By Akani Nkuna
Afrika Mayibuye Movement has pledged to abolish the tender system if elected to government in the 2026 Local Government Elections (LGE), saying it would introduce the insourcing of municipal services to improve job creation and industrialisation within South Africa.
Speaking at the 2026 LGE manifesto launch in Tembisa, Gauteng on Saturday, Mayibuye leader Floyd Shivambu warned that the country’s labour pool was lagging behind in terms industrialisation as enabled by heavy reliance on imported products as he proposed that municipalities ought to lead the country’s industrialisation prospects.
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He criticised the tender system as a major hindrance towards SA industrialisation ambitions, wherein he attributed lack of municipal capacity in delivering basic services to the tender system’s framework of over-reliance on delegating municipal services to a secondary party.
“We are going to create proper permanent jobs through the abolishment of tenders in the municipalities. Tenders are at the center of the problems of South Africa. Tenders and tenderprenuers are at the center of corruption in our municipalities,” he said.
“We are going to train our people to be able to build and maintain roads. We are going to train our people to be able to build and maintain water systems. We are going to train and employ our people to perform the functions that are performed by the municipality and not be be municipality that is going to issue out tenders in a way that is not sustainable.”
Mayibuye will contest its maiden elections just over a year since it was established in 5 September 2025, after a country wide consultation process. The process included consultation with SA’s royal leadership across different tribes, religious leaders, community members and business people.
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Shivambu described the establishment of Mayibuye as a political party as neccessary, citing that it came following a realisation non of the existing political parties represented the interest of the people.
Shivambu also said that rural areas must be given the benefits of Special Economic Zones (SEZ) and be considered as critical destination to attract investment. He outlined that the Mayibuye will establish industries in rural parts of the county to ensure that people find work where they live as opposed to being forced to flock to cities for work opportunities.
“It cannot be correct that all of us who come from the inland provinces, in Limpopo, Mpumalanga and the Free State we grow up with intention of coming to Gauteng to look for jobs. We are going to create jobs in Gauteng, but we must also create jobs for people of Mpumalanga, Limpopo, and North West so that we abolish the migrant labour system that was designed by apartheid to enslave our people,” Shivambu said.
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Another key area of Mayibuye manifesto according to Shivambu, is the allocation of land for stands for residential and religious purposes. He said that majority of the country’s population belonged to a religious institution and accused government of not providing sufficient land for the building of religious institutions.
He also said that the party will avail and give land for agricultural purposes including agricultural support to small scale farmers.
Shivambu committed to replace Expanded Public Weoks Progamme jobs saying that they are “slave jobs”, adding that EPWP workers will be given benefits befitting of a municipal worker. He said their remuneration did not match their work duties.
“Mayibuye is going to replace EPWP with permanent and well paying jobs for all the people of South Africa. All the people who are working under EPWP and NCWP, be rest assured that the municipalities of Mayibuye are going to employ all of you and give you proper benefits when you are workers of the municipality,” Shivambu said.
