Promises to police foreign nationals and restrict spaza-shop ownership dominate campaigns, but legal limits could leave municipalities unable to fulfil them.

Compared with their campaigns for the 2021 local government elections, political parties across the spectrum have shifted to the right in their rhetoric and promises on immigration enforcement. Several parties have also made the policing of foreign nationals central to their election messages.

Yet many of these promises may be impossible to fulfil, as they fall outside the legal powers and jurisdiction of local government. Fact-checking company Ukweli, at Viewfinder's prompting, reviewed 12 parties' election manifestos for promises relating to immigration.

Ukweli identified 16 election promises, across seven of the party manifestos reviewed, which related directly to immigration. Those parties were ACDP, ActionSA, ANC, Bosa, Afrika Mayibuye Movement (AMM), EFF and IFP. Immigration was mentioned in a further 11 passages across the manifestos, but without any specific promises being made.

Ukweli's analysis determined that none of the parties' promises on immigration could be delivered by a municipal council using only its own powers. Municipal council powers are limited to municipal-level services and local bylaws, whereas immigration control, visas, asylum and deportation are the exclusive mandate of the national government.

Half of the promises identified were deemed to lie entirely outside council powers, and within the domain of other branches...