Taking COSATU Today Forward, 17 June 2026 #CosatuNationalActionAgainstCostofLiving
Norman Mampane
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COSATU TODAY COSATU Call Center Contacts: 010 002 2590 #COSATU set to launch the Cost of Living Campaign this month, on the 19th June… #NationaActionAgainstCostOfLiving #ILC2026 #ClassWar #Cosatu40 #SACTU70 #ClassStruggle “Build Working Class Unity for Economic Liberation towards Socialism” #Back2Basics #JoinCOSATUNow #ClassConsciousness |
Taking COSATU Today Forward
‘Whoever sides with the revolutionary people in deed as well as in word is a revolutionary in the full sense’-Maoo
Our side of the story
17 June 2026
“Build Working Class Unity for Economic Liberation towards Socialism”
Organize at every workplace and demand respect for labour rights Now!
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Contents
- Workers Parliament: Back to Basics!
- COSATU Western Cape to march against the high cost of living
- Media Alert: South Africa’s Trade Union Federations to brief media on migration crisis, UIF and Compensation Fund criminality and dysfunction
- NEHAWU to convene its 13th National Congress
- South Africa
- COSATU Pays Tribute to Abullah Ibrahim
- SADTU Statement on National Youth Day – June 16
- SACP statement on June 16 commemoration
- SACP message of condolences to the family of South African jazz icon Abdullah Ibrahim
- International-Workers’ Solidarity!
- Union gears up organizing Namibia’s auto workers
Workers’ Parliament-Back2Basics #ClassWar
COSATU Western Cape to march against the high cost of living
Malvern De Bruyn, COSATU Western Cappe Provincial Secretary, 16 June 2026
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) in the Western Cape calls on all workers, communities, Progressive Organizations and the public to join a mass march against the escalating cost of living crisis on Friday, 19 June 2026.
The march will commence at Hanover Street at 09H00 and proceed to the National Parliament before continuing to the City of Cape Town, where memorandums outlining workers, demands will be handed over.
Workers and communities across South Africa, and particularly in the Western Cape, are facing a deepening cost of living crisis. Households have been forced into a debt spiral as the prices of basic goods and services continue to rise while wages fail to keep pace with worsening economic conditions.
Research indicates that consumers are taking home approximately 47% less in real terms than they did a decade ago, while the costs of essential services such as electricity, water, food and transport have increased dramatically. Working-class families are being squeezed from all sides and are struggling to meet their daily needs.
COSATU believes urgent intervention is required to protect workers and the poor from the devastating effects of rising living costs.
COSATU's demands include:
• Reduction of water tariffs.
• Reduction of electricity tariffs.
• Lower fuel prices.
• Lower food prices.
• An end to austerity measures and the extension of the social wage.
• Full enforcement of the National Minimum Wage and progress towards a living wage.
• An increase in social grants.
• The introduction of a Universal Basic Income Grant (UBIG).
COSATU calls on all its members, workers, Progressive Forces and communities throughout the Province to participate in the march.
The action is protected, and workers should not be intimidated or victimized by employers for exercising their constitutional right to fair labour practice and freedom of association.
To ensure maximum participation, train transport will be provided free of charge for participants travelling to the march.
The time has come for workers and communities to unite and demand decisive action to address the cost of living crisis. Together we can build a society where all people can live with dignity and social security.
Issued by COSATU Western Cape.
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Media Alert: South Africa’s Trade Union Federations to brief media on migration crisis, UIF and Compensation Fund criminality and dysfunction
15 June 2026
Organised Labour at the National Economic Development and Labour Council (NEDLAC), comprising COSATU, FEDUSA, SAFTU and NACTU, invites members of the media to a briefing on Wednesday, 17 June 2026, to address two urgent national matters affecting workers, communities and the country’s social stability.
The briefing will outline Organised Labour’s position on the growing tensions around migration and illegal immigration in South Africa.
Organised Labour will also address the worsening crisis at the Unemployment Insurance Fund and the Compensation Fund. The federations will set out their demands for decisive action to restore the integrity, capacity and accountability of these critical social security institutions.
Details of the media briefing are as follows:
Date: Wednesday, 17 June 2026
Time: 10:00
Venue: NEDLAC, 14A Jellicoe Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg
Members of the media are invited to attend and cover the briefing.
Issued jointly by: COSATU, FEDUSA, SAFTU and NACTU
For RSVP and enquiries:
Zanele Sabela
Cosatu Spokesperson
079 287 5788/077 600 6639
Betty Moleya
FEDUSA Media and Communications
063 736 5533
Newton Masuku
SAFTU National Spokesperson
066 168 2157
Lehlogonolo Digashu
NACTU
083 538 1270
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NEHAWU to convene its 13th National Congress
Lwazi Nkolonzi, NEHAWU National Spokesperson, June 08, 2026
The National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union [NEHAWU] will hold its 13th National Congress at the Birchwood Hotel & Conference Centre in Boksburg from the 26th to 29th of June 2026.
The congress is convened under the theme “Advance Workplace Organisation to Defend Collective Bargaining, Heighten Class Consciousness and Advance Internationalism".
The congress will serve as a critical platform to deliberate and develop concrete responses to key international, national political and socio-economic matters as well as organisational matters affecting our members and the working class in general.
The congress will receive addresses from the African National Congress [ANC], South African Communist Party [SACP], Congress of South African Trade Unions [COSATU], World Federation of Trade Unions [WFTU] and Trade Union International Public Service & Allied [TUI – PS&A].
The congress will be attended by more than 750 delegates drawn from all structures of the union and other fraternal organizations from South Africa and Internationally.
Members of the media are hereby invited to apply for accreditation to cover the 13th National Congress.
The following information should be included in the application: Full name, Media House, and contact details.
The deadline for accreditation applications is Friday 19th June 2026.
The application for accreditation should be sent to the following email: lwa...@nehawu.org.za
Issued by NEHAWU Secretariat
For further information, please contact: Lwazi Nkolonzi (National Spokesperson) at 081 558 2335 or email: lwa...@nehawu.org.za
Visit NEHAWU website: www.nehawu.org.za
South Africa #ClassSolidarity
COSATU Pays Tribute to Abullah Ibrahim
Zanele Sabela, COSATU Spokesperson, 16 June 2026
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) joins the global community in honouring the life of pianist, composer and icon, Abdullah Ibrahim.
Ibrahim passed away on 15 June in Germany where he was resident, after a short illness, surrounded by family. He was 91.
Exceptional from the beginning, Ibrahim started playing piano at the age of seven and made his professional debut at.15. His career spanned more than seven and a half decades.
In 1959 and 1960 he was part of the highly influential Jazz Epistles, along with Hugh Masekela, Jonas Gwangwa, Kippie Moeketsi, Makhaya Ntshoko and Johnny Gertze.
It was no accident that his master compositions, “Manneberg” and “Soweto”, became the soundtrack of the anti-apartheid struggle because his chosen genre, Jazz, was the language of improvisation born out of resistance to oppression. From Billy Holiday's "Strange Fruit" to Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington's integration of bands and tours to break down racial barriers in the entertainment industry, Ibrahim understood the power of his medium.
South Africans are often accused of not appropriately appreciating their artists. Not so with Dollar Brand, people always knew they were in the presence of greatness. In 2009 he was awarded the Order of Ikhamanga in Silver for his exceptional contribution to the arts and fight against apartheid.
In interviews later in life, he referred to himself in the plural as "We", a privilege well-earned given the extraordinary life he lived.
His last performance was in the city of his birth, at the Cape Town International Jazz Festival in March, where he received a 10-minute standing ovation. His legacy will live on not only in the music he masterfully created, but also in a life well lived.
Issued by COSATU
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SADTU Statement on National Youth Day – June 16
Dr Mugwena Maluleke, SADTU General Secretary, 16 June 2026
SADTU Commemorates National Youth Day and Honours the Legacy of the June 16 Uprising
The South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (SADTU) joins the nation in commemorating National Youth Day and marking the 50th anniversary of the historic 16 June 1976 uprising.
This day remains deeply etched in the collective consciousness of the South African liberation struggle and stands as a powerful symbol of resistance against racial oppression, exploitation and injustice.
As we pay tribute to the courageous youth of Soweto and across South Africa who rose in defiance of the brutal system of Bantu Education, we remember that it was a system deliberately designed to entrench inequality, reproduce cheap labour, enforce social inferiority and subjugate Black people within an unjust social and economic order.
The youth of 1976 understood that education is a powerful instrument of liberation. Their bravery, clarity of purpose and sacrifice helped to lay the foundation for the democratic South Africa we enjoy today.
For SADTU, this day is not merely a historical marker on the calendar; it is a profound reminder that education remains a critical site of struggle in the pursuit of social justice, equality and human development. The legacy of 1976 continues to inspire our commitment to defend, transform and deepen public education.
For SADTU, this day is not merely a historical marker on the calendar; it is a profound reminder that education remains a critical site of struggle in the pursuit of social justice, equality and human development. The legacy of 1976 continues to inspire our commitment to defend, transform and deepen public education.
As we remember the pain, defiance and courage of the youth of 1976, we are reminded that language choice is not neutral, curriculum choice is not neutral, and even the classroom is not neutral. Each reflects relations of power, defines whose knowledge matters, and shapes whose humanity is affirmed or denied.
Since the advent of democracy, important gains have been made in widening access to education and in redressing the inequalities of apartheid. These include no-fee schools, the school nutrition programme, scholar transport, access to NSFAS, the expansion of mother tongue-based bilingual education, the deracialisation of institutions, and the democratisation of education governance and access.
SADTU also notes the recent move to advance a new History curriculum, including the proposal to make History compulsory more broadly in the schooling system, a demand the union has raised for many years.
While South Africa has achieved political freedom, the challenges confronting today’s youth remind us that the struggle for genuine emancipation is far from over. Young people continue to face high levels of unemployment, inequality and social exclusion. Youth unemployment remains alarmingly high, with many graduates and qualified young people unable to secure employment opportunities.
These realities have led many young people to question the value of education despite their hard work and academic achievement.
As a union rooted in the education sector, SADTU remains steadfast in its belief that education is a vital tool for social and economic transformation. That is why we continue to advocate for quality public education and training that respond to the needs of a changing economy and society, provide functional skills, support youth entrepreneurship, innovation and job creation initiatives, and build caring, tolerant, patriotic and socially responsible citizens.
As a union of revolutionary professionals and workers in education, the legacy of 1976 compels SADTU to defend public education as a public good and to intensify the struggle for a system rooted in human dignity, social justice, equality and economic emancipation.
The commemoration of 16 June also strengthens our resolve to resist, with determination, the threats to quality public education, including budget cuts, post freezes, underfunding and austerity measures that undermine the transformative role of education in a democratic society.
To fail the youth of today would be to betray the sacrifices made by the generation of 1976. We honour their legacy by recommitting ourselves to creating conditions that empower young people to participate meaningfully in shaping South Africa’s future, not from the margins, but from the centre of our society and economy.
ISSUED BY: SADTU Secretariat
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SACP statement on June 16 commemoration
Mbulelo Mandlana, SACP Head of Media, Communications and Information, 16 June 2026
The South African Communist Party (SACP) joins the people of South Africa in commemorating the 16 June 1976 youth uprising, one of the defining moments in our struggle for freedom, equality and human dignity. This 50th anniversary of the Soweto Uprising is remarkable for how it signifies the maturing of the South African struggle and the radicalising power of youth.
We honour the young people of 1976 who stood against apartheid oppression and the degrading system of Bantu Education. Their courage reminds us that youth are not passive observers in history, but active participants in shaping society.
As we mark this anniversary, we must also reflect honestly on the conditions facing young people today, especially working-class and poor youth. Political freedom has created important democratic rights, but for many young people the promise of liberation remains limited by unemployment, poverty, inequality, poor access to quality education, unsafe communities and the high cost of living.
The class reality is clear: young people from wealthy backgrounds are far more likely to access better schools, networks, technology, transport, further education and employment opportunities. Working-class and poor youth, particularly in townships, villages and informal settlements, continue to carry the heaviest burden of South Africa’s social and economic crisis.
For this reason, the message of 16 June must not be reduced to ceremony. It must speak directly to the lived realities of young people today. The struggle for quality public education must be connected to the struggle for decent work, skills, land, safe communities, affordable transport, access to technology, cultural development and meaningful participation in the economy.
The SACP calls on young people to organise, study, build, participate and lead. Our country needs a youth that is conscious, disciplined, skilled, compassionate and rooted in the needs of the people. Young people must reject despair, crime, substance abuse, gender-based violence, corruption and narrow individualism. They must take up the task of rebuilding communities, defending democracy, strengthening public institutions and creating new forms of collective economic activity. The need for new ideas in our society cannot be overstated given the evolving challenges facing our country and the world.
In an age of reorganisation of productive forces and the changing of technological norms governing how capitalism operates, young people today ought to be at the centre of articulating contemporary struggles in contemporary conditions. The working-class movement is required to deliberately tap into the creative and imaginative power of the young workers as part of its strategy to organise the working class for changing conditions in the present day. It is the awareness of the experience and perspective of young workers that can extricate the working-class movement from a reality of a working-class base that is increasingly unengaged in trade union activity.
Government and society as a whole must place youth development at the centre of national transformation. This requires expanded public investment in education and training, industrial development, community-based enterprises, co-operatives, agriculture, the care economy, the digital economy and public employment programmes. Youth must not only be treated as job seekers, but as builders, producers, innovators and organisers of a more equal society.
The memory of 1976 calls on us to deepen democracy by tackling the material conditions that continue to reproduce inequality. The best tribute to the June 16 generation is to build a society in which every young person, regardless of class background, can learn, work, create, participate and live with dignity.
On this anniversary, the SACP reaffirms its commitment to working-class youth, poor communities and the struggle for a more just, equal and humane South Africa.
ISSUED BY THE SOUTH AFRICAN COMMUNIST PARTY,
FOUNDED IN 1921 AS THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF SOUTH AFRICA.
Media, Communications & Information Department | MCID
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SACP message of condolences to the family of South African jazz icon Abdullah Ibrahim
Mbulelo Mandlana, SACP Head of Media, Communications and Information, 16 June 2026
The South African Communist Party (SACP) joins the nation and people across the world in mourning the death of one of South Africa's most celebrated musicians and cultural ambassadors, the jazz icon Abdullah Ibrahim, who died on Monday at 91.
The SACP conveys its message of heartfelt condolences to his family as well as the liberation movement and the people of South Africa for the loss to whom he devoted his entire life and work.
Celebrated as a master pianist and a pioneering composer, Ibrahim’s extraordinary career spanned more than seventy years, making him one of the most influential musicians across the globe. The untiring musician never stopped playing. His final performance took place on 27 March 2026 at the Cape Town International Jazz Festival.
Ibrahim was more than a musical icon, however. Many of his compositions instilled social consciousness in the people of South Africa. His iconic “Manedberg”, recorded two years before the historic Soweto Uprising, was inspired by the Cape Flats township where many of those forcibly removed from District Six were sent. Through his music, he unapologetically inspired anti-apartheid resistance and hope for the people.
While his music inspired the people of South Africa to stand firmly in resistance against apartheid rule, Ibrahim was equally inspired by the 1976 uprising to the point that, following the uprising, he publicly expressed his full support for the liberation movement which had been banned 16 years earlier.
Together with his wife, musician Sathima Bea Benjamin, Ibrahim was forced to move to Europe in 1962, in the aftermath of the Sharpeville massacre, briefly returning to Cape Town in 1968. The racist apartheid system again forced them to exile until their return in the early 1990s.
Life and work abroad did not remove their connection from South Africa, however, as they continued to compose music to inspire the global community to support the people’s struggle against apartheid.
Upon his return to South Africa in the 1990s, Ibrahim had symphony orchestra performances and honoured President Nelson Mandela with a performance at his inauguration as president.
Among many accolades and awards, in 2009, the Presidency honoured Ibrahim with the Order of Ikhamanga in Silver for his excellent contribution to the arts, putting South Africa on the international map, and his fight against racism and apartheid. On the other hand, his wife Sathima Bea Benjamin, with whom they were inseparable, had been honoured with the Order of Ikhamanga in Silver in 2004 for her excellent contribution as a jazz artist and for her contribution to the struggle against apartheid. Benjamin died in 2013.
In tribute to Abdullah Ibrahim, the SACP reiterates its call for the support of South African music. The various governmental departments, including the departments of arts and culture, and basic education, have the responsibility of creating platforms for the development, recognition and profiling of African crafts of various talents. As the SACP, we will continue to support our talented performers with the intention to rekindle political consciousness among the people of our country, in memory of Ibrahim and various music stalwarts we have lost.
ISSUED BY THE SOUTH AFRICAN COMMUNIST PARTY
FOUNDED IN 1921 AS THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF SOUTH AFRICA.
Media, Communications & Information Department | MCID
International-Solidarity
Union gears up organizing Namibia’s auto workers
11 June, 2026
Fourteen shop stewards from the Metal and Allied Namibian Workers' Union (MANWU) attended a capacity-building workshop in Windhoek on 4-5 June. The training
focused on organizing the automotive industries, which employ about 40,000 workers.
MANWU, an IndustriALL affiliate, wants to boost its membership in the sector.
Namibia’s automotive sector is growing. The government has backed original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), most notably Peugeot, as anchors for a domestic industry. But the Peugeot project has stalled. The carmaker has struggled to sustain sales in the local
market and has not broken into exports. Fewer jobs have been created as a result.
New entrants, among them Chinese manufacturers, are expected to make in-roads into Namibia’s still-modest market. Meanwhile, the government is laying groundwork for an electric vehicle (EV) industry. This is in line with a Just Transition policy that seeks
to ensure the shift to clean transport does not happen at workers’ expense.
Learning the basics
The workshop, supported by IndustriALL Sub-Saharan Africa regional office, covered occupational health and safety (OHS), workplace case handling, organizing strategies and the Just Transition.
OHS committees were described as a centrepiece of the training. Workers learnt how to establish and run such committees. When they function properly, the committees are among the most effective mechanisms available. They reduce injuries, enforce legal protections
and give workers a formal voice over working conditions. In a sector where safety risks are common and enforcement uneven, health and safety are key.
“We came to learn how to handle cases at the workplace, to know our rights and what the union can do for us,”
said Stephanie Kapuka who works at Gobabis Toyota.
Case handling including navigating disciplinary procedures, grievances and disputes were discussed. For workers without specialist legal training, workplace conflicts can feel unwinnable. The workshop aimed to change that, building confidence alongside competence.
Participants were honest about the organizing challenge. Collective bargaining improves only when membership grows. Workers must trust that the union can deliver. And the union must have the numbers to sit at the negotiating table.
Just Transition
In Namibia, where mining and manufacturing are central to livelihoods and under pressure from decarbonization, the meaning of the Just Transition is contested. For MANWU’s members, just transition means the automotive sector will be transformed. The global
push for EVs is reshaping the industry, even if uptake in Namibia remains low. If workers are not at the table, the costs will fall on the most vulnerable. That was the clear message from the shop stewards. MANWU is participating in national Just Transition
discussions and wants to ensure that shop stewards can translate the policy language back to the shop floor.
“I want to understand what Just Transition means for our jobs, not just to hear the phrase but know what it actually means for workers like us,”
said Andreas Hochobes from Drydock and Ship Repair.
“With the transition going through the automotive industries as a result of e-mobility, unions should continue their recruitment drives and engage in collective bargaining. Social dialogue with key partners remains essential in order to protect workers’ working
conditions,”
said Paule-France Ndessomin, IndustriALL regional secretary for Sub-Saharan Africa.
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Norman Mampane (Shopsteward Editor)
Congress of South African Trade Unions
110 Jorissen Cnr Simmonds Street, Braamfontein, 2017
P.O.Box 1019, Johannesburg, 2000, South Africa
Tel: +27 11 339-4911 Direct line: 010 219-1348