Section 153 already tells Cape Town what it must do.
We are not asking you to trust our promises. We are asking you to hold the City to a constitutional obligation that neither we nor they can rewrite.
"A municipality must structure and manage its administration, budgetting and planning processes to give priority to the basic needs of the community, and to promote the social and economic development of the community."This is not a manifesto promise. It is the law the City already has to follow.
Eight questions any resident can ask
Section 153 does not tell the City which projects to build. It tells the City how it has to plan, budget and account for what it builds. Click through the test below using any City project you care about, and see how it holds up.
Twenty-three candidates. One constitutional standard.
Shared leadership means no single figure speaks for every community. Here is the team standing for Cape Town on 4 November 2026.
Nine policy pillars, one governing rule
Every promise must have a plan. Every plan must have a budget. Every budget must have measurable outcomes. Every outcome must have a public deadline.
In our own words, and the Constitution's
"The Constitution does not give municipalities a choice about whether development matters. It gives them discretion over how they pursue it."The Sociological Foundation of Social Development, Farouk Cassim & Taz Cassim
"Our name is not a slogan. It describes the job every councillor and every municipality is constitutionally bound to do."SDP Election Manifesto, 2026
"Don't just bring technology to disadvantaged communities. Build the people who will create the technology."Farouk's Vision, Cape Town's Future
Have your say on the draft manifesto.
The SDP Manifesto: Fourteen Commitments is open for public comment ahead of the vote. Read it, then tell us what you think.
Come join the SDP family.
A home for everyone who loves this country and wants to make it work. You do not need to agree with every word of our policy library to belong here, just a willingness to hold the City to what it already owes its residents.
Safe communities attract investment, create jobs and ensure dignity for all residents through visible progress.
Deliver quality services: water, electricity, sanitation, roads and efficient refuse removal.
Firmly end corruption, extortion and abuse of power that hinders our growth and fairness.
Restore ethical leadership and ensure full accountability for every action taken within our community.
Voters are about to make history.
For the first time ever, voters are being invited to help write part of Cape Town's IDP. Tell us what you want written into the SDP's draft IDP proposal. Your input will help us build a People's IDP.
You submit
Tell us what you want written into the SDP's draft IDP proposal.
We draft
The SDP prepares a People's IDP built from what residents actually tell us.
You review
The draft is published on sd-p.org in mid-October for final public comment.
We demand its inclusion
Once voters approve it, SDP councillors elected on 4 November take the draft to the IDP office and demand its inclusion in the City's five year master plan.
Tell us what belongs in the draft before 20 October 2026.
"This has never been done before. Not in Cape Town. Not anywhere in South Africa. Sections 152 and 153 of the Constitution will stop being words on a page. They will become line items in the IDP. Implementation will have to follow."Claim your right. It is time voters asserted themselves.
The SSEG solar fee waiver ends 30 September 2026.
Every household that registers rooftop solar before that date gets the export meter at no cost, confirmed by the City and Eskom. After it, the same meter is expected to cost R10,000 to R15,000.
SDP policy concept, not an existing City programme: the SDP's proposed Solar Access Programme would let households pay off the meter gradually through the electricity top-up token system they already use, instead of finding the full amount upfront, and would extend access to renters and backyard dwellers who cannot apply on their own today. Once it is paid off, what a household generates is theirs. It is a proposal for feasibility testing, not something residents can access yet.