Friday, 14 March 2025: - The South African Communist Party (SACP) confirms that it has submitted its representation to stand as an independent registered political party to the Independent Electoral Commission. The SACP made this submission a few days after receiving the commission’s notice on 27 February 2025. The Party’s prompt and decisive representation to the Independent Electoral Commission aligns with its resolutions from the Fifteenth National Congress in July 2022, the Augmented Central Committee Plenary in March and April 2023, and the Fifth Special National Congress in December 2024 to contest elections.

The SACP adopted the resolution to contest elections after over 17 years of engagement failed to yield positive results in reconfiguring the Alliance to keep pace with the times and ensure the Alliance’s meaningful role in policy determination, direction, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.

What do we mean by a reconfigured Alliance? A reconfigured Alliance must be characterised by extensive and consistent consensus-seeking democratic consultation on all major policy questions, as well as collective leadership and accountability on the basis of what brought us together as allies – the pursuit and completion of the national democratic revolution. Therefore, Alliance inclusivity and respect for Alliance processes on all fronts is an essential tenet of a reconfigured Alliance. 

The national democratic revolution remains our strategy of struggle, transformation and development, with the Freedom Charter as its basic minimum programme. To the SACP, the national democratic revolution is the shortest and most direct route towards a socialist transition in South Africa’s historical conditions. This socialist orientation is essential for the working class to achieve emancipation.

The SACP reaffirmed the decision to contest the local government elections in 2026 following further observations from the development of – and in response to – the crisis of working-class representation in our country’s economic, social and political system in the absence of a reconfigured Alliance.

All structures of the Communist Party at all levels across the country must continue with and deepen their work to implement the Party’s resolutions, including the resolution to contest the local government elections in 2026.