Elections 101: What is a manifesto?

On the latest installment of Elections 101, the Drive With Thando team (on 947) talks manifestos with Rivonia Circle Programmes Manager, Khanya Burns-Ncamashe. 

Listen to the discussion below.

An election manifesto serves as a blueprint, outlining the policies a political party pledges to enact should they be elected into office.

With 380 parties lining up to contest the National Election and 1,414 contesting the Provincial Elections, manifestos help voters make an informed decision.

“For example, a lot of the political parties will talk about unemployment because it’s a big issue in South Africa. But the difference is each party will have a certain way they talk about it.”

- Khanya Burns-Ncamashe, Programmes Manager – Rivonia Circle

Manifestos also help us to keep parties accountable for the policies that they campaigned for.

“Elections are about hiring and firing people so at the end of the day we need to be able to hold them [the parties] accountable… one of the ways that we can do that is referring back to the manifestos.”

- Khanya Burns-Ncamashe, Programmes Manager – Rivonia Circle

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Many people however don’t read manifestos, says Burns-Ncamashe.

Not only are they not easily accessible but some are extremely long and filled with political jargon.

“A lot of them are also only written in English, we take for granted that a lot of South Africans actually can’t read English.”

- Khanya Burns-Ncamashe, Programmes Manager – Rivonia Circle

“I don’t think political parties are doing enough to make sure that people actually understand what they are talking about.”

- Khanya Burns-Ncamashe, Programmes Manager – Rivonia Circle

With 13 days to go to Election Day (29 May), it is never to late to read up on manifestos.

Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the interview