Are South African political parties thinking about the future in local governance? Assessing the 2021 LGE manifestos for responses to technological, climate and demographic changes

The 2021 local government elections in South Africa occurred against the reality of major challenges in the national and global landscapes, with local governmental implications. The world was experiencing major changes in the form of technological and climate change, alongside the country’s inability to reverse its growing youth unemployment. South Africa’s political system is dominated by a handful of political parties that dominate at both national and local levels such that there is continuity in their broader platforms for both. This article carries out a discourse analysis of the political manifestos of the three largest political parties before the election: the African National Congress, Democratic Alliance and Economic Freedom Fighters. The analysis is comparatively interested in the extent to which the texts placed emphasis on technology, climate change, and youth unemployment. Two of the three parties make more moderate commitments in the event that they win, whereas one (the EFF) makes the most wide-ranging and detailed set of promises. We argue that this is possibly linked to governance experience (with an inverse correlation between the amount of time in office and the number of promises made) and demographics (the EFF’s litany of highly specific initiatives reflecting its comparatively younger base).