
   "statement": "I03",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto says market dynamics must be balanced with state intervention and that a capable developmental state is critical, with industrial policy and public procurement used to steer the economy. The January 2026 statement repeats that private investment should be enabled while the state keeps strategic ownership and regulatory control.",
   "source_title": "ANC 2024 Elections Manifesto: Let's Do More, Together",
   "source_url": "https://www.anc1912.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/ANC-2024-Elections-Manifesto.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 19 (Priority 2); p. 42 (Priority 5); p. 23 to 24 (industrial policy and procurement)",
   "source_date": "2024-02-24"
  },
  {
   "party": "anc",
   "statement": "I04",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "Ramaphosa wrote in May 2025 that growth and job creation do not require giving up worker protections and that the labour laws exist to overcome apartheid inequality, answering calls to loosen them. ANC manifestos treat casualisation and labour broking as problems to legislate against, but no document speaks directly to making hiring and firing easier.",
   "source_title": "From the Desk of the President: weekly letter on Workers' Day and labour rights (Polity report)",
   "source_url": "https://www.polity.org.za/article/president-calls-for-protection-of-workers-rights-to-build-an-inclusive-economy-2025-05-05",
   "source_locator": "not visible",
   "source_date": "2025-05-05"
  },
  {
   "party": "anc",
   "statement": "I05",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The ANC's housing programme gives free houses to the poorest and offers serviced land or finance to households above the limit, which is the opposite of a free house for every household that cannot afford to buy.",
   "source_title": "ANC 2024 Elections Manifesto: Let's Do More, Together",
   "source_url": "https://www.anc1912.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/ANC-2024-Elections-Manifesto.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 37 to 38 (Priority 4, Invest in people); summary p. 9",
   "source_date": "2024-02-24"
  },
  {
   "party": "anc",
   "statement": "E01",
   "position": "neutral",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The ANC's National Executive Committee said in April 2023 that the decommissioning schedule for coal stations needs to be revisited to balance energy security with the party's climate commitments, and in the same statement called for an accelerated programme to bring renewables into the mix. Its conference resolutions and 2024 manifesto back an energy mix that keeps coal alongside renewables, gas and nuclear under a just transition.",
   "source_title": "Statement on the outcomes of the African National Congress National Executive Committee meeting held from 21 to 24 April 2023",
   "source_url": "https://www.anc1912.org.za/statement-on-the-outcomes-of-the-african-national-congress-national-executive-committee-meeting-held-from-21-to-24-april-2023/",
   "source_locator": "Section: Emergency interventions to address the electricity crisis",
   "source_date": "2023-04-25"
  },
  {
   "party": "anc",
   "statement": "F01",
   "position": "neutral",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The ANC's 2022 national conference resolutions describe the party's current policy as free higher education for the poor and the missing middle, and instruct a subcommittee to review that policy against the party's older ideal of free education for all. The 2024 and 2026 manifestos take no position beyond widening post-school access and redirecting NSFAS subsidy spending into student housing, while an August 2024 NEC Lekgotla resolved to finalise the student funding model and fund the missing middle.",
   "source_title": "ANC 55th National Conference Resolutions: Education, Health, Science and Technology",
   "source_url": "https://www.anc1912.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/ANC-55th-Conference-Resolutions-EDUCATION-HEALTH-SCIENCE-TECHNOLOGY.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 22 to 23, section 4.6 Higher Education and Training, resolution 4.6.1 The funding of higher education (resolve item 8)",
   "source_date": "2023-02-24"
  },
  {
   "party": "anc",
   "statement": "S31",
   "position": "neutral",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The ANC's 2022 conference resolved that decisions to increase or reduce public ownership of state companies are made case by case on the balance of evidence, and party figures have said since the collapse of the SAA sale that privatisation is not ANC policy while the state looks for a private partner with the state keeping control. That is a partial-sale position, neither a sale of control nor a refusal to sell.",
   "source_title": "ANC 55th National Conference Resolutions: Economic Transformation",
   "source_url": "https://www.anc1912.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/ANC-55th-Conference-Resolutions-Economic-Transformation.pdf",
   "source_locator": "On SOEs, 'Resolved that' (about p. 10)",
   "source_date": "2022-12"
  },
  {
   "party": "da",
   "statement": "S01",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2026 manifesto says that where municipalities lack the resources to build and maintain infrastructure the DA will enter into public-private partnerships, and that water service authorities and providers can be separated so that the municipality regulates while separate providers run supply and distribution. Municipalities keep the oversight role, but the running of the system can pass to a contracted operator.",
   "source_title": "2026 Local Government Manifesto: Our Plan to Get Every Town and City Working For All",
   "source_url": "https://cisp.cachefly.net/assets/articles/attachments/97120_da-lge-manifesto-2026-1.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 11-12 (Our Plan to Build Corruption-Free and Professional Municipalities); p. 17 (Our Plan to Get Your Water Systems Working)",
   "source_date": "2026-08-08"
  },
  {
   "party": "da",
   "statement": "S04",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2026 manifesto says municipalities must be empowered to buy and sell electricity directly from private energy producers without waiting for national approval, and that contracts with private suppliers can deliver power faster. The 2024 manifesto and the 2021 manifesto say the same.",
   "source_title": "2026 Local Government Manifesto: Our Plan to Get Every Town and City Working For All",
   "source_url": "https://cisp.cachefly.net/assets/articles/attachments/97120_da-lge-manifesto-2026-1.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 22 (Our Plan to Get Municipal Electricity Working)",
   "source_date": "2026-08-08"
  },
  {
   "party": "da",
   "statement": "S05",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2026 manifesto says the DA will enforce credit control firmly and cut off services for people who refuse to pay, because non-payment destroys municipal finances and honest residents end up carrying those who do not pay. Nothing in the party's documents supports writing off household electricity debt.",
   "source_title": "2026 Local Government Manifesto: Our Plan to Get Every Town and City Working For All",
   "source_url": "https://cisp.cachefly.net/assets/articles/attachments/97120_da-lge-manifesto-2026-1.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 11 (Our Plan to Build Corruption-Free and Professional Municipalities)",
   "source_date": "2026-08-08"
  },
  {
   "party": "da",
   "statement": "S08",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2026 manifesto favours outsourcing network management in district municipalities, waste PPPs where they cut costs and specialists on short-term contracts, with no commitment to insource contract workers. In Tshwane in February 2024 the DA caucus rejected an EFF demand to insource security guards and cleaners.",
   "source_title": "2026 Local Government Manifesto: Our Plan to Get Every Town and City Working For All",
   "source_url": "https://cisp.cachefly.net/assets/articles/attachments/97120_da-lge-manifesto-2026-1.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 17 (Recruiting the expertise that municipalities lack); p. 23 (Outsourcing network management for district municipalities); p. 34 (waste PPPs)",
   "source_date": "2026-08-08"
  },
  {
   "party": "da",
   "statement": "S10",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The DA voted against the constitutional amendment to allow expropriation without compensation on 7 December 2021 and against the Expropriation Bill in the National Assembly on 28 September 2022, calling nil compensation an attempt to amend the Constitution through the back door. In February 2025 it went to court to have the Expropriation Act set aside.",
   "source_title": "National Assembly vote on the Constitution Eighteenth Amendment Bill (204 for, 145 against; two-thirds not reached); National Assembly adoption of the Expropriation Bill (DA objected)",
   "source_url": "https://www.polity.org.za/article/national-assembly-adopts-expropriation-bill-but-opposition-parties-object-for-different-reasons-2022-09-29",
   "source_locator": "Votes of 7 December 2021 and 28 September 2022",
   "source_date": "2022-09-28"
  },
  {
   "party": "da",
   "statement": "S11",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2026 manifesto promises tougher action on land invasions, penalties for people who organise them, municipal police able to respond promptly and a bill to amend the PIE Act. The DA's own 2023 PIE amendment bill (a different bill from the minister's 2026 one) would set criteria a court must apply before ordering alternative accommodation and let courts limit how long it must be provided, which makes lawful removals quicker and the accommodation duty narrower.",
   "source_title": "2026 Local Government Manifesto: Our Plan to Get Every Town and City Working For All",
   "source_url": "https://cisp.cachefly.net/assets/articles/attachments/97120_da-lge-manifesto-2026-1.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 48 (Illegal Land Invasions)",
   "source_date": "2026-08-08"
  },
  {
   "party": "da",
   "statement": "S13",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto proposes decentralising policing so that capable provincial and metro governments manage their own police forces, while keeping a national police force. The 2026 manifesto commits to devolving policing powers and budgets to competent municipalities, and the 2021 manifesto promises to fight to devolve policing to provincial and local level.",
   "source_title": "The DA's Rescue Plan for South Africa: Election Manifesto 2024",
   "source_url": "https://cdn.da.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/16143750/DA-Election-Manifesto-2024.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 23 (Our Bold Solution: The decentralisation of policing)",
   "source_date": "2024-02-17"
  },
  {
   "party": "da",
   "statement": "S14",
   "position": "none",
   "status": "no published position found",
   "justification": "",
   "source_title": "",
   "source_url": "",
   "source_locator": "",
   "source_date": ""
  },
  {
   "party": "da",
   "statement": "S15",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "In an August 2025 statement the DA's health spokesperson said section 27 guarantees every individual access to healthcare whatever their nationality or country of origin, and that every sick person must be treated in public facilities to stop communicable diseases. That rejects limiting foreign nationals to emergency care.",
   "source_title": "DA calls for urgent Public Order Police to stop Operation Dudula's xenophobic presence at health facilities (Michele Clarke MP, DA Spokesperson on Health)",
   "source_url": "https://www.da.org.za/2025/08/da-calls-for-urgent-public-order-police-to-stop-operation-dudulas-xenophobic-presence-at-health-facilities",
   "source_locator": "not visible",
   "source_date": "2025-08-12"
  },
  {
   "party": "da",
   "statement": "S16",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2026 manifesto says the DA will keep fighting to replace B-BBEE with a non-racial empowerment model that targets poverty instead of race, and will require DA municipalities to disclose any premiums paid above the lowest qualifying price, including those arising from preferential procurement. The 2024 manifesto commits to removing racial targets from the Preferential Procurement Act.",
   "source_title": "2026 Local Government Manifesto: Our Plan to Get Every Town and City Working For All",
   "source_url": "https://cisp.cachefly.net/assets/articles/attachments/97120_da-lge-manifesto-2026-1.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 45 (Our Plan to Create Working Local Economies); p. 11-12 (procurement transparency)",
   "source_date": "2026-08-08"
  },
  {
   "party": "da",
   "statement": "S17",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "In September 2024 the DA said a national minimum wage increase would deepen unemployment and called for the current level to be held, proposing labour reforms and a youth employment certificate instead. The 2024 manifesto proposes a certificate letting young people work outside minimum wage constraints.",
   "source_title": "A national minimum wage hike will deepen South Africa's unemployment crisis (Michael Bagraim MP)",
   "source_url": "https://www.da.org.za/2024/09/a-national-minimum-wage-hike-will-deepen-south-africas-unemployment-crisis",
   "source_locator": "not visible",
   "source_date": "2024-09-30"
  },
  {
   "party": "da",
   "statement": "S18",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The most recent direct statement found is from October 2020, when DA Gauteng MPL Makashule Gana said the party was deeply concerned by the Township Economic Development Bill because it reserved township businesses for citizens and permanent residents, and that the DA believes people should not be segregated by nationality. The 2026 manifesto does not address ownership by nationality, and no later DA statement reversing the 2020 position was found.",
   "source_title": "'The bill discriminates against foreign nationals': DA's Makashule Gana slams Township Economy Bill (Daily Dispatch report quoting the DA Gauteng shadow MEC for economic development)",
   "source_url": "https://dailydispatch.co.za/politics/2020-10-20-the-bill-discriminates-against-foreign-nationals-da-s-makashule-gana-slams-township-economy-bill2/",
   "source_locator": "Daily Dispatch report of DA Gauteng MPL Makashule Gana's remarks on the bill, 20 October 2020",
   "source_date": "2020-10-20"
  },
  {
   "party": "da",
   "statement": "S19",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto would convert the SRD grant into a Job Seekers Grant that recipients keep only while they show they are looking for work, and says the grant can continue only if growth and tax revenue allow. That keeps the current grant with conditions rather than creating a permanent, larger basic income grant.",
   "source_title": "The DA's Rescue Plan for South Africa: Election Manifesto 2024",
   "source_url": "https://cdn.da.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/16143750/DA-Election-Manifesto-2024.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 34-35 (The DA will enable people to rescue themselves from poverty and inequality)",
   "source_date": "2024-02-17"
  },
  {
   "party": "da",
   "statement": "S21",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The DA's End Cadre Deployment Bill would make merit-based appointment compulsory, bar public servants from party office and make political interference in appointments a criminal offence, and the 2026 manifesto commits to merit-based appointments with qualification criteria instead of political connections. The DA voted for the 2022 Municipal Systems Amendment Act barring municipal staff from party office.",
   "source_title": "2026 Local Government Manifesto: Our Plan to Get Every Town and City Working For All",
   "source_url": "https://cisp.cachefly.net/assets/articles/attachments/97120_da-lge-manifesto-2026-1.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 10 (Our Bold Solution: Ending Cadre Deployment in Local Government); p. 4 (Leader's Foreword)",
   "source_date": "2026-08-08"
  },
  {
   "party": "da",
   "statement": "S22",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The DA tabled a Municipal Structures amendment in 2024 and published a Municipal Threshold Bill in January 2025 so that a party must win enough votes for a full seat before it can get seats from remainders, and in April 2026 its Gauteng mayoral candidates backed a 1% threshold in the government's Municipal Structures Amendment Bill.",
   "source_title": "DA publishes Municipal Threshold Bill for public comment (George Michalakis MP, DA Chief Whip)",
   "source_url": "https://www.da.org.za/2025/01/da-publishes-municipal-threshold-bill-for-public-comment",
   "source_locator": "not visible",
   "source_date": "2025-01-26"
  },
  {
   "party": "da",
   "statement": "S23",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The DA's values commit it to devolving power to the level closest to people, and in 2023 its Federal Council unanimously endorsed the Western Cape Provincial Powers Bill to move policing, transport, energy, trade and harbour powers to capable provinces. The party wants provinces strengthened, not abolished.",
   "source_title": "DA endorses Western Cape Provincial Powers Bill (Helen Zille, on behalf of the DA leader)",
   "source_url": "https://www.da.org.za/2023/06/da-endorses-western-cape-provincial-powers-bill",
   "source_locator": "not visible",
   "source_date": "2023-06-26"
  },
  {
   "party": "da",
   "statement": "S26",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "In September 2012 the DA said a legislated quota requiring parties to field at least 50% women would violate the constitutional right to non-discrimination and was as problematic as representation by race. In March 2024 Helen Zille said the DA does not do quotas for women and never will.",
   "source_title": "South Africa: DA will fight against 50/50 gender quotas (DA press release of 2 September 2012, reproduced by iKNOW Politics from AllAfrica)",
   "source_url": "https://iknowpolitics.org/en/news/world-news/south-africa-da-will-fight-against-50-50-gender-quotas",
   "source_locator": "not visible",
   "source_date": "2012-09-02"
  },
  {
   "party": "da",
   "statement": "S27",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The DA voted against the NHI Bill in the National Assembly in June 2023, calling it a scheme that would bankrupt the fiscus, and its 2024 manifesto rejects the NHI in favour of a universal healthcare coverage model built on medical schemes and social reinsurance.",
   "source_title": "National Assembly vote on the National Health Insurance Bill (205 for, 125 against; DA voted against)",
   "source_url": "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-06-13-anc-gets-its-revolutionary-nhi-legislation-adopted-despite-opposition-criticism-and-likely-litigation.md",
   "source_locator": "Vote of 13 June 2023",
   "source_date": "2023-06-13"
  },
  {
   "party": "da",
   "statement": "S28",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "In August 2011 DA spokesman Tim Harris called on the President to openly reject the debate on nationalising the mines, saying it was damaging investment, and the party has opposed nationalisation consistently since, rejecting the EFF's 2017 motion to nationalise the banks and resolving in 2023 to defend the Reserve Bank. That is a stated position against state ownership of the mines.",
   "source_title": "Time for Zuma to take a stand on nationalisation: DA (TimesLIVE, quoting DA spokesman Tim Harris)",
   "source_url": "https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2011-08-03-time-for-zuma-to-take-a-stand-on-nationalisation-da/",
   "source_locator": "not visible",
   "source_date": "2011-08-03"
  },
  {
   "party": "da",
   "statement": "S29",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The DA voted against the BELA Bill in the National Assembly on 26 October 2023 and again on 16 May 2024 (223 to 78), arguing that it takes language and admission policy away from school governing bodies and hands it to provincial heads of department. Its campaign page says governing bodies, not officials, should decide language policy, and its 2024 manifesto defends mother-tongue education where parent communities choose it.",
   "source_title": "National Assembly votes on the Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill (26 October 2023; final vote on NCOP amendments 16 May 2024, 223 to 78; DA voted against)",
   "source_url": "https://www.ewn.co.za/2024/05/16/most-parties-in-parliament-vote-in-favour-of-bela-bill",
   "source_locator": "Votes of 26 October 2023 and 16 May 2024",
   "source_date": "2024-05-16"
  },
  {
   "party": "da",
   "statement": "S30",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The DA's values commit it to the supremacy of the Constitution, the rule of law and an independent judiciary, and its 2024 manifesto proposes clear public criteria to protect judicial independence. The party repeatedly uses the courts to test legislation, including the Expropriation Act and the Employment Equity Amendment Act.",
   "source_title": "DA Values and Principles",
   "source_url": "https://www.da.org.za/why-the-da/values-and-principles",
   "source_locator": "Values and principles page",
   "source_date": "2026-09-30"
  },
  {
   "party": "da",
   "statement": "R06",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "Asked in January 2024 whether he would back an independence referendum, Premier Winde said that even with the power to call one it would never work, and that the answer is to fix South Africa and devolve powers. The DA has not called a referendum and has repeatedly rejected secession.",
   "source_title": "Winde: Power drives this province (Mail & Guardian interview with Premier Alan Winde)",
   "source_url": "https://mg.co.za/politics/2024-01-05-winde-power-drives-this-province",
   "source_locator": "not visible",
   "source_date": "2024-01-05"
  },
  {
   "party": "da",
   "statement": "I01",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto commits to no new taxes, says taxpayers are already overburdened, promises inflation-adjusted brackets to stop hidden increases and wants to widen the pool of taxpayers rather than take more from those who already carry the state.",
   "source_title": "The DA's Rescue Plan for South Africa: Election Manifesto 2024",
   "source_url": "https://cdn.da.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/16143750/DA-Election-Manifesto-2024.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 13",
   "source_date": "2024-02-17"
  },
  {
   "party": "da",
   "statement": "I02",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto says race must be removed as a consideration in policy and legislation, with redress based on material disadvantage rather than skin colour, and proposes removing racial targets and quotas from the Employment Equity and Preferential Procurement Acts and taking BBBEE out of procurement law.",
   "source_title": "The DA's Rescue Plan for South Africa: Election Manifesto 2024",
   "source_url": "https://cdn.da.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/16143750/DA-Election-Manifesto-2024.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 33 (also p. 12)",
   "source_date": "2024-02-17"
  },
  {
   "party": "da",
   "statement": "I03",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto says the state's role is to create the conditions for private enterprise to flourish, and promises to cut red tape and take a balanced approach to privatising state enterprises.",
   "source_title": "The DA's Rescue Plan for South Africa: Election Manifesto 2024",
   "source_url": "https://cdn.da.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/16143750/DA-Election-Manifesto-2024.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 11 (also pp. 8 and 13)",
   "source_date": "2024-02-17"
  },
  {
   "party": "da",
   "statement": "I04",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto proposes a Youth Employment Opportunity Certificate letting 18 to 35 year olds opt out of sectoral wage agreements for two years so that hiring them is easier, an overhaul of Labour Relations Act rules that deter hiring, and exempting small firms from extended bargaining council agreements.",
   "source_title": "The DA's Rescue Plan for South Africa: Election Manifesto 2024",
   "source_url": "https://cdn.da.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/16143750/DA-Election-Manifesto-2024.pdf",
   "source_locator": "pp. 12-13",
   "source_date": "2024-02-17"
  },
  {
   "party": "da",
   "statement": "I05",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The DA's 2022 housing position paper says providing a serviced site with a free top structure is no longer sustainable and that housing should be driven by private initiative, self-build and serviced sites with government as enabler. Fully subsidised houses stay in the mix only for prioritised vulnerable households.",
   "source_title": "A Firm Foundation: DA Position Paper on Housing and Housing-related Urban Development 2022",
   "source_url": "https://cdn.da.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/28103215/A-Firm-Foundation-Position-Paper-2022.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 7 (allocation criteria pp. 17-18)",
   "source_date": "2022"
  },
  {
   "party": "da",
   "statement": "E01",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The DA's 2024 manifesto wants to move away from reliance on Eskom's old coal stations, increase renewable energy and reach net zero emissions by diversifying the energy mix. In January 2024 its energy spokesperson criticised the draft IRP 2023 for delaying coal plant shutdowns while limiting renewable procurement, calling the plan a step backwards.",
   "source_title": "The DA's Rescue Plan for South Africa: Election Manifesto 2024",
   "source_url": "https://cdn.da.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/16143750/DA-Election-Manifesto-2024.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 15 to 16, energy chapter (Energy and water)",
   "source_date": "2024-02-17"
  },
  {
   "party": "da",
   "statement": "F01",
   "position": "neutral",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The DA's 2024 manifesto calls the current fee-free model unsustainable because nothing is repaid, and proposes turning NSFAS into a tiered system of bursaries and loans: full cost of study for households earning up to R180,000, two thirds up to R350,000 and one third up to R600,000, with students repaying a portion according to their ability to pay. That is an explicit middle position that extends state support to the missing middle without making study free for everyone.",
   "source_title": "The DA's Rescue Plan for South Africa: Election Manifesto 2024",
   "source_url": "https://cdn.da.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/16143750/DA-Election-Manifesto-2024.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 43, chapter 'The DA will rescue learners from a failing education system', subheading on making higher education more accessible and affordable (one extraction placed the first NSFAS bullet on p. 42)",
   "source_date": "2024-02-17"
  },
  {
   "party": "da",
   "statement": "S31",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "After the collapse of the Takatso sale the DA's shadow minister of public enterprises said there is no strategic need for a state-run airline and that SAA must be cut loose and sold, and the party has refused to support any further bailouts. The 2024 manifesto backs a balanced approach to privatising state companies, which points the same way.",
   "source_title": "DA takes action to have Gordhan account for cancelled SAA/Takatso deal (Dr Mimmy Gondwe MP, DA Shadow Minister of Public Enterprises)",
   "source_url": "https://www.da.org.za/2024/03/da-takes-action-to-have-gordhan-account-for-cancelled-saa-takatso-deal",
   "source_locator": "body of statement",
   "source_date": "2024-03-14"
  },
  {
   "party": "mk",
   "statement": "S01",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto commits to reverse policies that favour private capital over the state in providing water infrastructure and to keep water and other natural resources under state ownership and control. In the July 2025 water budget debate the party's MP said MK wants water kept under public democratic control forever.",
   "source_title": "The People's Mandate: A Manifesto Towards a Developmental Agenda (MK Party 2024 election manifesto)",
   "source_url": "http://mkparty.org.za/download/630/",
   "source_locator": "p. 10-11 (Pillar 4, Reclaiming Our Economy, state-owned enterprises bullets); p. 5 (Pillar 2, natural resources)",
   "source_date": "2024-05-18"
  },
  {
   "party": "mk",
   "statement": "S04",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto promises to review and repeal all privatisation agreements, the Independent Power Producers programme and the unbundling of Eskom, and to renew Eskom's coal fleet and nuclear build so that state utilities supply cheap electricity. That is the opposite of letting municipalities buy from private producers.",
   "source_title": "The People's Mandate: A Manifesto Towards a Developmental Agenda (MK Party 2024 election manifesto)",
   "source_url": "http://mkparty.org.za/download/630/",
   "source_locator": "p. 10-11 (Pillar 4, Reclaiming Our Economy, state-owned enterprises bullets)",
   "source_date": "2024-05-18"
  },
  {
   "party": "mk",
   "statement": "S05",
   "position": "none",
   "status": "no published position found",
   "justification": "",
   "source_title": "",
   "source_url": "",
   "source_locator": "",
   "source_date": ""
  },
  {
   "party": "mk",
   "statement": "S08",
   "position": "none",
   "status": "no published position found",
   "justification": "",
   "source_title": "",
   "source_url": "",
   "source_locator": "",
   "source_date": ""
  },
  {
   "party": "mk",
   "statement": "S10",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto commits to expropriate all land without compensation with ownership passing to the people under state and traditional-leader custodianship. In 2025 the party's MP tabled a constitutional amendment bill to remove compensation from section 25 and allow expropriation without compensation for a public purpose or in the public interest.",
   "source_title": "The People's Mandate: A Manifesto Towards a Developmental Agenda (MK Party 2024 election manifesto)",
   "source_url": "http://mkparty.org.za/download/630/",
   "source_locator": "p. 3 (Preamble) and p. 5 (Pillar 2, Reclaiming Our Land and Mineral Resources)",
   "source_date": "2024-05-18"
  },
  {
   "party": "mk",
   "statement": "S11",
   "position": "none",
   "status": "no published position found",
   "justification": "",
   "source_title": "",
   "source_url": "",
   "source_locator": "",
   "source_date": ""
  },
  {
   "party": "mk",
   "statement": "S13",
   "position": "none",
   "status": "no published position found",
   "justification": "",
   "source_title": "",
   "source_url": "",
   "source_locator": "",
   "source_date": ""
  },
  {
   "party": "mk",
   "statement": "S14",
   "position": "neutral",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto does not call for the death penalty to be brought back. It promises a referendum on the death penalty, which leaves the decision to voters.",
   "source_title": "The People's Mandate: A Manifesto Towards a Developmental Agenda (MK Party 2024 election manifesto)",
   "source_url": "http://mkparty.org.za/download/630/",
   "source_locator": "p. 19 (Pillar 7, Reclaiming Our Safety and Security)",
   "source_date": "2024-05-18"
  },
  {
   "party": "mk",
   "statement": "S15",
   "position": "none",
   "status": "no published position found",
   "justification": "",
   "source_title": "",
   "source_url": "",
   "source_locator": "",
   "source_date": ""
  },
  {
   "party": "mk",
   "statement": "S16",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto promises to review procurement rules to encourage participation by black, women and youth owned businesses and to set lending targets for them, while moving away from the current BEE share-ownership model. In September 2026 the party said it could not celebrate a court ruling that stalled a law advancing transformation in public procurement and that transformation must proceed.",
   "source_title": "The People's Mandate: A Manifesto Towards a Developmental Agenda (MK Party 2024 election manifesto)",
   "source_url": "http://mkparty.org.za/download/630/",
   "source_locator": "p. 11 (Pillar 4, Reclaiming Our Economy, industrial and SMME policy bullets)",
   "source_date": "2024-05-18"
  },
  {
   "party": "mk",
   "statement": "S17",
   "position": "none",
   "status": "no published position found",
   "justification": "",
   "source_title": "",
   "source_url": "",
   "source_locator": "",
   "source_date": ""
  },
  {
   "party": "mk",
   "statement": "S18",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The party says it has tabled a private member's bill to reserve spaza shop ownership for South African citizens only, citing undocumented foreign nationals trading in the township economy. In November 2024 its spokesperson said informal businesses must be reserved for poor black South Africans.",
   "source_title": "MK Party condemns tribalism amid anti-immigration protests (TimesLIVE report of a statement by MK Party spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela)",
   "source_url": "https://www.timeslive.co.za/politics/2026-05-05-mk-party-condemns-tribalism-amid-anti-immigration-protests/",
   "source_locator": "not visible",
   "source_date": "2026-05-05"
  },
  {
   "party": "mk",
   "statement": "S19",
   "position": "neutral",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto proposes a basic income grant above the R1,558 poverty line only for people who cannot work, while adults able to work would get a state job at R4,500 a month instead of a grant. The party does not commit to a permanent grant for unemployed adults in general.",
   "source_title": "The People's Mandate: A Manifesto Towards a Developmental Agenda (MK Party 2024 election manifesto)",
   "source_url": "http://mkparty.org.za/download/630/",
   "source_locator": "p. 13-15 (Pillar 5, social security bullets; fetch passes reported p. 13 and p. 15) and p. 3 (Preamble)",
   "source_date": "2024-05-18"
  },
  {
   "party": "mk",
   "statement": "S21",
   "position": "none",
   "status": "no published position found",
   "justification": "",
   "source_title": "",
   "source_url": "",
   "source_locator": "",
   "source_date": ""
  },
  {
   "party": "mk",
   "statement": "S22",
   "position": "neutral",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "When the committee discussed draft coalition legislation with a proposed 1% council threshold, the party's MP warned that thresholds designed to exclude smaller parties would centralise power and silence opposition, but also proposed studying a country that uses a threshold and considering a similar system if it works. A second MK member asked for protection for larger parties.",
   "source_title": "Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Municipal Coalition legislation: discussion (PMG report; contributions by Mr V Reddy and Mr G Taaibosch, MK Party)",
   "source_url": "https://pmg.org.za/committee-meeting/39738/",
   "source_locator": "Discussion section, contributions of Mr V Reddy (MK) and Mr G Taaibosch (MK), 29 October 2024",
   "source_date": "2024-10-29"
  },
  {
   "party": "mk",
   "statement": "S23",
   "position": "neutral",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto does not scrap provinces. It would cut them from nine to four and redraw their boundaries, and it says the party opposes moves toward a federal state.",
   "source_title": "The People's Mandate: A Manifesto Towards a Developmental Agenda (MK Party 2024 election manifesto)",
   "source_url": "http://mkparty.org.za/download/630/",
   "source_locator": "p. 7 (Pillar 3, Reclaiming People's Power)",
   "source_date": "2024-05-18"
  },
  {
   "party": "mk",
   "statement": "S26",
   "position": "none",
   "status": "no published position found",
   "justification": "",
   "source_title": "",
   "source_url": "",
   "source_locator": "",
   "source_date": ""
  },
  {
   "party": "mk",
   "statement": "S27",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto commits to implementing the NHI to shift resources away from expensive private health care, and the party's May 2026 complaint was that the NHI does not go far enough rather than that it should stop.",
   "source_title": "National Assembly Mini-Plenary 3, Budget Vote 18 Health, speech by Mr M P Motubatse (MK Party)",
   "source_url": "https://pmg.org.za/hansard/42997/",
   "source_locator": "Mr M P Motubatse (MK Party), Vote 18 Health debate, 13 May 2026",
   "source_date": "2026-05-13"
  },
  {
   "party": "mk",
   "statement": "S28",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto commits to nationalise the Reserve Bank, all the large banks and large insurance companies, and strategic mining firms, along with ArcelorMittal and Sasol, and to set up a network of state-owned banks.",
   "source_title": "The People's Mandate: A Manifesto Towards a Developmental Agenda (MK Party 2024 election manifesto)",
   "source_url": "http://mkparty.org.za/download/630/",
   "source_locator": "p. 3 (Preamble), p. 5 (Pillar 2, natural resources bullets) and p. 10-11 (Pillar 4, financial sector policy)",
   "source_date": "2024-05-18"
  },
  {
   "party": "mk",
   "statement": "S29",
   "position": "none",
   "status": "no published position found",
   "justification": "",
   "source_title": "",
   "source_url": "",
   "source_locator": "",
   "source_date": ""
  },
  {
   "party": "mk",
   "statement": "S30",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto commits to move the country from constitutional supremacy to unfettered parliamentary supremacy and to hold a referendum to scrap the 1996 Constitution in favour of a parliamentary system, with or without a codified constitution. Under that system the courts could not overturn Acts of Parliament.",
   "source_title": "The People's Mandate: A Manifesto Towards a Developmental Agenda (MK Party 2024 election manifesto)",
   "source_url": "http://mkparty.org.za/download/630/",
   "source_locator": "p. 3 (Preamble) and p. 7 (Pillar 3, Reclaiming People's Power)",
   "source_date": "2024-05-18"
  },
  {
   "party": "mk",
   "statement": "R06",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto warns against moves to turn South Africa into a federal state and against efforts by some provinces to secede, and would cut the provinces to four. In 2026 the party's MP gave notice of a bill to repeal section 235 of the Constitution (the self-determination clause) to prevent 'fragmentation' and consolidate a unitary state, which the Cape independence lobby condemned.",
   "source_title": "The People's Mandate: A Manifesto Towards a Developmental Agenda (MK Party 2024 election manifesto)",
   "source_url": "http://mkparty.org.za/download/630/",
   "source_locator": "p. 7 (Pillar 3, Reclaiming People's Power, 'recognising' bullets)",
   "source_date": "2024-05-18"
  },
  {
   "party": "mk",
   "statement": "I01",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The party has repeatedly called for a wealth tax on the rich, restating in Parliament in December 2025 that one should fund health care and social safety nets, and its chief whip said in March 2025 that wealthy residents should pay a wealth tax and corporate tax should rise instead of VAT.",
   "source_title": "National Assembly, World AIDS Day debate, speech by Mr M P Motubatse (MK Party)",
   "source_url": "https://pmg.org.za/hansard/42196/",
   "source_locator": "Mr M P Motubatse (MK Party), debate on funding cuts to HIV services, 2 December 2025",
   "source_date": "2025-12-02"
  },
  {
   "party": "mk",
   "statement": "I02",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto keeps race-based policy at the centre of its economic plan: it wants BEE reformed rather than ended, set lending targets for businesses owned by Black people, women and youth, and procurement rules that favour them. In September 2026 the party said transformation in public procurement must proceed.",
   "source_title": "The People's Mandate: A Manifesto Towards a Developmental Agenda (MK Party 2024 election manifesto)",
   "source_url": "http://mkparty.org.za/download/630/",
   "source_locator": "Pillar 4, Reclaiming Our Economy (table of contents lists it at p. 8; page numbers not visible in the body text)",
   "source_date": "2024-05-18"
  },
  {
   "party": "mk",
   "statement": "I03",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The manifesto rejects policies that put the market ahead of state intervention and commits to nationalising the Reserve Bank, large banks and insurers and strategic mines, ending austerity, and repealing privatisation agreements including the IPP programme. In May 2026 the party also called for nationalising private healthcare.",
   "source_title": "The People's Mandate: A Manifesto Towards a Developmental Agenda (MK Party 2024 election manifesto)",
   "source_url": "http://mkparty.org.za/download/630/",
   "source_locator": "Preamble and Pillar 4, Reclaiming Our Economy (table of contents lists them at p. 3 and p. 8; page numbers not visible in the body text)",
   "source_date": "2024-05-18"
  },
  {
   "party": "mk",
   "statement": "I04",
   "position": "none",
   "status": "no published position found",
   "justification": "",
   "source_title": "",
   "source_url": "",
   "source_locator": "",
   "source_date": ""
  },
  {
   "party": "mk",
   "statement": "I05",
   "position": "none",
   "status": "no published position found",
   "justification": "",
   "source_title": "",
   "source_url": "",
   "source_locator": "",
   "source_date": ""
  },
  {
   "party": "mk",
   "statement": "E01",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto commits to reversing and rescinding what it calls the un-just transition from coal, renewing Eskom's coal fleet and speeding up a nuclear build, and to repealing the independent power producer programme. Its MPs have since questioned government plans to close coal-fired power stations.",
   "source_title": "The People's Mandate: A Manifesto Towards a Developmental Agenda (MK Party 2024 election manifesto)",
   "source_url": "https://mkparty.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/MK-Manifesto-The-Peoples-Mandate-Paths-Final-2-1.pdf",
   "source_locator": "Pillar 4: Reclaiming Our Economy, section 3 On SOE policy (no page number visible in the text copy)",
   "source_date": "2024-05-18"
  },
  {
   "party": "mk",
   "statement": "F01",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The MK Party's 2024 manifesto commits to an education system that is fee free and compulsory from kindergarten through to postgraduate study, with no income test, and to paying PhD candidates as full-time employees with benefits at all public universities.",
   "source_title": "The People's Mandate: A Manifesto Towards a Developmental Agenda (MK Party 2024 election manifesto)",
   "source_url": "https://mkparty.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/MK-Manifesto-The-Peoples-Mandate-Paths-Final-2-1.pdf",
   "source_locator": "Pillar 5: Building Our Human Capital and Technological Capabilities, 'On Education policy, we will' (no page number visible in the text copies)",
   "source_date": "2024-05-18"
  },
  {
   "party": "mk",
   "statement": "S31",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto promises to bring SAA back to 100% state ownership by repealing the Takatso deal and to review and repeal all privatisation agreements. MK MPs said in Parliament in October 2024 that privatisation should never be supported, even when framed as finding an equity partner.",
   "source_title": "The People's Mandate: A Manifesto Towards a Developmental Agenda (MK Party 2024 election manifesto)",
   "source_url": "https://www.politicsweb.co.za/documents/mk-partys-manifesto-jacob-zumas-plan-to-fix-sa",
   "source_locator": "Pillar 4, Reclaiming our economy, section 3 'On SOE policy' (read in the Politicsweb text copy; the party PDF would not load)",
   "source_date": "2024-04"
  },
  {
   "party": "eff",
   "statement": "S01",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2026 manifesto commits EFF municipalities to end the outsourcing of essential infrastructure services including water and to build permanent municipal teams instead, and to strengthen municipal control over water distribution. Business partners may help build water systems only if the assets stay in public hands.",
   "source_title": "Economic Freedom Fighters 2026 Local Government Elections Manifesto",
   "source_url": "https://effonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/A5-EFF-2026-Local-Manifesto-31.07.2026-1.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 66 (s) Municipal Infrastructure); p. 50-51 (m) Water, Environment and Climate Change); p. 69-70 (Budgeting and Financing)",
   "source_date": "2026-07-25"
  },
  {
   "party": "eff",
   "statement": "S04",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto would cancel all existing independent power producer contracts, halt new ones and consolidate Eskom as a single public company, and the 2026 manifesto speaks only of municipal generation with Eskom and other public bodies. The limited private share it allows is in new national generation under state procurement, not municipalities buying from private producers.",
   "source_title": "2024 Road to Election Manifesto: Our Land and Jobs Now. Stop Load Shedding!",
   "source_url": "https://effonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/A5-EFF-2024-Manifesto-full-version.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 45 (Energy and Electricity Supply, commitments 8, 9 and 12)",
   "source_date": "2024-02-10"
  },
  {
   "party": "eff",
   "statement": "S05",
   "position": "neutral",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto promised to write off household electricity debt, but the 2026 local manifesto narrows this to indigent households, with payment arrangements and relief programmes for others. The most recent position is a partial write-off.",
   "source_title": "Economic Freedom Fighters 2026 Local Government Elections Manifesto",
   "source_url": "https://effonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/A5-EFF-2026-Local-Manifesto-31.07.2026-1.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 19 (indigent households); p. 22-23 (working and middle-income households: payment arrangements and relief programmes)",
   "source_date": "2026-07-25"
  },
  {
   "party": "eff",
   "statement": "S08",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2026 manifesto commits EFF municipalities to employ workers directly within 24 months to cut dependence on labour brokers and tenders, and to insource security, cleaning, waste collection and maintenance to create permanent jobs.",
   "source_title": "Economic Freedom Fighters 2026 Local Government Elections Manifesto",
   "source_url": "https://effonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/A5-EFF-2026-Local-Manifesto-31.07.2026-1.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 24-25 (d) Internal Capacity and Insourcing); p. 27 (e) Jobs and SMMEs)",
   "source_date": "2026-07-25"
  },
  {
   "party": "eff",
   "statement": "S10",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto commits to reintroducing the constitutional amendment allowing expropriation of land without compensation and to state custodianship of all land, and the 2021 local manifesto said EFF municipalities would expropriate land without compensation near city centres for housing. The 2026 manifesto commits municipalities to use expropriation powers on abandoned land and buildings.",
   "source_title": "2024 Road to Election Manifesto: Our Land and Jobs Now. Stop Load Shedding!",
   "source_url": "https://effonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/A5-EFF-2024-Manifesto-full-version.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 29-30 (Land, commitments 1 and 2)",
   "source_date": "2024-02-10"
  },
  {
   "party": "eff",
   "statement": "S11",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2026 manifesto commits to preventing unlawful evictions and providing alternative accommodation wherever relocation is needed, and in May 2025 the party opposed changes to the PIE Act that would criminalise land occupation. That is the opposite of quicker removals with a narrower accommodation duty.",
   "source_title": "Economic Freedom Fighters 2026 Local Government Elections Manifesto",
   "source_url": "https://effonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/A5-EFF-2026-Local-Manifesto-31.07.2026-1.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 46 (k) Human Settlements)",
   "source_date": "2026-07-25"
  },
  {
   "party": "eff",
   "statement": "S13",
   "position": "none",
   "status": "no published position found",
   "justification": "",
   "source_title": "",
   "source_url": "",
   "source_locator": "",
   "source_date": ""
  },
  {
   "party": "eff",
   "statement": "S14",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "At an EFF press briefing on 5 September 2019 Malema said the party does not support the death penalty at all, that anyone proposing it must show evidence it reduces crime, and that poor people who cannot afford lawyers risk being wrongly executed.",
   "source_title": "Death penalty is not the answer, says Julius Malema (Business Report)",
   "source_url": "https://busrep.co.za/news/politics/death-penalty-is-not-the-answer-says-julius-malema-32225690",
   "source_locator": "not visible",
   "source_date": "2019-09-06"
  },
  {
   "party": "eff",
   "statement": "S15",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The Founding Manifesto commits the EFF to take up the struggles of all immigrants whether in the country legally or illegally, and lists access to health among the basic rights that must be guaranteed. The 2026 manifesto's health section commits municipalities to targeted support for vulnerable groups including migrants, and 2026 statements reject blaming migrants for state failure.",
   "source_title": "EFF Founding Manifesto: Radical Movement Towards Economic Freedom in Our Lifetime",
   "source_url": "https://effonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/FOUNDING-MANIFESTO.pdf",
   "source_locator": "Sections 107 and 109 (p. 26-27)",
   "source_date": "2013-07-27"
  },
  {
   "party": "eff",
   "statement": "S16",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2026 manifesto commits municipalities to support black-owned enterprises in procurement of sporting and cultural equipment, to allocate at least 80 percent of procurement to local SMMEs, cooperatives and township enterprises, and at least 50 percent of procurement opportunities to youth-owned and women-owned businesses. The 2024 manifesto ties private participation to ownership transfer to the black majority.",
   "source_title": "Economic Freedom Fighters 2026 Local Government Elections Manifesto",
   "source_url": "https://effonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/A5-EFF-2026-Local-Manifesto-31.07.2026-1.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 43 (j) Economy and Re-Industrialisation); p. 27 (e) Jobs and SMMEs); p. 33 (g) Gender Equality); p. 60 (q) Youth Development)",
   "source_date": "2026-07-25"
  },
  {
   "party": "eff",
   "statement": "S17",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto commits to a legislated minimum wage of R6,000 a month for all full-time workers plus higher sectoral minimums, well above the national minimum wage at the time, and a May 2026 statement says the current minimum wage is disconnected from economic reality.",
   "source_title": "2024 Road to Election Manifesto: Our Land and Jobs Now. Stop Load Shedding!",
   "source_url": "https://effonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/A5-EFF-2024-Manifesto-full-version.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 40 (Jobs, minimum wage commitment and sectoral table)",
   "source_date": "2024-02-10"
  },
  {
   "party": "eff",
   "statement": "S18",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "In a 2021 statement against planned attacks in Soweto the EFF said foreign-run spaza shops are not an economic threat and rejected the idea that poverty is caused by foreign competition. Its 2026 manifesto supports township enterprises and informal traders with no nationality restriction, and 2026 statements reject xenophobia.",
   "source_title": "EFF condemns planned xenophobic attacks in Soweto (EFF media statement)",
   "source_url": "https://effonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/15-06-2021-EFF-CONDEMNS-PLANNED-XENOPHOBIC-ATTACKS-IN-SOWETO.pdf",
   "source_locator": "not visible",
   "source_date": "2021-06-15"
  },
  {
   "party": "eff",
   "statement": "S19",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The most recent direct statements found are from 2021 and 2022: in July 2021 the party leader said the R350 grant should be made permanent and raised to a respectable amount, and in February 2022 its then deputy president said Parliament should pass a basic income grant act so that it becomes law, and that it must be a grant, not the R350 paid so far. The 2024 manifesto doubles the other named grants and adds a grant for unemployed graduates but does not mention the SRD grant, and no later statement reversing the call was found.",
   "source_title": "R350 grant just a food parcel programme: Malema (TimesLIVE report of the EFF leader's address on the party's eighth anniversary)",
   "source_url": "https://www.timeslive.co.za/sunday-times-daily/politics/2021-07-26-r350-grant-just-a-food-parcel-programme-malema/",
   "source_locator": "Malema's address on the EFF's eighth anniversary, 26 July 2021: the grant should be made permanent and raised to a respectable amount; the EFF has long called for a basic income grant",
   "source_date": "2021-07-26"
  },
  {
   "party": "eff",
   "statement": "S21",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2026 local manifesto commits to merit-based municipal appointments grounded in qualifications and competence, and in August 2026 the party condemned pre-election appointments of senior officials in Mangaung as cadre deployment. Both say party leaders should not pick who gets senior municipal jobs; the 2024 manifesto's plan for a new government to appoint directors-general and state boards concerns national posts and is not read against it.",
   "source_title": "Economic Freedom Fighters 2026 Local Government Elections Manifesto",
   "source_url": "https://effonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/A5-EFF-2026-Local-Manifesto-31.07.2026-1.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 24 (merit-based appointments); 2024 manifesto State Capacity chapter, item 23",
   "source_date": "2026-07-25"
  },
  {
   "party": "eff",
   "statement": "S22",
   "position": "neutral",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "In the committee's discussion of the draft coalition law and its 1% threshold in October 2024, the party's MP questioned the rationale for the threshold and asked that its constitutionality be checked, saying proportional representation was meant to give smaller parties a platform, while also showing interest in Denmark's 2% threshold model. She neither supported nor opposed a threshold outright, so the party sits between the two sides.",
   "source_title": "Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Municipal Coalition legislation: discussion (PMG report; contribution by Ms H Mkhaliphi, EFF)",
   "source_url": "https://pmg.org.za/committee-meeting/39738/",
   "source_locator": "Discussion section, contribution of Ms H Mkhaliphi (EFF), 29 October 2024",
   "source_date": "2024-10-29"
  },
  {
   "party": "eff",
   "statement": "S23",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto lists as a policy innovation the reconfiguration of government into national and local spheres only, eliminating the provincial sphere so that resources go to service delivery.",
   "source_title": "2024 Road to Election Manifesto: Our Land and Jobs Now. Stop Load Shedding!",
   "source_url": "https://effonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/A5-EFF-2024-Manifesto-full-version.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 12 (Foreword, policy innovations, item e)",
   "source_date": "2024-02-10"
  },
  {
   "party": "eff",
   "statement": "S26",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto's Gender chapter commits an EFF government to 50 percent women representation in all spheres including political participation, and to policies that will enforce a 50 percent gender representation across public and private sectors. The commitment is to enforced parity in political representation rather than a specific law on party candidate lists.",
   "source_title": "2024 Road to Election Manifesto: Our Land and Jobs Now. Stop Load Shedding!",
   "source_url": "https://effonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/A5-EFF-2024-Manifesto-full-version.pdf",
   "source_locator": "Plan of Action on Gender and Women, items 6 and 11 (chapter begins p. 102 per the contents page; page numbers not visible in the text read)",
   "source_date": "2024-02-10"
  },
  {
   "party": "eff",
   "statement": "S27",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The party's most recent statements treat the NHI Act as law to be implemented: in May 2025 it said the President has no mandate to renegotiate the Act with foreign powers, and in February 2026 it criticised the government for making no visible progress towards implementing the NHI.",
   "source_title": "EFF statement on Cyril Ramaphosa's planned visit to US President Donald Trump",
   "source_url": "https://effonline.org/eff-statement-on-cyril-ramaphosas-planned-visit-to-us-president-donald-trump/",
   "source_locator": "not visible",
   "source_date": "2025-05-15"
  },
  {
   "party": "eff",
   "statement": "S28",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "Nationalisation of mines, banks and other strategic sectors without compensation is one of the EFF's seven cardinal pillars, restated in the 2024 manifesto, and the party has tabled a Banks Amendment Bill for a state bank and a Reserve Bank nationalisation bill. A June 2026 statement again calls for strategic nationalisation.",
   "source_title": "2024 Road to Election Manifesto: Our Land and Jobs Now. Stop Load Shedding!",
   "source_url": "https://effonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/A5-EFF-2024-Manifesto-full-version.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 10 (Foreword, seven cardinal pillars, item b); p. 19 (Introduction, bills and motions tabled)",
   "source_date": "2024-02-10"
  },
  {
   "party": "eff",
   "statement": "S29",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "In its August 2023 statement on the BELA Bill the EFF said language and admissions policy should be centralised in the education department because school governing bodies have used language to exclude black learners, and in December 2024 it demanded that the Act be implemented in its original form, including the language and admissions clauses.",
   "source_title": "EFF statement on the Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill currently being deliberated on",
   "source_url": "https://effonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/16-08-2023-EFF-STATEMENT-ON-THE-BASIC-EDUCATION-LAW-AMENDMENT-BILL-CURRENTLY-BEING-DELIBERATED-ON.pdf",
   "source_locator": "not visible",
   "source_date": "2023-08-16"
  },
  {
   "party": "eff",
   "statement": "S30",
   "position": "none",
   "status": "no published position found",
   "justification": "",
   "source_title": "",
   "source_url": "",
   "source_locator": "",
   "source_date": ""
  },
  {
   "party": "eff",
   "statement": "R06",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto commits to keeping South Africa's land as one unitary entity and to repealing the constitutional right to self-determination in section 235, and a February 2025 statement treated AfriForum and Solidarity's appeal for partition and secession as treasonous. The party has not addressed a referendum as such.",
   "source_title": "2024 Road to Election Manifesto: Our Land and Jobs Now. Stop Load Shedding!",
   "source_url": "https://effonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/A5-EFF-2024-Manifesto-full-version.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 31-32 (Land, commitment 18)",
   "source_date": "2024-02-10"
  },
  {
   "party": "eff",
   "statement": "I01",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto's fiscal chapter promises a wealth tax on the ultra-rich, higher capital gains and inheritance taxes to shift the burden to the rich and corporate tax up from 28 to 32 percent, and the party's May 2025 memorandum to Treasury calls for a progressive tax on high net-worth individuals.",
   "source_title": "2024 Road to Election Manifesto: Our Land and Jobs Now. Stop Load Shedding!",
   "source_url": "https://effonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/A5-EFF-2024-Manifesto-full-version.pdf",
   "source_locator": "Plan of Action on Fiscal and Monetary Framework, items 1(d), 6 and 18 (chapter begins p. 222 per the contents page; page numbers not visible in the text read)",
   "source_date": "2024-02-10"
  },
  {
   "party": "eff",
   "statement": "I02",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "In May 2025 the EFF rejected a policy direction letting Starlink bypass the 30 percent black ownership requirement in B-BBEE law through equity equivalents, saying transformation cannot be achieved without ownership, and in December 2025 it condemned the gazette that did so. Its founding manifesto also wants affirmative action legislation kept and extended.",
   "source_title": "EFF rejects Malatsi's anti-transformation ICT policy direction and capitulation to US pressure",
   "source_url": "https://effonline.org/eff-rejects-malatsis-anti-transformation-ict-policy-direction-and-capitulation-to-us-pressure/",
   "source_locator": "not visible",
   "source_date": "2025-05-23"
  },
  {
   "party": "eff",
   "statement": "I03",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto commits to nationalising mines, banks and other strategic sectors and to creating jobs through state-led and protected industrialisation. The founding manifesto says developing economies that adopt neoliberal prescriptions never achieve real development and that private corporate dominance cannot break the colonial economic structure.",
   "source_title": "2024 Road to Election Manifesto: Our Land and Jobs Now. Stop Load Shedding!",
   "source_url": "https://effonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/A5-EFF-2024-Manifesto-full-version.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 10 (seven cardinal pillars: nationalisation of mines, banks and other strategic sectors); p. 35 (Jobs chapter: state-led and protected industrialisation)",
   "source_date": "2024-02-10"
  },
  {
   "party": "eff",
   "statement": "I04",
   "position": "none",
   "status": "no published position found",
   "justification": "",
   "source_title": "",
   "source_url": "",
   "source_locator": "",
   "source_date": ""
  },
  {
   "party": "eff",
   "statement": "I05",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "Free quality houses are one of the party's seven cardinal pillars, restated in the 2024 manifesto, and its Human Settlement chapter promises quality, spacious houses with at least three bedrooms to all the people. That goes beyond the current rule of free houses for the poorest only.",
   "source_title": "2024 Road to Election Manifesto: Our Land and Jobs Now. Stop Load Shedding!",
   "source_url": "https://effonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/A5-EFF-2024-Manifesto-full-version.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 10 (seven cardinal pillars: free quality education, health care, houses and sanitation); Plan of Action on Human Settlement, items 1, 13, 20 and 28 (chapter begins p. 138 per the contents page; page numbers not visible in the text read)",
   "source_date": "2024-02-10"
  },
  {
   "party": "eff",
   "statement": "E01",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto promises to repair the existing coal fleet, adopt clean coal technology and use the country's 200 years of coal reserves with nuclear as baseload, while cancelling independent power producer contracts. A party statement of 8 November 2022 called the decommissioning of coal stations illogical and premature and said the EFF will not shut them down.",
   "source_title": "2024 Road to Election Manifesto: Our Land and Jobs Now. Stop Load Shedding!",
   "source_url": "https://effonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/A5-EFF-2024-Manifesto-full-version.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 45, Energy chapter",
   "source_date": "2024-02-10"
  },
  {
   "party": "eff",
   "statement": "F01",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The EFF's 2024 manifesto promises free, decolonised education for all, free higher education up to a first degree for every student, cancellation of all student debt including NSFAS debt owed by graduates, and the readmission of students excluded for unpaid fees.",
   "source_title": "2024 Road to Election Manifesto: Our Land and Jobs Now. Stop Load Shedding!",
   "source_url": "https://effonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/A5-EFF-2024-Manifesto-full-version.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 55 to 56, Education chapter, Higher Education section (items 1, 5 and 7); NSFAS items on p. 60",
   "source_date": "2024-02-10"
  },
  {
   "party": "eff",
   "statement": "S31",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The EFF's statement of 27 May 2025 calls SAA a strategic public asset whose role in economic development, connectivity and industrialisation cannot be handed to private interests, and describes the Takatso deal as privatisation disguised as reform. Nationalisation is a founding pillar of the party and its 2024 manifesto promises to end the privatisation of Eskom.",
   "source_title": "EFF statement on the collapsed SAA-Takatso deal and the withdrawal of the SAA Bill repeal",
   "source_url": "https://effonline.org/?p=27346",
   "source_locator": "body of statement (dated Tuesday, 27 May 2025)",
   "source_date": "2025-05-27"
  },
  {
   "party": "ifp",
   "statement": "S01",
   "position": "neutral",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2026 manifesto rebuilds municipal technical capacity first and brings in the private sector for technical and operational support only where capacity falls short. That is help for a municipal system, not hiring a company to run it.",
   "source_title": "Local Government Elections Manifesto 2026 (Trust Us)",
   "source_url": "https://ifp.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Inkatha-Freedom-Party-2026-Manifesto-A5-Main-Booklet-English-V6-WEB.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 11-12, Section 2, bullets headed Internal capacity, Water security, and A whole-of-government and whole-of-society response",
   "source_date": "2026-09-20"
  },
  {
   "party": "ifp",
   "statement": "S04",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto commits to open the energy market and diversify generation, and says wind and solar are an opportunity for private investment. Party statements since 2022 repeatedly call for independent power producers to be allowed to supply the grid and for deregulation to happen quickly.",
   "source_title": "13-Point Manifesto for the 2024 National and Provincial Elections (Trust Us)",
   "source_url": "https://ifp.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Inkatha-Freedom-Party-2024-Manifesto-English-V3-WEB_compressed-1.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 14 (Point 4, Loadshedding)",
   "source_date": "2024-04"
  },
  {
   "party": "ifp",
   "statement": "S05",
   "position": "none",
   "status": "no published position found",
   "justification": "",
   "source_title": "",
   "source_url": "",
   "source_locator": "",
   "source_date": ""
  },
  {
   "party": "ifp",
   "statement": "S08",
   "position": "none",
   "status": "no published position found",
   "justification": "",
   "source_title": "",
   "source_url": "",
   "source_locator": "",
   "source_date": ""
  },
  {
   "party": "ifp",
   "statement": "S10",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto supports land expropriation with reasonable compensation. The IFP voted against the Constitution Eighteenth Amendment Bill on section 25 in December 2021 and, in January 2025, said it opposes the Expropriation Act because its nil compensation clauses are vague and open to abuse.",
   "source_title": "13-Point Manifesto for the 2024 National and Provincial Elections (Trust Us)",
   "source_url": "https://ifp.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Inkatha-Freedom-Party-2024-Manifesto-English-V3-WEB_compressed-1.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 29 (Point 11, Access to Land)",
   "source_date": "2024-04"
  },
  {
   "party": "ifp",
   "statement": "S11",
   "position": "none",
   "status": "no published position found",
   "justification": "",
   "source_title": "",
   "source_url": "",
   "source_locator": "",
   "source_date": ""
  },
  {
   "party": "ifp",
   "statement": "S13",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The party's 2024 KwaZulu-Natal plan promised a provincial police force, and its 2020 statement on the SAPS Amendment Bill called for policing powers to be decentralised from national to provincial and local authorities, with the national minister and commissioner keeping only a coordinating role.",
   "source_title": "KwaZulu-Natal 15-Point Commitment to reBuild for the 2024 Provincial Elections (IFP KZN provincial manifesto)",
   "source_url": "https://ifp.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Inkatha-Freedom-Party-KwaZulu-Natal-2024-Manifesto-Book-English-D2-WEB_compressed-1.pdf",
   "source_locator": "Point 7 (page numbers not visible)",
   "source_date": "2024-04-07"
  },
  {
   "party": "ifp",
   "statement": "S14",
   "position": "neutral",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto commits to open a national debate on reinstating the death penalty as a deterrent to violent crime, and party statements in 2024 called for a debate or a referendum on it. The party asks for a debate or a vote rather than committing to bring it back.",
   "source_title": "13-Point Manifesto for the 2024 National and Provincial Elections (Trust Us)",
   "source_url": "https://ifp.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Inkatha-Freedom-Party-2024-Manifesto-English-V3-WEB_compressed-1.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 9 (Point 2, Crime, Corruption and Gender-Based Violence)",
   "source_date": "2024-04"
  },
  {
   "party": "ifp",
   "statement": "S15",
   "position": "neutral",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto says everyone in South Africa must have equal access to state health services and would invoice the home countries of people in the country illegally who use them, which recovers the cost rather than limiting access. In October 2025 the party's leader said South Africans must come first in social services and called for deportations, and in February 2026 he called for law reforms to stop abuse of healthcare by people in the country illegally, without saying what access should remain, so the party sits between the two sides.",
   "source_title": "13-Point Manifesto for the 2024 National and Provincial Elections (Trust Us)",
   "source_url": "https://ifp.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Inkatha-Freedom-Party-2024-Manifesto-English-V3-WEB_compressed-1.pdf",
   "source_locator": "pp. 19 to 20, section 6 Healthcare (first bullet: equal access for everyone in South Africa; later bullet: invoice countries whose citizens are in South Africa illegally and are using the country's overstretched healthcare services)",
   "source_date": "2024-04-14"
  },
  {
   "party": "ifp",
   "statement": "S16",
   "position": "none",
   "status": "no published position found",
   "justification": "",
   "source_title": "",
   "source_url": "",
   "source_locator": "",
   "source_date": ""
  },
  {
   "party": "ifp",
   "statement": "S17",
   "position": "none",
   "status": "no published position found",
   "justification": "",
   "source_title": "",
   "source_url": "",
   "source_locator": "",
   "source_date": ""
  },
  {
   "party": "ifp",
   "statement": "S18",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2026 manifesto says the spaza-shop industry must be reserved for South Africans in every municipality, and commits IFP municipalities to enforcement operations and to prosecute people who front for undocumented foreign nationals. The 2024 manifesto made the same commitment for the small enterprise market and spaza shops.",
   "source_title": "Local Government Elections Manifesto 2026 (Trust Us)",
   "source_url": "https://ifp.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Inkatha-Freedom-Party-2026-Manifesto-A5-Main-Booklet-English-V6-WEB.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 8 (Section 1, Trust Us for Jobs)",
   "source_date": "2026-09-20"
  },
  {
   "party": "ifp",
   "statement": "S19",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The party president said in May 2023 that the IFP has long favoured a basic income grant, and an IFP MP told Parliament in April 2023 that the R350 grant must be increased or the basic income grant implemented as soon as possible.",
   "source_title": "Keynote address by Hon. VF Hlabisa MPL, IFP President, Workers' Day commemoration, Mandeni",
   "source_url": "https://ifp.org.za/newsroom/keynote-address-by-hon-vf-hlabisa-mpl-ifp-president-and-leader-of-the-official-opposition-in-the-kwazulu-natal-legislature/",
   "source_locator": "not visible",
   "source_date": "2023-05-01"
  },
  {
   "party": "ifp",
   "statement": "S21",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2026 manifesto commits IFP municipalities to fill senior posts through fair, transparent, merit-based processes with competent, technically skilled people. As a Multi-Party Charter member in 2024 the IFP signed a pledge to end cadre deployment and make all public appointments on merit, and Hlabisa told Parliament in February 2026 that officials must be deployed on competency, not political deployment.",
   "source_title": "Local Government Elections Manifesto 2026 (Trust Us)",
   "source_url": "https://ifp.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Inkatha-Freedom-Party-2026-Manifesto-A5-Main-Booklet-English-V6-WEB.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 18 (Section 4, Trust Us to End Corruption and Make Every Rand Count, 'Merit-based appointments'); p. 11 (Section 2)",
   "source_date": "2026-09-20"
  },
  {
   "party": "ifp",
   "statement": "S22",
   "position": "none",
   "status": "no published position found",
   "justification": "",
   "source_title": "",
   "source_url": "",
   "source_locator": "",
   "source_date": ""
  },
  {
   "party": "ifp",
   "statement": "S23",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The party president has repeatedly said the IFP secured the creation of provinces at the constitutional negotiations as a check on centralised government, and the 2024 manifesto wants powers devolved to provinces and municipalities to run health institutions. The party treats provinces as its own achievement to be kept.",
   "source_title": "Address by Hon. Velenkosini Hlabisa MP, IFP President, Human Rights Day 2024 and the 49th anniversary of the IFP",
   "source_url": "https://ifp.org.za/newsroom/in-celebration-of-human-rights-day-2024-and-the-49th-anniversary-of-the-founding-of-the-ifp/",
   "source_locator": "not visible",
   "source_date": "2024-03-21"
  },
  {
   "party": "ifp",
   "statement": "S26",
   "position": "none",
   "status": "no published position found",
   "justification": "",
   "source_title": "",
   "source_url": "",
   "source_locator": "",
   "source_date": ""
  },
  {
   "party": "ifp",
   "statement": "S27",
   "position": "neutral",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto supports universal health coverage but commits to review the NHI to fix its funding model and define the roles of private providers and medical schemes, and the party has since called for the scheme to be piloted and phased in rather than scrapped or implemented as it stands.",
   "source_title": "13-Point Manifesto for the 2024 National and Provincial Elections (Trust Us)",
   "source_url": "https://ifp.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Inkatha-Freedom-Party-2024-Manifesto-English-V3-WEB_compressed-1.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 19 (Point 6, Healthcare)",
   "source_date": "2024-04"
  },
  {
   "party": "ifp",
   "statement": "S28",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The party constitution commits the IFP to free-market enterprise and says government should not run economic enterprises where the private sector can provide the product or service. The IFP spoke against the EFF's 2017 motion to nationalise the banks, its founder warned against nationalising the mines in 2016, and since 2019 it has repeatedly called for partial privatisation of state-owned enterprises.",
   "source_title": "Constitution of the Inkatha Freedom Party (as amended by the 2012 General Conference)",
   "source_url": "https://ifp.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Our-Constitution.pdf",
   "source_locator": "Statement of Belief, item 11; Chapter I, Aim 7",
   "source_date": "2012"
  },
  {
   "party": "ifp",
   "statement": "S29",
   "position": "none",
   "status": "no published position found",
   "justification": "",
   "source_title": "",
   "source_url": "",
   "source_locator": "",
   "source_date": ""
  },
  {
   "party": "ifp",
   "statement": "S30",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The party constitution commits the IFP to advanced constitutionalism and a justiciable, rigid and supreme constitution, under which courts test laws against the Constitution and can strike them down. In July 2026 the party's chief whip said the IFP respects the court's judgment and the independence of the judiciary after a court halted a parliamentary process.",
   "source_title": "Constitution of the Inkatha Freedom Party (as amended by the 2012 General Conference)",
   "source_url": "https://ifp.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Our-Constitution.pdf",
   "source_locator": "Statement of Belief, item 2; Chapter I, Aim 9",
   "source_date": "2012"
  },
  {
   "party": "ifp",
   "statement": "R06",
   "position": "none",
   "status": "no published position found",
   "justification": "",
   "source_title": "",
   "source_url": "",
   "source_locator": "",
   "source_date": ""
  },
  {
   "party": "ifp",
   "statement": "I01",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "In 2025 the IFP backed the VAT increase and asked for better tax collection and spending cuts instead of new taxes on the wealthy. That is a stated preference against raising taxes on high earners.",
   "source_title": "VAT increase a responsible step towards economic stability (Velenkosini Hlabisa, IFP president; Polity mirror)",
   "source_url": "https://www.polity.org.za/article/vat-increase-a-responsible-step-towards-economic-stability-ifps-velenkosini-hlabisa-2025-04-07",
   "source_locator": "not visible",
   "source_date": "2025-04-07"
  },
  {
   "party": "ifp",
   "statement": "I02",
   "position": "none",
   "status": "no published position found",
   "justification": "",
   "source_title": "",
   "source_url": "",
   "source_locator": "",
   "source_date": ""
  },
  {
   "party": "ifp",
   "statement": "I03",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The party constitution backs economic pluralism based on free-market enterprise, says government should not take part in economic activity the private sector can provide, and calls for limits on the role and scope of government. The 2024 manifesto adds cutting red tape, exempting small firms from stringent requirements and public-private partnerships for failing state enterprises.",
   "source_title": "Constitution of the Inkatha Freedom Party (as amended by the 2012 General Conference)",
   "source_url": "https://ifp.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Our-Constitution.pdf",
   "source_locator": "Statement of Belief, items 11 and 12; Chapter I, Aim 7",
   "source_date": "2012"
  },
  {
   "party": "ifp",
   "statement": "I04",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto commits an IFP government to overhaul restrictive labour legislation that holds back job creation and to exempt small businesses from stringent requirements and excessive red tape. It does not use the words hire and fire, so the coding rests on the overhaul commitment.",
   "source_title": "13-Point Manifesto for the 2024 National and Provincial Elections (Trust Us)",
   "source_url": "https://ifp.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Inkatha-Freedom-Party-2024-Manifesto-English-V3-WEB_compressed-1.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 8, section 1 Jobs, list headed An IFP government will",
   "source_date": "2024-04-14"
  },
  {
   "party": "ifp",
   "statement": "I05",
   "position": "neutral",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto widens the free-house income band from R3,500 to R5,500 a month while using rent-to-own, serviced sites and affordable private housing for everyone else, which is a middle position.",
   "source_title": "13-Point Manifesto for the 2024 National and Provincial Elections (Trust Us)",
   "source_url": "https://ifp.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Inkatha-Freedom-Party-2024-Manifesto-English-V3-WEB_compressed-1.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 20, section 7 Human Settlements",
   "source_date": "2024-04-14"
  },
  {
   "party": "ifp",
   "statement": "E01",
   "position": "none",
   "status": "no published position found",
   "justification": "",
   "source_title": "",
   "source_url": "",
   "source_locator": "",
   "source_date": ""
  },
  {
   "party": "ifp",
   "statement": "F01",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The IFP's 2024 manifesto promises free basic education but limits state-sponsored higher education to poor and low-income families, alongside moving NSFAS administration back to the institutions and investing more in TVET colleges.",
   "source_title": "13-Point Manifesto for the 2024 National and Provincial Elections (Trust Us)",
   "source_url": "https://ifp.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Inkatha-Freedom-Party-2024-Manifesto-English-V3-WEB_compressed-1.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 16 to 17, point 05 Education ('Trust us to equip and empower you'), first bullet and the NSFAS and TVET bullets",
   "source_date": "2024-04-14"
  },
  {
   "party": "ifp",
   "statement": "S31",
   "position": "neutral",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The IFP's 2024 manifesto refuses further bailouts but says failing state companies should be revived, with public-private partnerships for those that cannot be, rather than sold. In 2021 the party welcomed the sale of a 51% stake in SAA, so its record is mixed and does not add up to a commitment either way.",
   "source_title": "13-Point Manifesto for the 2024 National and Provincial Elections (Trust Us)",
   "source_url": "https://ifp.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Inkatha-Freedom-Party-2024-Manifesto-English-V3-WEB_compressed-1.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 8, Jobs, 'An IFP government will'; p. 5, 'Our commitment to you'",
   "source_date": "2024-04"
  },
  {
   "party": "pa",
   "statement": "S01",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto says privatisation of the water industry must be avoided, allowing only supply partnerships with mines, and wants government employees rather than paid contractors to manage service delivery.",
   "source_title": "Turnaround Strategy 2024",
   "source_url": "https://mypa.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/TURNAROUND-STRATEGY-2024-7.pdf",
   "source_locator": "PDF page 30 (Water and sanitation)",
   "source_date": "2024-03"
  },
  {
   "party": "pa",
   "statement": "S04",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto says power generation must be liberalised further and Eskom should become a transmission company, which means buyers such as municipalities would source power from other producers.",
   "source_title": "Turnaround Strategy 2024",
   "source_url": "https://mypa.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/TURNAROUND-STRATEGY-2024-7.pdf",
   "source_locator": "PDF page 22 (Electricity)",
   "source_date": "2024-03"
  },
  {
   "party": "pa",
   "statement": "S05",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "At the PA's Nelson Mandela Bay campaign launch on 21 September 2026 the party leader said the metro must write off everybody's debt and start on a clean slate, and the mayoral candidate specified households with homes worth R1 million or less. It is a one-metro campaign promise covering all municipal household debt, which includes electricity, so the write-off position is clear but conditional on home value.",
   "source_title": "Gayton McKenzie promises debt write-offs, 'Abahambe' crackdown in Nelson Mandela Bay (Daily Maverick, Kyran Blaauw)",
   "source_url": "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-09-23-gayton-mckenzie-promises-debt-write-offs-abahambe-crackdown-in-nelson-mandela-bay/",
   "source_locator": "not visible",
   "source_date": "2026-09-23"
  },
  {
   "party": "pa",
   "statement": "S08",
   "position": "none",
   "status": "no published position found",
   "justification": "",
   "source_title": "",
   "source_url": "",
   "source_locator": "",
   "source_date": ""
  },
  {
   "party": "pa",
   "statement": "S10",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto wants the state to buy more private land, to buy unproductive land at market rates and to set up a fair payment system for land identified for reform, so it pays for land rather than taking it for free.",
   "source_title": "Turnaround Strategy 2024",
   "source_url": "https://mypa.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/TURNAROUND-STRATEGY-2024-7.pdf",
   "source_locator": "PDF pages 32 to 33 (Land, farming and fishing)",
   "source_date": "2024-03"
  },
  {
   "party": "pa",
   "statement": "S11",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto would set a cut-off date after which building any further informal structures is not permitted, map settlements so that new structures can be \"criminalised\", in its word, and protect cleared unsafe land from further \"land grabs\". Existing settlements would keep being upgraded, while building new structures after the cut-off would be an offence.",
   "source_title": "Turnaround Strategy 2024",
   "source_url": "https://mypa.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/TURNAROUND-STRATEGY-2024-7.pdf",
   "source_locator": "PDF page 29 (Housing)",
   "source_date": "2024-03"
  },
  {
   "party": "pa",
   "statement": "S13",
   "position": "none",
   "status": "no published position found",
   "justification": "",
   "source_title": "",
   "source_url": "",
   "source_locator": "",
   "source_date": ""
  },
  {
   "party": "pa",
   "statement": "S14",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto commits a PA government to bringing back the death penalty for severe murder cases where guilt is proven beyond reasonable doubt, and lists murder first among the qualifying offences.",
   "source_title": "Turnaround Strategy 2024",
   "source_url": "https://mypa.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/TURNAROUND-STRATEGY-2024-7.pdf",
   "source_locator": "PDF page 7 (4. Return of the death penalty); PDF page 10 (Crime)",
   "source_date": "2024-03"
  },
  {
   "party": "pa",
   "statement": "S15",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto says illegal migrants are rewarded for breaking the law by being able to use healthcare and other services while in the country, and that this attraction must be vastly diminished.",
   "source_title": "Turnaround Strategy 2024",
   "source_url": "https://mypa.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/TURNAROUND-STRATEGY-2024-7.pdf",
   "source_locator": "PDF page 6 (2. Zero tolerance for illegal immigration)",
   "source_date": "2024-03"
  },
  {
   "party": "pa",
   "statement": "S16",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto says BEE legislation as it exists must go and that businesses dealing with the state should pay into an empowerment fund instead of meeting ownership requirements, and it wants public procurement to be more competitive.",
   "source_title": "Turnaround Strategy 2024",
   "source_url": "https://mypa.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/TURNAROUND-STRATEGY-2024-7.pdf",
   "source_locator": "PDF pages 27 to 28 (Empowerment and discrimination); PDF page 20 (Improving state procurement)",
   "source_date": "2024-03"
  },
  {
   "party": "pa",
   "statement": "S17",
   "position": "none",
   "status": "no published position found",
   "justification": "",
   "source_title": "",
   "source_url": "",
   "source_locator": "",
   "source_date": ""
  },
  {
   "party": "pa",
   "statement": "S18",
   "position": "neutral",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto says most spaza shops are now foreign-owned, often without the legal right, and that the state must intervene so the township economy benefits South Africans, mainly by enforcing immigration law rather than by reserving these businesses for citizens.",
   "source_title": "Turnaround Strategy 2024",
   "source_url": "https://mypa.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/TURNAROUND-STRATEGY-2024-7.pdf",
   "source_locator": "PDF page 23 (Aligning and integrating the two economies)",
   "source_date": "2024-03"
  },
  {
   "party": "pa",
   "statement": "S19",
   "position": "neutral",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto says grants are needed for the disabled, the very poor and the elderly, that everyone else should work and grant-taking should be discouraged, but that poor people are entitled to grants if there is not enough work. It does not propose a permanent basic income grant or any amount.",
   "source_title": "Turnaround Strategy 2024",
   "source_url": "https://mypa.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/TURNAROUND-STRATEGY-2024-7.pdf",
   "source_locator": "PDF page 19 (Taxation and grants)",
   "source_date": "2024-03"
  },
  {
   "party": "pa",
   "statement": "S21",
   "position": "none",
   "status": "no published position found",
   "justification": "",
   "source_title": "",
   "source_url": "",
   "source_locator": "",
   "source_date": ""
  },
  {
   "party": "pa",
   "statement": "S22",
   "position": "none",
   "status": "no published position found",
   "justification": "",
   "source_title": "",
   "source_url": "",
   "source_locator": "",
   "source_date": ""
  },
  {
   "party": "pa",
   "statement": "S23",
   "position": "none",
   "status": "no published position found",
   "justification": "",
   "source_title": "",
   "source_url": "",
   "source_locator": "",
   "source_date": ""
  },
  {
   "party": "pa",
   "statement": "S26",
   "position": "none",
   "status": "no published position found",
   "justification": "",
   "source_title": "",
   "source_url": "",
   "source_locator": "",
   "source_date": ""
  },
  {
   "party": "pa",
   "statement": "S27",
   "position": "neutral",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto says the PA is not opposed to a more comprehensive state healthcare system such as the NHI, but the state must first prove it can use the money it already has before asking for more.",
   "source_title": "Turnaround Strategy 2024",
   "source_url": "https://mypa.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/TURNAROUND-STRATEGY-2024-7.pdf",
   "source_locator": "PDF page 31 (Healthcare)",
   "source_date": "2024-03"
  },
  {
   "party": "pa",
   "statement": "S28",
   "position": "none",
   "status": "no published position found",
   "justification": "",
   "source_title": "",
   "source_url": "",
   "source_locator": "",
   "source_date": ""
  },
  {
   "party": "pa",
   "statement": "S29",
   "position": "none",
   "status": "no published position found",
   "justification": "",
   "source_title": "",
   "source_url": "",
   "source_locator": "",
   "source_date": ""
  },
  {
   "party": "pa",
   "statement": "S30",
   "position": "none",
   "status": "no published position found",
   "justification": "",
   "source_title": "",
   "source_url": "",
   "source_locator": "",
   "source_date": ""
  },
  {
   "party": "pa",
   "statement": "R06",
   "position": "none",
   "status": "no published position found",
   "justification": "",
   "source_title": "",
   "source_url": "",
   "source_locator": "",
   "source_date": ""
  },
  {
   "party": "pa",
   "statement": "I01",
   "position": "neutral",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto says the rich must bear the brunt of taxation but should not be taxed so heavily that they stop setting up businesses. It does not say whether high earners should pay more than they do now.",
   "source_title": "Turnaround Strategy 2024",
   "source_url": "https://mypa.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/TURNAROUND-STRATEGY-2024-7.pdf",
   "source_locator": "PDF page 19 (Taxation and grants)",
   "source_date": "2024-03"
  },
  {
   "party": "pa",
   "statement": "I02",
   "position": "neutral",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto wants racial categories phased out as official identity markers and BEE legislation ended as it stands, and keeps race-based tools such as a fund for black-owned businesses, a levy on companies that are not representative, and rewards for white farmers who transfer skills to black and coloured farmers.",
   "source_title": "Turnaround Strategy 2024",
   "source_url": "https://mypa.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/TURNAROUND-STRATEGY-2024-7.pdf",
   "source_locator": "PDF pages 27 to 28 (Empowerment and discrimination); PDF page 33 (Agriculture)",
   "source_date": "2024-03"
  },
  {
   "party": "pa",
   "statement": "I03",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto says the PA supports and promotes the free market and that too much government interference in the movement of goods and services is often harmful, while keeping the state as a referee against monopolies and allowing trade protection when needed.",
   "source_title": "Turnaround Strategy 2024",
   "source_url": "https://mypa.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/TURNAROUND-STRATEGY-2024-7.pdf",
   "source_locator": "PDF page 13 (The free market)",
   "source_date": "2024-03"
  },
  {
   "party": "pa",
   "statement": "I04",
   "position": "none",
   "status": "no published position found",
   "justification": "",
   "source_title": "",
   "source_url": "",
   "source_locator": "",
   "source_date": ""
  },
  {
   "party": "pa",
   "statement": "I05",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto says the state must house its poorest citizens but prefers capped building-material subsidies for self-building, serviced land, council rental flats and social housing, and treats RDP houses as only for the very poor. That is help in other ways rather than a free house for every household that cannot afford to buy.",
   "source_title": "Turnaround Strategy 2024",
   "source_url": "https://mypa.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/TURNAROUND-STRATEGY-2024-7.pdf",
   "source_locator": "PDF pages 28 to 29 (5. Housing)",
   "source_date": "2024-03"
  },
  {
   "party": "pa",
   "statement": "E01",
   "position": "neutral",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 Turnaround Strategy says the PA will not allow coal generation to be abandoned too quickly at the expense of the economy, but that a more sustainable generation mix must be pursued over time, with renewables, new nuclear baseload and gas. A PA MP told Parliament in May 2026 that the move to renewables should be accelerated.",
   "source_title": "Turnaround Strategy 2024 (PA 2024 national election manifesto)",
   "source_url": "https://mypa.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/TURNAROUND-STRATEGY-2024-7.pdf",
   "source_locator": "PDF p. 22, energy passage (section heading not legible in the OCR text)",
   "source_date": "2024-03-28"
  },
  {
   "party": "pa",
   "statement": "F01",
   "position": "neutral",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The PA's 2024 manifesto wants tertiary education made more affordable and even free for deserving students, with extra financial aid for scarce fields such as engineering and medicine on condition that state-assisted graduates do not emigrate for an agreed period. It also proposes a state fund giving education loans at roughly inflation-level interest, so the position is a targeted and loan-based middle path rather than free study for all or funding for the poor only.",
   "source_title": "Turnaround Strategy 2024 (PA 2024 national election manifesto)",
   "source_url": "https://mypa.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/TURNAROUND-STRATEGY-2024-7.pdf",
   "source_locator": "PDF page 26 (printed p. 25), section 3 Education and Employment, subheading 'Tertiary Incentives'; state loan fund on PDF page 24 (printed p. 23), subheading 'Banking and Credit'",
   "source_date": "2024-03-28"
  },
  {
   "party": "pa",
   "statement": "S31",
   "position": "none",
   "status": "no published position found",
   "justification": "",
   "source_title": "",
   "source_url": "",
   "source_locator": "",
   "source_date": ""
  },
  {
   "party": "ffplus",
   "statement": "S01",
   "position": "none",
   "status": "no published position found",
   "justification": "",
   "source_title": "",
   "source_url": "",
   "source_locator": "",
   "source_date": ""
  },
  {
   "party": "ffplus",
   "statement": "S04",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2026 manifesto says municipalities should encourage private electricity generation and launch their own affordable alternative generation projects. The 2024 manifesto goes further, calling for the electricity sector to be deregulated so that suppliers compete, for Eskom to be unbundled and privatised, and for local supply and micro-grids to replace central generation.",
   "source_title": "Municipal Elections Manifesto 2026",
   "source_url": "https://www.vfplus.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/VF-Plus-Manifesto-2026-02-1.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 21 (Time for a safe and healthy environment)",
   "source_date": "2026-09-12"
  },
  {
   "party": "ffplus",
   "statement": "S05",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "In August 2026 the party opposed a municipal plan to write off 70 percent of qualifying consumers' arrears, calling it financially reckless, unfair to residents who paid and a signal that non-payment is rewarded, and asked for targeted help for genuinely vulnerable households instead.",
   "source_title": "AbaQulusi's proposed 70% debt relief is financially reckless and rewards non-payment (Gert Hay, FF Plus)",
   "source_url": "https://www.vfplus.org.za/media-releases/abaqulusi-proposed-70-debt-relief-is-financially-reckless-and-rewards-non-payment/",
   "source_locator": "not visible",
   "source_date": "2026-08-17"
  },
  {
   "party": "ffplus",
   "statement": "S08",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "In 2022 the party blamed the insourcing of security guards in Nelson Mandela Bay for the loss of security at municipal sites and demanded that security companies be appointed, and in 2025 it called a Tshwane plan to spend R230 million on benefits for contracted guards reckless and said the city should use cost-effective, targeted outsourcing and technology instead.",
   "source_title": "Reckless outsourcing costing R230 million could jeopardise budget (Grandi Theunissen, FF Plus Tshwane councillor)",
   "source_url": "https://www.vfplus.org.za/media-releases/reckless-outsourcing-costing-r230-million-could-jeopardise-budget/",
   "source_locator": "not visible",
   "source_date": "2025-06-30"
  },
  {
   "party": "ffplus",
   "statement": "S10",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto states strong opposition to expropriation without compensation, says the Expropriation Bill's nil compensation clause should be stopped, and wants market-related compensation with expropriation powers resting with a high court. In June 2026 the party said it was unwaveringly opposed to a metro using nil-compensation expropriation for a housing project.",
   "source_title": "VF Plus Manifesto 2024",
   "source_url": "https://www.vfplus.org.za/policy/ff-plus-manifesto-2024/",
   "source_locator": "Property rights and housing",
   "source_date": "2024"
  },
  {
   "party": "ffplus",
   "statement": "S11",
   "position": "neutral",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto wants swift action, with accountability, against the illegal occupation of land, buildings and parks, and in June 2026 the party said evictions from hijacked buildings in Tshwane must follow the PIE Act with a court order. It wants fast action within the current court process and has not said whether the PIE Act should change, so it sits between the two sides.",
   "source_title": "VF Plus supports balanced by-law against urban decay and for the protection of property rights (Mari Joubert, FF Plus Tshwane councillor)",
   "source_url": "https://www.vfplus.org.za/media-releases/vf-plus-supports-balanced-by-law-against-urban-decay-and-for-the-protection-of-property-rights/",
   "source_locator": "evictions must comply with the PIE Act and can only be carried out with a court order (Tshwane problem-buildings by-law; hijacked buildings)",
   "source_date": "2026-06-25"
  },
  {
   "party": "ffplus",
   "statement": "S13",
   "position": "none",
   "status": "no published position found",
   "justification": "",
   "source_title": "",
   "source_url": "",
   "source_locator": "",
   "source_date": ""
  },
  {
   "party": "ffplus",
   "statement": "S14",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "A 2017 article by the then party leader on the party website records that the party's submission to the 2001 commission of inquiry into farm attacks said the death penalty must be reinstated. In a 2019 interview the same leader said the party supports the death penalty for murder, subject to strict safeguards.",
   "source_title": "Farm murders: Freedom Front Plus - Actions and Successes (Dr Pieter Groenewald, then FF Plus leader)",
   "source_url": "https://www.vfplus.org.za/latest-news/farm-murders-freedom-front-plus-actions-and-successes/",
   "source_locator": "paragraph on the 2001 commission of inquiry into farm attacks",
   "source_date": "2017-10-30"
  },
  {
   "party": "ffplus",
   "statement": "S15",
   "position": "none",
   "status": "no published position found",
   "justification": "",
   "source_title": "",
   "source_url": "",
   "source_locator": "",
   "source_date": ""
  },
  {
   "party": "ffplus",
   "statement": "S16",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2026 manifesto blames failed infrastructure projects on contractors appointed on BEE criteria rather than value for money and ability, condemns BEE and affirmative action as post-apartheid race discrimination, and commits the party to fight BEE inside any coalition it joins. The 2024 manifesto calls for BEE to be abolished.",
   "source_title": "Municipal Elections Manifesto 2026",
   "source_url": "https://www.vfplus.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/VF-Plus-Manifesto-2026-02-1.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 7 (Infrastructure decay); p. 27 (Time for a new dispensation with sound values); p. 31 (Time for stable coalition governments)",
   "source_date": "2026-09-12"
  },
  {
   "party": "ffplus",
   "statement": "S17",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "In 2021 the party opposed the national minimum wage increases, saying farmers and other employers could not afford them and would shed workers or mechanise. The 2024 manifesto calls rigid labour law a major obstacle to job creation and wants it amended.",
   "source_title": "Minimumloon sal landbousektor vernietig (Tammy Breedt, FF Plus spokesperson)",
   "source_url": "https://www.vfplus.org.za/media-releases/minimumloon-sal-landbousektor-vernietig/",
   "source_locator": "not visible",
   "source_date": "2021-03-14"
  },
  {
   "party": "ffplus",
   "statement": "S18",
   "position": "none",
   "status": "no published position found",
   "justification": "",
   "source_title": "",
   "source_url": "",
   "source_locator": "",
   "source_date": ""
  },
  {
   "party": "ffplus",
   "statement": "S19",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "In October 2022 the party leader said South Africa cannot afford a basic income grant and that job creation should remove the need for one, and in its 2024 response to GroundUp the party said the grant is unaffordable and unsustainable, proposing growth, private-sector jobs and a job-seeker voucher instead.",
   "source_title": "Extension of R350 grant a 2024 election campaign for ANC, says FF Plus (TimesLIVE, quoting Dr Pieter Groenewald, then FF Plus leader)",
   "source_url": "https://timeslive.co.za/politics/2022-10-26-extension-of-r350-grant-a-2024-election-campaign-for-anc-says-ff-plus/",
   "source_locator": "not visible",
   "source_date": "2022-10-26"
  },
  {
   "party": "ffplus",
   "statement": "S21",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2026 manifesto blames municipal collapse on senior officials appointed for political affiliation and cadre deployment, and commits the party to appointing municipal managers and other officials on merit alone, with favouritism based on political affiliation eradicated. The 2021 manifesto said party factions must play no role in officials' work.",
   "source_title": "Municipal Elections Manifesto 2026",
   "source_url": "https://www.vfplus.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/VF-Plus-Manifesto-2026-02-1.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 10 (Maladministration); p. 25-26 (Time for public servants to serve the people)",
   "source_date": "2026-09-12"
  },
  {
   "party": "ffplus",
   "statement": "S22",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "In August 2023 the party leader rejected the 1 to 2 percent council threshold proposals discussed at the coalition dialogue, saying a threshold wastes votes and tells supporters of small parties that their votes do not count.",
   "source_title": "Small parties cry foul as ANC and DA gang up on coalitions (Sunday Times, quoting Dr Pieter Groenewald, then FF Plus leader)",
   "source_url": "https://www.sundaytimes.timeslive.co.za/sunday-times/news/politics/2023-08-06-small-parties-cry-foul-as-anc-and-da-gang-up-on-coalitions",
   "source_locator": "not visible",
   "source_date": "2023-08-06"
  },
  {
   "party": "ffplus",
   "statement": "S23",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto builds on subsidiarity, with provinces doing what municipalities cannot and national government only what provinces cannot, and it calls for power to be devolved rather than centralised. In 2019 the party opposed a plan to cut the nine provinces to six, saying decisions and resources must sit at provincial and municipal level.",
   "source_title": "VF Plus Manifesto 2024",
   "source_url": "https://www.vfplus.org.za/policy/ff-plus-manifesto-2024/",
   "source_locator": "The Building Plan for a New Dispensation: The Community as a Building Block",
   "source_date": "2024"
  },
  {
   "party": "ffplus",
   "statement": "S26",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "In a March 2025 statement the party said gender inequality cannot be artificially corrected with targets and quotas, called quotas an insult to deserving women, and defined true equality as equal opportunities rather than equal outcomes.",
   "source_title": "One step forward and two steps back for women's equality (Heloise Denner, FF Plus Executive Management)",
   "source_url": "https://www.vfplus.org.za/media-releases/one-step-forward-and-two-steps-back-for-womens-equality/",
   "source_locator": "not visible",
   "source_date": "2025-03-13"
  },
  {
   "party": "ffplus",
   "statement": "S27",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto says the NHI will worsen public healthcare, calls the NHI Bill unconstitutional and unaffordable and lists stopping the NHI as its first health solution, and in May 2026 the party said government should stop the NHI immediately after the Constitutional Court ruling on the certificate of need.",
   "source_title": "VF Plus Manifesto 2024",
   "source_url": "https://www.vfplus.org.za/policy/ff-plus-manifesto-2024/",
   "source_locator": "Health",
   "source_date": "2024"
  },
  {
   "party": "ffplus",
   "statement": "S28",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto says state-owned enterprises should be privatised and proposes a standing rule barring government from taking part in the free market at all. In 2019 the party's finance spokesperson called ANC plans to nationalise the Reserve Bank an attack on democratic principles and pledged to fight state control of resources.",
   "source_title": "VF Plus Manifesto 2024",
   "source_url": "https://www.vfplus.org.za/policy/ff-plus-manifesto-2024/",
   "source_locator": "Rebuild with a smaller, nimbler government without corruption; Restore the economy and build wealth",
   "source_date": "2024"
  },
  {
   "party": "ffplus",
   "statement": "S29",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto objects that the BELA Bill moves the final say over school language, religious and admission policies from school governing bodies to provincial education departments, and it commits the party to replacing the Bill and protecting mother-tongue education.",
   "source_title": "VF Plus Manifesto 2024",
   "source_url": "https://www.vfplus.org.za/policy/ff-plus-manifesto-2024/",
   "source_locator": "Accessible, quality education as cornerstone",
   "source_date": "2024"
  },
  {
   "party": "ffplus",
   "statement": "S30",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "In a 2017 statement the party's current leader cited the constitutional rule that any law inconsistent with the Constitution is invalid and said the judiciary's hand should be strengthened. The party has since relied on the courts to strike down legislation, welcoming the Constitutional Court's May 2026 ruling against part of the NHI Act.",
   "source_title": "ANC must keep its hands off the judiciary (Dr Corne Mulder, then FF Plus chief whip, now party leader)",
   "source_url": "https://www.vfplus.org.za/media-releases/anc-must-keep-its-hands-off-the-judiciary/",
   "source_locator": "not visible",
   "source_date": "2017-05-17"
  },
  {
   "party": "ffplus",
   "statement": "R06",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto says registered voters in the Western Cape should be given the chance to express their view on the path of self-determination they want, which could lead to autonomy and possible independence, and it names CapeXit among the initiatives it supports. In 2023 the party leader said the province's people should decide by referendum whether they want to remain part of the country.",
   "source_title": "VF Plus Manifesto 2024",
   "source_url": "https://www.vfplus.org.za/policy/ff-plus-manifesto-2024/",
   "source_locator": "The Building Plan for a New Dispensation: The Cement - Self-Determination",
   "source_date": "2024"
  },
  {
   "party": "ffplus",
   "statement": "I01",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto says personal and company tax should be lowered to stimulate investment and jobs, and prefers VAT to close deficits because everyone pays. In February 2026 the party welcomed the full inflation adjustment of income tax brackets and said taxpayers remain overburdened.",
   "source_title": "VF Plus Manifesto 2024",
   "source_url": "https://www.vfplus.org.za/policy/ff-plus-manifesto-2024/",
   "source_locator": "Restore the economy and build wealth",
   "source_date": "2024"
  },
  {
   "party": "ffplus",
   "statement": "I02",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto strongly opposes race-based measures such as affirmative action and BEE, says the Employment Equity Act should be scrapped and BEE and transformation targets removed from government policy, and wants socio-economic need rather than skin colour to decide who qualifies for empowerment.",
   "source_title": "VF Plus Manifesto 2024",
   "source_url": "https://www.vfplus.org.za/policy/ff-plus-manifesto-2024/",
   "source_locator": "Build rather than redistribute and discriminate; Restore the economy and build wealth",
   "source_date": "2024"
  },
  {
   "party": "ffplus",
   "statement": "I03",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto says only the free market can create and protect economic value, proposes a standing rule barring government from taking part in the free market, wants needless regulation removed, and calls for state-owned enterprises to be privatised.",
   "source_title": "VF Plus Manifesto 2024",
   "source_url": "https://www.vfplus.org.za/policy/ff-plus-manifesto-2024/",
   "source_locator": "Rebuild with a smaller, nimbler government without corruption; Restore the economy and build wealth",
   "source_date": "2024"
  },
  {
   "party": "ffplus",
   "statement": "I04",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto calls rigid labour legislation one of the biggest obstacles to growth and jobs, complains that it is difficult to dismiss incompetent staff, and says labour law should be amended to promote job creation while keeping fair labour practices.",
   "source_title": "VF Plus Manifesto 2024",
   "source_url": "https://www.vfplus.org.za/policy/ff-plus-manifesto-2024/",
   "source_locator": "Build through job creation; Core Summary of Solutions",
   "source_date": "2024"
  },
  {
   "party": "ffplus",
   "statement": "I05",
   "position": "none",
   "status": "no published position found",
   "justification": "",
   "source_title": "",
   "source_url": "",
   "source_locator": "",
   "source_date": ""
  },
  {
   "party": "ffplus",
   "statement": "E01",
   "position": "neutral",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto says the party's policy means increasingly replacing coal-fired power stations with renewable plants and that the large-scale shift to renewables should be prioritised, while its energy spokesperson has said the transition must be gradual for the sake of coal communities and that coal will stay in the mix for the foreseeable future. It does not say whether the stations should close on their planned dates, so this is a mixed position.",
   "source_title": "VF Plus Manifesto 2024 (national and provincial elections)",
   "source_url": "https://www.vfplus.org.za/policy/ff-plus-manifesto-2024/",
   "source_locator": "Sections 'Restore and rebuild sustainable electricity supply' and 'Sustainable development and the environment' (HTML page, no page numbers)",
   "source_date": "2024"
  },
  {
   "party": "ffplus",
   "statement": "F01",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The FF Plus manifesto says nothing of value comes free: a FF Plus government would still offer bursaries but demand counter-performance, and bursaries for good performers should go on merit and financial need in partnership with industry, with a year of work for each year funded. In May 2026 its MP Wynand Boshoff added that there is no such thing as free higher education, that beneficiaries ought to contribute and repay through the SARS payroll system, and that NSFAS should rather be abolished.",
   "source_title": "VF Plus Manifesto 2024 (national and provincial elections)",
   "source_url": "https://www.vfplus.org.za/policy/ff-plus-manifesto-2024/",
   "source_locator": "Section 'Accessible, quality education as cornerstone' (HTML page, no page numbers), paragraph beginning 'What about government?'",
   "source_date": "2024"
  },
  {
   "party": "ffplus",
   "statement": "S31",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The FF Plus 2024 manifesto says SAA should be completely privatised and tax money should no longer be spent on it, and more broadly that state companies should be privatised and all financial lifelines to failed entities stopped. That answers the statement directly.",
   "source_title": "VF Plus Manifesto 2024 (national and provincial elections)",
   "source_url": "https://www.vfplus.org.za/policy/ff-plus-manifesto-2024/",
   "source_locator": "Policy for building a better future, 'Restore the economy and build wealth', item 8",
   "source_date": "2024-03-02"
  },
  {
   "party": "actionsa",
   "statement": "S01",
   "position": "none",
   "status": "no published position found",
   "justification": "",
   "source_title": "",
   "source_url": "",
   "source_locator": "",
   "source_date": ""
  },
  {
   "party": "actionsa",
   "statement": "S04",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2026 manifesto commits to diversify municipal electricity supply where legally and financially possible and to pursue competitively priced electricity from alternative producers. The 2021 manifesto also promised procurement from independent power producers.",
   "source_title": "Let's Fix South Africa: ActionSA 2026 Local Government Election Manifesto",
   "source_url": "https://www.actionsa.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/ActionSA-LGE-Manifesto-2026-Final-.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 16 (Keeping the Lights On)",
   "source_date": "2026-09-26"
  },
  {
   "party": "actionsa",
   "statement": "S05",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2026 manifesto separates households that cannot pay, who get support, from those who have the means but refuse, who face firm credit control, and offers no general write-off.",
   "source_title": "Let's Fix South Africa: ActionSA 2026 Local Government Election Manifesto",
   "source_url": "https://www.actionsa.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/ActionSA-LGE-Manifesto-2026-Final-.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 22, A Municipality that Respects Your Money",
   "source_date": "2026-09-26"
  },
  {
   "party": "actionsa",
   "statement": "S08",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "ActionSA says it unequivocally supports insourcing security guards and cleaners, and the 2026 manifesto commits to insourcing appropriate functions where practical and financially sustainable. The party attaches a feasibility test, but its stated direction is to employ these workers directly.",
   "source_title": "Let's Fix South Africa: ActionSA 2026 Local Government Election Manifesto",
   "source_url": "https://www.actionsa.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/ActionSA-LGE-Manifesto-2026-Final-.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 8-9 (What we believe); p. 42 (Protecting critical infrastructure)",
   "source_date": "2026-09-26"
  },
  {
   "party": "actionsa",
   "statement": "S10",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "ActionSA opposes expropriation without compensation. Its 23 January 2025 statement on the Expropriation Act says the party opposes any constitutional amendment permitting expropriation without compensation and upholds private property rights, and the 2020 land blueprint rejects amending section 25.",
   "source_title": "ActionSA Considers Legal Action as President Signs Expropriation Bill (Lerato Ngobeni MP, Parliamentary Chief Whip)",
   "source_url": "https://www.actionsa.org.za/actionsa-considers-legal-action-as-president-signs-expropriation-bill/",
   "source_locator": "not visible",
   "source_date": "2025-01-23"
  },
  {
   "party": "actionsa",
   "statement": "S11",
   "position": "none",
   "status": "no published position found",
   "justification": "",
   "source_title": "",
   "source_url": "",
   "source_locator": "",
   "source_date": ""
  },
  {
   "party": "actionsa",
   "statement": "S13",
   "position": "neutral",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "ActionSA wants more policing functions decentralised to competent provincial police departments and more municipal law-enforcement officers, but it frames this as decentralising functions from SAPS, not creating full provincial or metro police services. The 2026 manifesto says municipalities will work with SAPS where they lack the powers.",
   "source_title": "ActionSA 2024 Election Manifesto",
   "source_url": "https://www.actionsa.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/ActionSA-National-Manifesto-2024.pdf",
   "source_locator": "Section 5, Increased policing: Provincial policing",
   "source_date": "2024-03"
  },
  {
   "party": "actionsa",
   "statement": "S14",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "ActionSA's Senate resolved in August 2023 that the party will not support bringing back the death penalty and will instead push for life sentences that mean life. At the party's policy conference in September 2023 Herman Mashaba accepted the decision and said the death penalty would disproportionately prejudice the poor.",
   "source_title": "ActionSA Senate resolution on the death penalty, quoted by National Chairperson Michael Beaumont (Daily Friend, ActionSA rejects return of death penalty)",
   "source_url": "https://dailyfriend.co.za/2023/09/01/actionsa-rejects-return-of-death-penalty/",
   "source_locator": "Quote from Michael Beaumont on the Senate resolution",
   "source_date": "2023-09-01"
  },
  {
   "party": "actionsa",
   "statement": "S15",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "ActionSA says access to public healthcare has been wrongly extended to illegal foreign nationals through a misreading of section 27 and wants the Constitution rebalanced to put South Africans first while keeping basic humanitarian duties. Its MP Kgosi Letlape said no country opens non-emergency care to everyone and that foreigners who use public facilities should pay.",
   "source_title": "ActionSA Affirms Fight to End Abuse of Public Healthcare by Illegal Foreigners",
   "source_url": "https://www.actionsa.org.za/actionsa-affirms-fight-to-end-abuse-of-public-healthcare-by-illegal-foreigners/",
   "source_locator": "Statement by Lerato Ngobeni MP, Parliamentary Chief Whip",
   "source_date": "2025-07-02"
  },
  {
   "party": "actionsa",
   "statement": "S16",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "ActionSA wants preferential procurement regulations reformed to focus solely on efficient service delivery criteria, and wants B-BBEE replaced by an Opportunity Fund. The 2023 policies say procurement should not be used for empowerment mechanisms, and the 2026 manifesto commits to competition and value for money in municipal tenders.",
   "source_title": "ActionSA 2024 Election Manifesto",
   "source_url": "https://www.actionsa.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/ActionSA-National-Manifesto-2024.pdf",
   "source_locator": "Section 1, Improved economic infrastructure",
   "source_date": "2024-03"
  },
  {
   "party": "actionsa",
   "statement": "S17",
   "position": "none",
   "status": "no published position found",
   "justification": "",
   "source_title": "",
   "source_url": "",
   "source_locator": "",
   "source_date": ""
  },
  {
   "party": "actionsa",
   "statement": "S18",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "ActionSA is promoting a Reserved Sectors Bill and its #Spaza4Locals campaign to end foreign ownership of spaza shops and secure these businesses for South Africans. Its Tshwane administration adopted an informal trading by-law that prioritises South Africans.",
   "source_title": "South Africans Demand Control Over Spaza Shops in Their Communities (Xolani Khumalo, ActionSA Ekurhuleni mayoral candidate)",
   "source_url": "https://www.actionsa.org.za/south-africans-demand-control-over-spaza-shops-in-their-communities/",
   "source_locator": "not visible",
   "source_date": "2026-05-27"
  },
  {
   "party": "actionsa",
   "statement": "S19",
   "position": "neutral",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "ActionSA proposes a universal basic income stimulus of R790, R1,101 and R1,622 a month over three years for all adult citizens and permanent residents who register, subject to financing mechanisms still to be adopted. The amounts are well above R370 but the scheme runs for three years rather than permanently, so it sits between the two sides.",
   "source_title": "ActionSA 2024 Election Manifesto",
   "source_url": "https://www.actionsa.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/ActionSA-National-Manifesto-2024.pdf",
   "source_locator": "Section 2, Universal basic income stimulus",
   "source_date": "2024-03"
  },
  {
   "party": "actionsa",
   "statement": "S21",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2023 approved policies propose amending the Municipal Systems and Structures Acts so that senior officials are appointed by independent appointment boards, to remove political interference. The 2026 manifesto says politicians will set policy but not interfere in appointments, and ends cadre deployment.",
   "source_title": "Approved Policies: Summary from the 2023 Policy Conference",
   "source_url": "https://www.actionsa.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Summary-of-Approved-ActionSA-Policies-DIGITAL.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 15 (Economic Prosperity, Urban Economy)",
   "source_date": "2023-09"
  },
  {
   "party": "actionsa",
   "statement": "S22",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "At the August 2023 National Dialogue on coalitions ActionSA proposed that a 1% electoral threshold be considered, to reduce the number of parties in coalitions without shutting out minorities. Its chairperson told the Sunday Times the party backed the idea because councils with many single-seat parties are unstable.",
   "source_title": "ActionSA Provides Insights at National Dialogue on Coalition Framework",
   "source_url": "https://www.actionsa.org.za/?p=1016267",
   "source_locator": "Statement by Michael Beaumont, National Chairperson",
   "source_date": "2023-08-04"
  },
  {
   "party": "actionsa",
   "statement": "S23",
   "position": "none",
   "status": "no published position found",
   "justification": "",
   "source_title": "",
   "source_url": "",
   "source_locator": "",
   "source_date": ""
  },
  {
   "party": "actionsa",
   "statement": "S26",
   "position": "none",
   "status": "no published position found",
   "justification": "",
   "source_title": "",
   "source_url": "",
   "source_locator": "",
   "source_date": ""
  },
  {
   "party": "actionsa",
   "statement": "S27",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto opposes implementation of the NHI Bill in its current form, the 2023 policies call the NHI ill-conceived, and in February 2026 the party said it will keep opposing a framework that concentrates power in a single fund without clear financing.",
   "source_title": "ActionSA 2024 Election Manifesto",
   "source_url": "https://www.actionsa.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/ActionSA-National-Manifesto-2024.pdf",
   "source_locator": "Section 8, Quality public healthcare",
   "source_date": "2024-03"
  },
  {
   "party": "actionsa",
   "statement": "S28",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2023 approved policies oppose changes to the Reserve Bank's mandate and its nationalisation, and back independent power producers and privatising unprofitable state entities. Herman Mashaba's October 2020 economic statement warned against nationalisation of land, mines and central banks.",
   "source_title": "Approved Policies: Summary from the 2023 Policy Conference",
   "source_url": "https://www.actionsa.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Summary-of-Approved-ActionSA-Policies-DIGITAL.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 15 (Economic Prosperity, Fiscal principles)",
   "source_date": "2023-09"
  },
  {
   "party": "actionsa",
   "statement": "S29",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "ActionSA opposed the BELA Bill's clauses giving the Basic Education Minister and provincial departments the final say over school language and admissions, and said school governing bodies should retain control over language policy.",
   "source_title": "Stop BELA Bill: ActionSA Submits Objections to Parliament",
   "source_url": "https://www.actionsa.org.za/stop-bela-bill-actionsa-submits-objections-to-parliament/",
   "source_locator": "not visible",
   "source_date": "2024-01-25"
  },
  {
   "party": "actionsa",
   "statement": "S30",
   "position": "none",
   "status": "no published position found",
   "justification": "",
   "source_title": "",
   "source_url": "",
   "source_locator": "",
   "source_date": ""
  },
  {
   "party": "actionsa",
   "statement": "R06",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "In February 2024 ActionSA refused to sit in the Multi-Party Charter with the Referendum Party, which exists to secure a vote on Cape independence, and called Western Cape secession constitutionally offensive. It said it would sooner leave the Charter than be linked to the Cape independence movement.",
   "source_title": "ActionSA Rejects Referendum Party's Application to Join Multi-Party Charter",
   "source_url": "https://www.actionsa.org.za/actionsa-rejects-referendum-partys-application-to-join-multi-party-charter/",
   "source_locator": "Statement by Michael Beaumont, National Chairperson",
   "source_date": "2024-02-16"
  },
  {
   "party": "actionsa",
   "statement": "I01",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The approved policies say government revenue must grow by expanding the economy and the number of taxpayers, not by raising tax rates on those already paying, and the 2024 manifesto proposes no income tax increase, relying on growth and a company levy instead.",
   "source_title": "Approved Policies: Summary from the 2023 Policy Conference",
   "source_url": "https://www.actionsa.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Summary-of-Approved-ActionSA-Policies-DIGITAL.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 15, Economic Prosperity, Fiscal and monetary principles",
   "source_date": "2023-09-14"
  },
  {
   "party": "actionsa",
   "statement": "I02",
   "position": "neutral",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "ActionSA would replace B-BBEE compliance with a levy funding an Opportunity Fund for black, coloured, Indian and Asian South Africans who remain disadvantaged, and its approved policies say the party is not blind to race and supports affirmative action measures that recognise the link between race and inequality. It would end B-BBEE as it stands but keep measures that take race into account, so it sits between the two sides.",
   "source_title": "Approved Policies: Summary from the 2023 Policy Conference",
   "source_url": "https://www.actionsa.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Summary-of-Approved-ActionSA-Policies-DIGITAL.pdf",
   "source_locator": "pp. 35 to 36 (Economic Justice) and pp. 38 to 39 (Opportunity Fund)",
   "source_date": "2023-09-14"
  },
  {
   "party": "actionsa",
   "statement": "I03",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The approved policies say a competitive, market-based economy is the best route to the party's social and economic goals, with the state's job being to create the conditions for growth. State intervention is limited to preventing market failures and managing public resources.",
   "source_title": "Approved Policies: Summary from the 2023 Policy Conference",
   "source_url": "https://www.actionsa.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Summary-of-Approved-ActionSA-Policies-DIGITAL.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 10-11, Economic Prosperity, Our Core Principles and What We Believe",
   "source_date": "2023-09-14"
  },
  {
   "party": "actionsa",
   "statement": "I04",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The 2024 manifesto commits to reforming the Basic Conditions of Employment Act to reduce the burden on employers when dismissing non-performing staff, to make hiring easier, and to exempt new small businesses from restrictive labour requirements for two years. The 2023 policies would exempt new SMMEs from bargaining council agreements and cut union power over policy.",
   "source_title": "ActionSA 2024 Election Manifesto",
   "source_url": "https://www.actionsa.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/ActionSA-National-Manifesto-2024.pdf",
   "source_locator": "Section 1, Economic Growth That Creates Employment Opportunities, Labour Reforms (page numbers not visible)",
   "source_date": "2024-03"
  },
  {
   "party": "actionsa",
   "statement": "I05",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "The approved policies call low-density RDP housing ineffective and shift the state's role to affordable housing near jobs, high-rise public housing, cheaper bonds and serviced stands, keeping free houses for the poorest only. That is the disagree position as the statement is now worded.",
   "source_title": "Approved Policies: Summary from the 2023 Policy Conference",
   "source_url": "https://www.actionsa.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Summary-of-Approved-ActionSA-Policies-DIGITAL.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 37-38, Economic Justice, housing",
   "source_date": "2023-09-14"
  },
  {
   "party": "actionsa",
   "statement": "E01",
   "position": "neutral",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "ActionSA's 2024 manifesto backs a gradual, responsibly managed shift from fossil fuels to renewables under a Just Transition framework with reskilling for coal workers. Its 2023 approved policies add that failing to use existing infrastructure and natural resources would cause unaffordable losses, while still targeting a rapid renewables build before 2030.",
   "source_title": "ActionSA 2024 Election Manifesto",
   "source_url": "https://www.actionsa.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/ActionSA-National-Manifesto-2024.pdf",
   "source_locator": "Section 3: A Sustainable Energy System That Ends Load Shedding (page number not visible)",
   "source_date": "2024-03"
  },
  {
   "party": "actionsa",
   "statement": "F01",
   "position": "disagree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "ActionSA's 2024 manifesto promises fully funded bursaries for every South African student who cannot afford tuition, paid for through ten percent of its proposed Opportunity Fund and money redirected from bailouts and VIP protection, so that no academically qualifying student is excluded for lack of money. Funding stays targeted at those who cannot pay rather than free for all, although the same section describes a model that includes free and subsidised education.",
   "source_title": "ActionSA 2024 Election Manifesto",
   "source_url": "https://www.actionsa.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/ActionSA-National-Manifesto-2024.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 24, section 4 Quality Education for All, subsection 'Expanding access to tertiary education' (Funding); Opportunity Fund allocation on p. 16",
   "source_date": "2024-03"
  },
  {
   "party": "actionsa",
   "statement": "S31",
   "position": "agree",
   "status": "shown",
   "justification": "ActionSA's approved policies commit the party to privatising or winding down non-profitable state companies and those without a core or strategic purpose. When the Takatso sale collapsed its national chairperson said SAA is top of the list of state companies that must be sold as decisively as possible.",
   "source_title": "Approved Policies: Summary from the 2023 Policy Conference",
   "source_url": "https://www.actionsa.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Summary-of-Approved-ActionSA-Policies-DIGITAL.pdf",
   "source_locator": "p. 53, Professional Public Service, Policy Highlights",
   "source_date": "2023-09"
  }
 ]
}