SACP launches Red October campaign ahead of local elections

The campaign begins one month before South Africa's local government elections, scheduled for 4 November.

The campaign is centred on the SACP's mobilisation of workers and poor communities around economic, social and political issues. A major focus is the party's programme for “People's Municipalities”, with demands for municipalities to improve basic services such as water, sanitation and roads, while strengthening public participation in local government.

The SACP links this programme to opposition to the privatisation and outsourcing of municipal services. It advocates keeping services in public hands, expanding public employment, supporting cooperatives, making land available for housing and food production, and developing local economies through community-based initiatives. The party is also continuing its People's Red Caravan, which it presents as a vehicle for organising communities around practical projects including food production, cooperatives and local economic development.

The launch also takes place in the context of the SACP's decision to contest the 2026 local elections independently for the first time since 1994. The party has maintained that this electoral decision does not amount to abandoning the Tripartite Alliance with the African National Congress (ANC) and COSATU, but reflects its call for a reconfiguration of the alliance and its decision to build an independent electoral presence. The SACP previously announced that it intends to contest municipalities across the country.

SACP General Secretary Solly Mapaila has described the elections as part of the party's broader effort to strengthen working-class political representation at local level. The SACP's electoral programme places particular emphasis on municipal service delivery and transforming local economies.

The Red October campaign also continues themes from the SACP's previous campaign. The party has identified unemployment, poverty, inequality, crime and corruption, land redistribution, public ownership of strategic sectors, workers' rights and social security among its wider political priorities. It has also linked the campaign to grassroots organisation and the development of cooperatives and community initiatives.

The choice of Komga in the Eastern Cape gives this year's launch a particular focus on rural and small-town communities. The SACP had announced that the campaign would use the final month before the elections to intensify its grassroots mobilisation.

The launch therefore combines the SACP's established Red October tradition of community and working-class mobilisation with its new electoral strategy of contesting local government elections independently. The campaign is expected to continue through October with community-level organising and mobilisation around municipal services, employment, local economic development and the party's People's Municipalities programme.