Latest News & Media Statements

It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of Mr Mkululi Mcotsho, our Member of the Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature and a valued member of the United Democratic Movement (UDM).

We extend our deepest condolences to the Mcotsho family, his relatives, friends, colleagues and all those whose lives he touched.

Mr Mcotsho came to the UDM with considerable experience in local government and public service. Before joining our ranks, he had served the people of Mbhashe Local Municipality in several capacities, including as Speaker of the Municipal Council and in responsibilities relating to infrastructure and service delivery.

His experience, knowledge of local government and understanding of the everyday challenges facing communities made him a valuable addition to the UDM.

Following the 2024 National and Provincial Elections, Mr Mcotsho took his place in the Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature as a UDM representative. He continued his public service through the Legislature's oversight and portfolio structures, contributing to the work of holding government accountable and ensuring that the concerns of ordinary communities were heard.

For the UDM, his election to the Eastern Cape Legislature represented more than the gaining of a seat. We had entrusted him with carrying the voice of ordinary people into the provincial lawmaking and oversight process, and he accepted that responsibility with commitment.

His passing comes at a particularly painful time for his family, which has already endured great personal loss in recent months. We therefore hold them especially close in our thoughts as they confront yet another bereavement.

South African politics is too often remembered only through its most prominent national figures. Yet our democracy depends equally upon men and women who spend years working at municipal and provincial level, dealing directly with the problems experienced by communities and giving practical expression to public service.

Mr Mcotsho belonged to that tradition.

The UDM has lost a colleague and public representative. The Eastern Cape has lost an experienced servant of the people. Most importantly, his family has lost a loved one whose place in their lives can never be replaced.

May they find strength and comfort in the knowledge that his contribution to public life and to the communities he served will be remembered.

May his rest in peace.

The United Democratic Movement (UDM) in the Western Cape extends its deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of the eleven people killed in separate shootings in Langa, Gugulethu and Khayelitsha over the weekend. We wish those injured a full recovery.

We condemn these killings in the strongest terms. But condemnation is no longer enough. For decades, Western Cape communities have endured gangsterism, drug trafficking, extortion, illegal firearms and recurring gun violence. Government cannot keep treating each mass shooting as an isolated tragedy followed by temporary intervention and promises of arrests.

The UDM in the Western Cape has repeatedly warned about the proliferation of illegal firearms and the criminal networks that sustain gun violence. Every illegal firearm recovered should trigger an investigation beyond the person carrying it: where did it come from, who supplied it, and to what other crimes can it be linked?

The suspicion that drugs and extortion may be connected to the latest violence further demonstrates that illegal firearms, gangsterism, drugs and extortion cannot be tackled separately. They form part of an organised criminal economy sustained by fear and intimidation.

The UDM in the Western Cape is particularly concerned about the relationship between affected communities and the South African Police Service (SAPS). Residents are repeatedly urged to provide information and assured that they can do so anonymously, yet people in gang-affected areas fear that doing so could expose them and their families to retaliation.

Government must take these fears seriously rather than lecture frightened communities about remaining silent. Where residents allege that confidential information supplied to law enforcement reaches criminals, those allegations must be independently investigated. Even the perception that information is compromised destroys trust, and cripples crime intelligence. The state cannot demand the courage of witnesses while failing to guarantee their safety.

The UDM in the Western Cape is equally concerned about the fragmented response to this crisis. For years, national government and the Democratic Alliance-led Western Cape Government have argued over policing resources, powers and responsibilities. The City of Cape Town has its own Metro Police and law-enforcement capacity, while SAPS remains nationally controlled. South Africa now also operates under a Government of National Unity.

After decades of bloodshed, communities should not still be caught between competing spheres of government. The criminals are integrated. Government is not. Gun traffickers, drug dealers, gangs and extortion syndicates do not respect jurisdictional boundaries. Neither can the state's response.

The UDM in the Western Cape calls for an integrated, intelligence-led intervention involving SAPS, provincial and municipal law enforcement, crime intelligence and prosecutors. The priority must be dismantling gun-trafficking, drug and extortion networks; tracing illegal firearms; protecting witnesses and informants; rooting out corruption within law enforcement; and securing successful prosecutions.

Communities across Langa, Gugulethu, Khayelitsha, Mitchells Plain, Manenberg, Hanover Park, Bonteheuwel and other affected areas have carried this burden for far too long. Repeated shootings, gang activity and intimidation cannot be allowed to become an accepted part of daily life.

The Western Cape does not need another cycle of outrage, temporary intervention and eventual silence. National, provincial and local government may continue debating their respective powers and responsibilities, but communities cannot remain collateral damage in that argument.

The people of the Western Cape do not care which sphere of government wins the argument over policing powers. They want the killing to stop.

PRETORIA, September 29, 2026 — Addressing a packed conference of senior journalists at the National Press Club today, United Democratic Movement President Bantu Holomisa called on the President of South Africa and the Auditor-General to institute immediate forensic audits into Municipal Infrastructure Grants (MIG) across all nine provinces.

Over the past five fiscal years, more than R68 billion was transferred by the national fiscus to district and local municipalities specifically earmarked for bulk water treatment plants, storm-water drainage networks, road resurfacing, and electrification grids.

"Tragically, when you travel through rural towns in the Eastern Cape, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, and the Free State, you find communities drinking from contaminated streams while half-finished multi-million rand reservoirs stand abandoned in overgrown fields," Holomisa stated.

The UDM has compiled a detailed dossier revealing evidence of fraudulent completion certificates signed off by municipal engineers for non-existent boreholes and unpaved access roads. In several instances, contractors abandoned work sites after extracting up to 80% of project funds.

General Holomisa outlined a 4-point national recovery roadmap:

1. SIU Proclamations: Immediate gazetting of Special Investigating Unit proclamations to seize assets and freeze bank accounts of defaulting companies.
2. Universal Blacklisting: National Treasury blacklisting of directors, joint ventures, and shadow entities involved in abandoned municipal contracts.
3. Military Engineering Deployment: Temporary deployment of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) Engineering Corps to rehabilitate failing sewage treatment plants.
4. Ring-Fenced MIG Accounts: Removing discretionary management of infrastructure grants from local politicians and placing funds under direct dual-signoff with National Treasury.

The UDM has handed over the dossier to the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) and will monitor progress closely.

EAST LONDON, September 18, 2026 — The National Executive Committee (NEC) of the United Democratic Movement has formally adopted its 2026 Local Government Strategic Blueprint following an intensive two-day consultative conference involving provincial delegates, urban planners, and municipal finance specialists.

The blueprint addresses the deep systemic breakdown of South Africa's 257 municipalities, where more than 60% are classified as financially distressed or unable to deliver basic services to residents.

The strategic blueprint centers on five foundational pillars:

Pillar 1 — Complete Depoliticization: Strict ending of cadre deployment. All municipal managers, chief financial officers, and technical heads must be recruited through rigorous, transparent, merit-based competency examinations overseen by independent panels.

Pillar 2 — Citizen Oversight Councils: Establishing legally empowered Ward Advisory Councils comprising ratepayer associations, traditional leaders, youth bodies, and civic monitors with veto power over capital expenditure allocations.

Pillar 3 — Guaranteed Maintenance Ratios: Legally binding every municipality to spend at least 12% of total operational revenue strictly on maintaining existing electrical, water, and road infrastructure.

Pillar 4 — Township Economy Revitalization: Providing localized rates holidays, free municipal wifi hotspots, and incubator facilities for young artisans, welders, bakers, and tech entrepreneurs operating in township communities.

Pillar 5 — Rapid Response Charters: Enforcing strict service level agreements requiring municipal call centres to attend to burst water pipes within 4 hours and fix potholes within 48 hours of reporting.

Over the coming months, the UDM leadership will conduct town hall consultations across all nine provinces to engage communities and refine ward-specific implementation charters.

GQEBERHA, September 04, 2026 — Following urgent appeals from concerned residents and civic ratepayer associations, an emergency UDM oversight delegation conducted unannounced inspections across primary water treatment facilities, including the Nooitgedagt and Loerie water treatment schemes.

The findings reveal a catastrophic failure in municipal maintenance, with crucial chlorine dosing pumps malfunctioning and untreated sludge leaking into outgoing clean water reticulation reservoirs supplying Motherwell, KwaZakhele, New Brighton, and Kariega.

Independent microbiological tests commissioned by the UDM verified dangerous concentrations of E. coli and turbidity levels reaching nearly four times the maximum threshold permitted under South African National Standard (SANS) 241.

The UDM has formally petitioned the Minister of Water and Sanitation and the Premier of the Eastern Cape to take the following decisive actions immediately:

1. Section 139 Intervention: Invoke Section 139(1)(b) of the Constitution to place the municipal water and sanitation department under direct national administrative takeover.
2. Mobile Emergency Bowsers: Dispatch certified, clean mobile water tankers to every affected ward with priority supply to schools, early childhood centres, and day hospitals.
3. Emergency Chemical Dosing: Deploy specialist chemical engineering contractors to replace broken dosing pumps and flush contaminated reticulation pipelines.
4. Criminal Charges: Lodge charges under the National Water Act against municipal officials who concealed water test results from the public.

The UDM will hold daily briefings until clean, laboratory-tested drinking water is restored to every tap in Nelson Mandela Bay.

DURBAN, August 22, 2026 — More than six hundred youth delegates representing student representative councils, technical colleges, and unemployed graduate unions converged in Durban this weekend to adopt the UDM Youth Vanguard 10-Point Charter for Skills & Economic Emancipation.

With youth unemployment exceeding 60% across South Africa, the summit rejected hollow slogans and adopted concrete legislative proposals aimed at dismantling the structural barriers keeping young citizens out of the productive economy.

The 10-Point Charter focuses on five core economic catalysts:

1. Abolish Work Experience Barriers: Immediate legislative prohibition of arbitrary 3-to-5 year prior experience requirements for all entry-level government, municipal, and state-owned entity jobs.

2. TVET College Modernization: Converting technical colleges into state-of-the-art artisan academies for renewable energy installation, agricultural machinery maintenance, coding, and precision manufacturing.

3. Zero-Interest Startup Fund: Establishing a specialized state youth venture fund offering zero-interest seed capital to young entrepreneurs, eliminating burdensome collateral demands.

4. Rural Digital Hubs: Deploying subsidized fiber and satellite broadband to every public library and community hall in rural districts to enable remote work opportunities.

5. NSFAS Reform: Reforming the tertiary funding system to pay student living allowances directly to accredited vendors and students without predatory bureaucratic deductions.

The Youth Vanguard will table the charter before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and begin a nationwide campus campaign.

CAPE TOWN, August 11, 2026 — The United Democratic Movement parliamentary caucus has formally submitted a landmark set of legislative amendments to the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs, advancing the most comprehensive overhaul of South Africa's electoral system since the 1994 transition.

Presenting the submission, UDM Deputy President and Chief Whip Nqabayomzi Kwankwa pointed out that the findings of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into State Capture (Zondo Commission) underscored the urgent imperative to restore direct voter accountability over members of parliament.

The UDM's substantive recommendations include:

1. Mixed-Member Proportional (MMP) Model: Implementing a mixed-member electoral model where 50% of the National Assembly is elected directly from single-member local constituencies, while the remaining 50% ensures proportional fairness through compensatory party ballots.

2. Direct Constituency Recall: Introducing a statutory recall mechanism allowing registered constituency voters to petition for the removal and replacement of MPs who engage in corruption or fail to attend parliamentary sessions.

3. Transparent Political Party Funding: Lowering disclosure thresholds and closing foreign donor loopholes to ensure multi-million rand offshore donations cannot subvert South African public policy.

4. Independent Electoral Commission Protections: Strengthening the operational independence of the IEC and establishing a dedicated electoral fraud investigative magistrate unit.

"South Africa's constitutional democracy belongs to all its people. Rebuilding citizen trust demands an electoral system where every vote directly shapes who sits in Parliament and who represents our communities," Kwankwa concluded.

NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS, July 28, 2026 — Today marks twenty-eight years since patriotic South Africans from all walks of life gathered in Johannesburg to establish the United Democratic Movement (UDM) as a principled political home for non-racial unity, integrity, and fearless defence of the Constitution.

Reflecting on nearly three decades of courageous political service, UDM Founding President Bantu Holomisa paid tribute to the countless grassroots volunteers, traditional leaders, workers, and youth organizers who kept the movement's torch burning through turbulent political waters.

Throughout its history, the UDM has pioneered milestone democratic breakthroughs that permanently altered South Africa's legal landscape:

Constitutional Defence: Winning landmark victories in the Constitutional Court, including the historic secret ballot judgment that protected members of parliament from intimidation, and challenging corrupt tender non-disclosures.

Fearless Whistleblowing: Exposing state capture dossiers, municipal pension looting, and unauthorized military procurement long before official commissions of inquiry were formed.

Social Cohesion: Demonstrating that South Africans of every racial background and culture can unite behind ethical, service-driven public governance.

Looking forward to the challenges of the coming decade, Holomisa emphasized that the UDM will redouble its efforts to rebuild collapsing local infrastructure, champion youth artisan employment, and ensure that clean, accountable governance transforms everyday lives.

"The journey ahead requires courageous hearts and ethical hands. To all South Africans who yearn for an accountable, prosperous nation: our doors and hearts are open. Together, we shall rebuild," Holomisa concluded.