Wednesday, 21 October 2026:- The South African Communist Party (SACP) fully supports the People’s Budget Anti-Austerity March in Cape Town as well as the Working-class and Poor March Against Austerity in Pretoria, both of which coincide with the delivery of the 2026 Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) in Parliament by the Minister of Finance, a certain Mr Enoch Godongwana, today.

Details of the People’s Budget and Anti-Austerity March in Cape Town are as follows:

Date: Wednesday, 21 October 2026

Time: 09H00

Venue: Gather at Hannover Street, next to Cape Peninsula University of Technology

Details of the Working-Class and Poor March Against Austerity in Pretoria are as follows:

Date: Wednesday, 21 October 2026 

Time: 10:00

Venue: National Treasury Office, Tshwane

Media Contact: Peter Monethe – 064 924 0514

The SACP invites the media to cover the marches in Pretoria and Cape Town.

WHY THE SACP SUPPORTS THE ANTI-AUSTERITY MARCHES

The SACP supports the marches as part of its efforts to support the unity of working-class forces towards building people’s power. The principles encapsulated under the People’s Budget are also supported by a united front of progressive forces composed of trade unions, social justice formations, activists and community organisations.

We oppose the austerity budget ahead of the local government elections simply because we understand that many local problems have national roots, and, accordingly, national policy shapes whether the economy creates work, how much revenue municipalities can raise, and what they pay for bulk electricity and water.

We demand a People’s Budget because the people of our country have suffered for many years under austerity budgets and, consequently, austerity, outsourcing, tenderisation, corruption, poor planning and the loss of skilled public capacity have collaborated towards weakening municipalities. In practical terms, this means unfilled posts, postponed maintenance and delayed investment.

Treating residents as mere customers to be charged rather than citizens with rights and power means that monopoly capital, rather than the people, has been placed at the centre of development. The SACP supports the fight against unaffordable tariffs, punitive disconnections, failing infrastructure, dependence on consultants, insecure outsourced work and the exclusion of communities from decisions.

We reiterate our support for public employment, co-operatives, land and participatory budgeting, as these are important measures through which communities can gain greater control over the conditions of their lives.

The SACP therefore calls on the working class and all progressive sections of our society to support the People’s Budget Anti-Austerity March. We must unite and reject the Operation Vulindlela capitalist class project. Vulindlela is not a class-neutral programme of economic modernisation. The key question for the working class in these capitalist Vulindlela reforms remains focused on the ownership and wealth-accumulation interests in so far as the purported modernisation of electricity, water, rail, communications and other targeted network infrastructure industries are concerned.

As the SACP, we therefore call upon the working class and all progressive forces in our society to carefully harness the growing political space for unity among workers, progressive trade unions, community organisations, youth and women’s formations, co-operatives, progressive intellectuals and socialist organisations around struggles against austerity, privatisation, inequality and imperialism.

ISSUED BY THE SOUTH AFRICAN COMMUNIST PARTY,
FOUNDED IN 1921 AS THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF SOUTH AFRICA.
 
Media, Communications & Information Department | MCID
 
Mhlekwa Nxumalo, Acting National Spokesperson
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