Taking COSATU Today Forward, 18 May 2026
Norman Mampane
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COSATU TODAY COSATU Call Center Contacts: 010 002 2590 #Cosatu congratulates #SAMATU for concluding its successful 2nd National Congress over the weekend #ClassSolidarity #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
18 May 2026
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Contents
- Workers Parliament: Back to Basics!
- SAMWU cautiously welcomes the appointed Board of Lepelle Northern Water
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POPCRU condemns SAPS Forensic Science Laboratory’s reckless disregard for occupational health and safety laws
NEHAWU Western Cape calls on the DA government to account for its failure to build a new healthcare facility for the decommissioned GF Jooste Hospital - Tension Mounts at South Deep as NUM and UASA Accuses Gold Fields Management of 'Arrogance' in Wage Talks
- South Africa
-
Address by COSATU General Secretary, Comrade Solly Phetoe, to the 2nd National Elective Congress of the South African Medical Association –Trade Union (SAMATU)
South African Communist Party (SACP) welcomes Cosatu’s engagement with the SACP on the Conference of the Left
- International-Workers’ Solidarity!
- Education support personnel and education unions unite for gender justice
Workers’ Parliament-Back2Basics #ClassWar
SAMWU cautiously welcomes the appointed Board of Lepelle Northern Water
Dumisane Magagula, SAMWU General Secretary, 18 May 2026
The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (SAMWU) notes and congratulates the newly appointed Board of Lepelle Northern Water, including the re-appointment of the Chairperson, Dr. Nndweleni Mphephu. The Board is set to officially commence its term of office on 1 June 2026, as announced by Cabinet.
SAMWU welcomes this appointment with cautious optimism. As a union representing workers within the water sector, we view the appointment of a new Board as an opportunity to restore stability, strengthen governance, improve labour relations and take Lepelle Northern Water to new heights.
Over the years, Lepelle Northern Water has unfortunately been one of the most problematic entities within the Amanzi Bargaining Council. Workers have endured longstanding unresolved labour matters, unilateral conduct, poor engagement and instability which have negatively affected morale and trust within the institution. It is therefore our hope and expectation that the new Board will usher in a new era of accountability, meaningful engagement and respect for workers and collective bargaining processes.
SAMWU and workers at Lepelle Northern Water want to see real change during this new term. This change must not be cosmetic, it must be reflected in how the entity deals with workers, organised labour and the implementation of collective agreements.
Among the urgent issues requiring the immediate attention of the new Board are the following:
1.
The long-outstanding 3.5% from the 2019 Collective Agreement
Workers remain aggrieved by the failure to fully implement the outstanding 3.5% salary increase arising from the 2019 Collective Agreement. This matter has remained unresolved for far too long and must be prioritised in the interest of justice, fairness and
labour peace.
2.
Payment of the 2024/25 performance bonus
SAMWU calls on the new Board to ensure that the performance bonus for the 2024/25 financial year is paid. Workers have continued to carry the entity under difficult conditions and should not be denied benefits linked to their contribution and performance.
3.
Unilateral changes to conditions of service and policy reviews
The
Union remains concerned by unilateral changes to conditions of service and the review of organisational policies without proper consultation with organised labour. The new Board must ensure that no changes affecting workers are introduced outside lawful and
meaningful engagement with recognised unions.
4.
Inclusive stakeholder engagement in strategic planning
SAMWU calls on the new Board to ensure that organised labour is involved in its first strategic session and in the broader strategic planning processes of the entity. Workers and their representatives have practical solutions to the challenges faced by Lepelle
Northern Water. Decisions about the future of the entity cannot be taken without the voices of those who keep the institution operational on a daily basis.
5.
Full implementation of collective agreements concluded at the Amanzi Bargaining Council
The new Board must ensure the full implementation of all collective agreements concluded at the Amanzi Bargaining Council. Collective bargaining is central to labour stability in the sector, and any failure to implement collective agreements undermines both
the Council and the trust of workers.
SAMWU is available and willing to have a meaningful session with the new Board to engage on these challenges and to present practical proposals that can assist in stabilising the entity. We believe that through genuine engagement, respect for collective bargaining and a commitment to workers, Lepelle Northern Water can be repositioned as a stable and functional institution.
As SAMWU, we trust and hope that the appointment of the new Board will mark the beginning of a new chapter for Lepelle Northern Water, one in which workers are respected, collective agreements are honoured, and longstanding problems are decisively addressed.
Issued by SAMWU Secretariat
__________________
POPCRU
condemns SAPS Forensic Science Laboratory’s reckless disregard for occupational health and safety laws
Richard Mamabolo,
POPCRU National Spokesperson, 17 May 2026
The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (POPCRU) condemns in the strongest possible terms the shocking and reckless failure by the South African Police Service (SAPS) Forensic Science Laboratory management to comply with the prescripts of occupational
health and safety legislation, thereby exposing forensic members to serious biological hazards and potential long-term health consequences.
The allegations brought to our attention by members working within the Forensic Science Laboratory paint a deeply disturbing picture of institutional negligence, disregard for human life, and blatant violation of the law. These are workers who daily handle
highly hazardous biological exhibits, including blood, semen, and other bodily fluids, in the execution of their duties in pursuit of justice and criminal investigations. Yet the employer has allegedly failed to uphold the minimum legal and safety obligations
imposed upon it by the Occupational Health and Safety Act 85 of 1993 and the Hazardous Biological Agents Regulations.
In terms of Regulation 8 of the Hazardous Biological Agents Regulations, employees exposed to biological hazards must receive the necessary vaccinations, medical surveillance, and ongoing monitoring to ensure their continued immunity and safety in the workplace.
Members within the forensic environment are routinely vaccinated against Hepatitis A and B because of the nature of their operational exposure. However, according to information received, SAPS failed to conduct the mandatory medical surveillance and hepatitis
profiling required under the employer’s own risk assessment process.
It is deeply alarming that members who were due for screening and profiling as early as January and February 2025 were allegedly never taken for such assessments. Even more disturbing is the allegation that management remained silent for over a year while knowingly
allowing employees to continue working in high-risk operational environments without confirming whether they remained immunised and medically protected.
This conduct constitutes a direct contravention of Section 8 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, which places a legal duty upon the employer to provide and maintain a working environment that is safe and without risk to the health of employees. Furthermore,
the employer has allegedly violated Section 13 of the same Act by failing to adequately inform workers of the hazards associated with their work and by withholding critical medical surveillance information from affected employees.
POPCRU is equally outraged by reports that workers who attempted to exercise their lawful rights in terms of Section 14 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act — including the right to remove themselves from dangerous working conditions — were threatened
with salary stoppages and intimidation. Such actions amount not only to victimisation and coercion, but also reflect a toxic management culture that prioritises production targets over the lives, health, and dignity of workers.
The situation becomes even more indefensible when considering that SAPS’ own Standard Operating Procedure (OHS007P) reportedly states that once employees become due for medical surveillance, they should immediately cease operational duties until compliance
measures are concluded, precisely to prevent exposure and contamination risks. Yet management allegedly continues to compel members to perform operational duties despite full knowledge of the risks involved.
POPCRU wishes to place it on record that no worker should ever be forced to choose between earning a salary and protecting their health and life. Workers are not disposable tools of labour. They are human beings with constitutional rights to dignity, safety,
life, and fair labour practices.
It is unacceptable that repeated engagements by POPCRU structures at regional level have reportedly reached deadlock without meaningful intervention from SAPS management. Such arrogance and indifference toward worker safety cannot be tolerated any further.
POPCRU therefore demands the following with immediate effect:
• The immediate suspension of all affected operational activities until proper medical surveillance, hepatitis profiling, and safety compliance processes are completed.
• Urgent medical screening and vaccination verification for all affected forensic members across all regions.
• A full independent occupational health and safety investigation into the conduct of SAPS Forensic Science Laboratory management.
• Accountability against officials who knowingly exposed workers to biological risks in violation of the law and internal safety protocols.
• An end to intimidation, threats, and victimisation against workers asserting their lawful safety rights.
• Immediate engagement with organised labour to resolve the matter in line with the Occupational Health and Safety Act and collective bargaining principles.
The forensic environment is not an ordinary workplace. It is a high-risk operational environment that demands the highest level of compliance with health and safety standards. Failure to comply places workers at risk of contracting life-threatening diseases
and undermines the integrity, morale, and sustainability of forensic services within SAPS.
POPCRU will continue to defend the lives, safety, and dignity of workers without fear or compromise. We will not remain silent while members are treated as expendable and exposed to preventable occupational dangers.
Issued by POPCRU
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NEHAWU Western Cape calls on the DA government to account for its failure to build a new healthcare facility for the decommissioned GF Jooste Hospital
Baxolise Mali, NEHAWU Western Cape Provincial Secretary, May 16, 2026
The National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union [NEHAWU] in the Western Cape calls on the DA Government to account for its failure to build a new healthcare facility to replace the GF Jooste Hospital after more than 12 years since its decommissioning.
In 2014, the DA Government had taken a bizarre and appalling decision to decommission the hospital and promised to build a new Healthcare facility that would replace the GF Jooste Hospital by 2016. Instead, the opposite has occurred over the last decade, with no building of any new healthcare facility despite presented budgets in legislature for this project which turned to be a mere campaign strategy for all these years.
The decommissioning of GF Jooste Hospital came at a great cost for people in the surrounding areas, as they had lost access to a healthcare facility that used to provide health service to thousands of people as a result had to travel many kilometres in order to get services in Khayelitsha District Hospital. However, the GF Jooste Hospital used to provide for thousands of working class families in the surrounding areas as a level-one district hospital, however used to provide health services that are at secondary level hospital with specialist services such as obstetrics and gynaecology, and surgical specialists...etc.
We find it deplorable that the DA Government has not moved an inch to build a new healthcare facility as per their promise when decommissioning the GF Jooste Hospital, and this is against the background of healthcare system that is confronted by insurmountable challenges which amongst others range from staff shortages, dilapidated healthcare infrastructure, and shortage of medicines.
Indeed, the DA Government has demonstrated beyond any reason doubt that it does not value or care about the welfare of the working class families and this is evident by its failure to build a new healthcare facility replacing GF Jooste Hospital, but planning through its deployees in the City of Cape Town to build a R180 million security wall which must divide the rich from the poor. It is totally unacceptable that the government has neglected its duty of ensuring that the people in surrounding areas receive quality healthcare services.
As NEHAWU, we call on the DA Government to account for its dismal failure since 2014 to build a new healthcare facility replacing the decommissioned GF Jooste Hospital and to provide improved quality service to our people in order to better their lives particularly, the working class and the poor.
END
Issued by NEHAWU Western Cape Secretariat
________________
Tension Mounts at South Deep as NUM and UASA Accuses Gold Fields Management of 'Arrogance' in Wage Talks
Ntsane Monaheng, NUM Chief Negotiator at Goldfields, 15 May 2026
Wage negotiations between the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), UASA and Gold Fields’ South Deep management have grown increasingly tense during their fifth round of talks at the Indaba Hotel in Fourways.
While talks continue, the union has sharply criticised the mining house, accusing executives of displaying "pomposity and arrogance" rather than engaging constructively in plenary sessions. NUM and UASA leadership warned management to immediately halt what they described as "instructive and disrespectful behaviour," demanding that the union be treated with professional respect to safeguard stable labour relations.
The Core Dispute: A Widening Wage Gap
The friction comes as the parties remain far apart on wage increases, set against a backdrop of surging international gold prices that have boosted Gold Fields’ profitability.
The current proposals on the table include:
Employee Category NUM Demand Gold Fields Offer
Categories 4–8 (Lowest Paid) 11.0% 7.0%
Artisans, Miners, & Officials 9.5% 5.7%
NUM and UASA argues that the company’s current offers fail to reflect the substantial profits Gold Fields has recently generated from the robust global gold market in light of the production generated by the workforce that will earn these wages.
Demands for Financial Transparency
In a move to persuade the company before the next session, NUM has formally invoked Section 16 of the Labour Relations Act (LRA) 66 of 1995. This statutory provision mandates that employers disclose relevant information to representative trade unions to ensure effective consultation and collective bargaining.
The unions have requested that Gold Fields hand over the following data within a reasonable timeframe before the next round of talks resume:
- Detailed revenue and overall profitability metrics.
- Comprehensive remuneration records and internal dividend and bonus payout structures.
Next Steps
The direction of the negotiations will soon be determined by the workforce. The unions have confirmed they will report the company's latest offer to its members during a mass meeting next week on Tuesday (19 May 2026).
Union leadership emphasised that the workers themselves will ultimately decide whether to accept Gold Fields' current proposal or reject it to push for further negotiations.
South Africa #ClassSolidarity
Address
by COSATU General Secretary, Comrade Solly Phetoe, to the 2nd National Elective Congress of the South African Medical Association –Trade Union (SAMATU)
Solly
Phetoe, COSATU General Secretary, Johannesburg Marriott Hotel, Melrose Arch, 15 – 17 May 2026
Theme: "Advancing the interests of doctors under the banner of SAMATU"
1. Introduction
Comrade President Dr Langanani Mbodi, the Deputy Presidents Dr Nkateko Mnisi and Dr Tshilidzi Sadiki, the General Secretary Dr Cedric Sihlangu, the National Treasurer Dr Bruce Malumane, the entire National Office Bearer collective of SAMATU, delegates from
every corner of our country, invited guests, sister unions, the working class of South Africa —revolutionary greetings to you all!
I bring you the warm, militant and fraternal greetings of the Congress of South African Trade Unions, our 1.5 million members, our 16 affiliates, and the entire COSATU leadership. We are honoured to stand with you today as you gather under the powerful theme:
"Advancing the interests of doctors under the banner of SAMATU."
Comrades, under COSATU, the white coats of our doctors join
• the overalls of our miners and manufacturing workers,
• the uniforms of our nurses, police, retail workers and municipal workers,
• the boots of our farm workers,
• the protective wear of our chemical workers,
• the aprons of our domestic workers,
• the suits of our office workers
All under one banner, one Federation, and one common struggle. An injury to one is an injury to all!
2. Thirty-two Years of Democracy, Thirty Years of the Constitution
This year we mark 32 years since the workers, the poor and the oppressed of this country broke the chains of apartheid and voted for the first time in 1994. We also mark 30 years since the adoption of our Constitution in 1996 — a Constitution written in
the blood of our martyrs.
We have made real gains, comrades. Millions of homes built. Millions connected to water, electricity and sanitation. Free basic education. Social grants that keep over 28 million of our people from going to bed hungry. Workers’ rights enshrined in the Labour
Relations Act, the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, the National Minimum Wage. These gains were not gifts from the bosses — they were won by workers in the streets, in the factories, in the mines, in the hospitals.
But comrades, let us be honest with ourselves. The Constitution promised dignity. The Constitution promised equality. The Constitution promised that this land belongs to all who live in it. Thirty years later, that promise is still gathering dust on the shelves
of the elite.
Apartheid was defeated politically, but apartheid lives on in the economy. The colour of poverty in this country is still black. The face of unemployment is still young, still black, still female.
The struggle for political freedom is won. The struggle for economic freedom — the second, deeper liberation — is the struggle of our generation.
3. The Socio-Economic Crisis Facing the Working Class
Comrades, the working class today is under siege.Unemployment stands at over 32%, and youth unemployment is sitting at a shocking 57 to 58 percent. More than 3.5 million young South Africans are not in employment, education or training. A whole generation
is being thrown on the scrap heap.
And as SAMATU’s own Junior Doctors Memorandum to the President tells us — even our young doctors, trained at great cost to the nation, are sitting at home unemployed while our clinics and hospitals are collapsing for lack of staff. What kind of country trains
doctors and then locks them out of the hospitals?
Poverty has deepened. Inequality has widened. South Africa remains the most unequal country in the world. The cost of bread, electricity, transport and school uniforms is breaking the back of every working-class family.
Crime is terrorising our communities. Gender-based violence is a national shame.
Corruption has looted billions that should have built hospitals, schools, water systems and houses. Our municipalities are collapsing — sewage runs in our streets, taps run dry, potholes swallow our cars, and the lights go out.
Our state-owned enterprises were hollowed out by state capture. Our public services are bleeding from austerity.
Comrades, this is not a natural disaster. This is a political choice. And we are here to say: enough is enough!
4. Geopolitical Turbulence and the Weaponisation of Trade
Comrades, the world is on fire. From Gaza to Sudan, from Ukraine to the Sahel, imperialism is once again showing its true face. We stand firmly with the people of Palestine. We salute our government for taking Israel to the International Court of Justice. The
genocide in Gaza must end. A free Palestine is non-negotiable. From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!
The war in the Middle East is not far from us. It drives up the price of oil, it drives up the price of fuel, it drives up the price of food on the table of every worker in Khayelitsha, in Soshanguve, in KwaMashu.
And now the bullies of the world are weaponising trade. Tariffs are being used as weapons.
AGOA is being held over our heads. Our exports — citrus, cars, wine, steel — are being threatened because we dared to stand on principle, because we dared to defend international law, because we dared to be a sovereign nation. But South Africa will not be bullied.
South Africa will not kneel. We will trade with the world on our own terms.
5. COSATU and the Constitutional Court Ruling on the Section 89 Report
Comrades, allow me to speak plainly on a matter that is dominating the headlines — the Section 89 Panel Report concerning President Cyril Ramaphosa, and the recent ruling of the Constitutional Court.
COSATU has noted the President's intention to exercise his legal right to take the Section 89 Panel Report on review. We welcome the fact that the President has taken the nation into his confidence on this pressing matter. We are comforted by his consistent
and principled affirmation of the independence of the judiciary and its constitutionally enshrined role of holding the executive accountable at all times. That is how a constitutional democracy must work.
Comrades, the Report and the allegations it raises are a matter of great concern to all of us.
But it is important that space be given to Parliament to fulfil its responsibilities in full, as directed by the Constitutional Court. We expect every Member of Parliament, across party lines, to uphold the spirit and the letter of the Constitution. Now is
not the time to play to the public gallery. Now is not the time to chase social media likes and newspaper headlines, no matter how close the local government elections may be, and no matter by how
desperate some politicians are for attention. These are sensitive and uncertain times —globally and at home — and our country deserves leaders who behave with discipline and maturity, not loudmouths performing for the cameras.
It is equally sacrosanct, comrades, that President Ramaphosa be afforded his
constitutionally guaranteed right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty — in a court of law, or, in the event of impeachment, by Parliament itself. Social media hysteria has no legal standing. A trending hashtag is not a verdict. A viral video is not
a judgment. The Constitution is clear, and we must respect it.
None of us wishes for these messy headlines, especially at a time when our people are grappling with high unemployment, weak economic growth, the rising cost of living, entrenched poverty and inequality, endemic crime and corruption, and embattled public and
municipal services. The working class wants leaders who are focused on jobs, on hospitals, on schools, on safety — not on scandals.
But comrades, let us also take pride in something important. Ours is a robust constitutional democracy where everyone is subjected to oversight by Parliament, scrutiny by the judiciary, and ultimately the verdict of the people.
No one is above the law — not a worker, not a boss, not a Minister, not a President. This democracy was built and achieved in no small part by the liberation movement led by our Tripartite Alliance together with the mass democratic movement, the youth, the
women, and the workers of this country. It was paid for in blood, in sweat, in exile, in prison cells, in picket lines. We must defend these fundamental tenets of our nation at all times.And so COSATU says: let the courts do their work. Let Parliament do its
work. Let the President exercise his rights. And let the working class keep its eye firmly on the real prize — jobs, healthcare, housing, education, and the economic freedom that still eludes the majority of our people.
6. Budget Cuts and the Crisis in Public Healthcare
Comrades of SAMATU, the crisis you face every day in our hospitals is the sharp edge of austerity. Treasury has cut, cut and cut again. Posts are frozen. Equipment is broken. Medicines are out of stock. Ambulances do not arrive. Patients sleep on benches.
And our doctors, our nurses, our paramedics carry the weight of a collapsing system on their shoulders.
Your own memorandum to the President puts it bluntly: hundreds of qualified doctors are unemployed while hospitals are understaffed. This is not a mistake. This is austerity. This is Treasury choosing bondholders over babies in maternity wards.
COSATU stands with SAMATU in demanding the immediate absorption of every unemployed doctor, the unfreezing of every vacant post, and the end of austerity in healthcare, education and all frontline services. The lives of our people are not a line item on a spreadsheet!
7. Improving the Working Conditions of Doctors and Health Professionals
Comrades, a doctor who works a 30-hour shift cannot save lives — they can barely save their own. A junior doctor who sleeps in their car between calls is not a sign of dedication, it is a sign of exploitation. A nurse who buys gloves out of her own pocket
is a national disgrace.
COSATU supports SAMATU in the fight for fair remuneration, safe working hours, proper rest, mental health support, security in our hospitals, modern equipment, and clean, safe facilities. The doctor who heals the nation must also be protected by the nation.
8. Defend the NHI Act – Accelerate its Roll-Out
Comrades, the National Health Insurance Act is one of the most important pieces of transformation legislation since 1994. It is the working-class answer to apartheid
healthcare. It says that whether you are a mineworker in Rustenburg or a CEO in Sandton, you must receive the same quality of care.
The medical aid bosses, the private hospital cartels and the opposition parties have run to court to stop the NHI. They want to keep a two-tier system — gold-plated healthcare for the rich, and broken clinics for the poor. We say: not in our name!
COSATU will defend the NHI Act in every court, in every street, in every workplace.
We call on SAMATU to march with us, to litigate with us, to mobilise with us. Accelerate the roll-out. Fix the public system. Build one quality healthcare system for one united nation.
9. Build Unity Amongst COSATU’s Healthcare Unions
Comrades, the bosses love a divided working class. Divided we beg. United we win.
COSATU has several unions organising in the health sector — NEHAWU, DENOSA and SAMATU. We must end turf wars. We must end poaching. We must build a COSATU Health Sector Coordinating Forum where doctors, nurses, allied workers, cleaners and administrators speak
with one voice. One sector. One struggle. One federation.
10. Build and Strengthen SAMATU – Recruit in the Private Sector Too
Comrades, SAMATU is young, but SAMATU is mighty. You have shaken Government with your Junior Doctors Memorandum. You have put unemployed doctors on the national agenda. Now you must grow.
Recruit every doctor in every public hospital. But do not stop there — go into the private hospitals. The doctor in Netcare, in Mediclinic, in Life Healthcare is also a worker. They too are exploited by long hours, by corporate targets, by billing pressures.
Organise them. Bring them into the family of SAMATU and COSATU. A union grows by recruiting, by servicing, and by winning.
11. Stop the Brain Drain
Every year we lose hundreds of doctors and nurses to the United Kingdom, to Canada, to Australia, to the Gulf. We train them with public money, and we export them like a raw mineral. This must stop.
We must pay our health professionals what they are worth. We must give them decent conditions, proper equipment and respect. A doctor who is valued at home will not pack her bags for London. COSATU will fight side by side with SAMATU to make South Africa a
place where our healers want to stay.
12. Expand Medical Universities – Bring Healthcare to the Rural Areas and Townships
Comrades, we cannot keep producing doctors only from Wits, UCT, Stellenbosch, UKZN, Pretoria, Free State, Walter Sisulu and Sefako Makgatho. We need more medical schools.
We need a medical school in every province. We need to open the doors of learning to the child of the farm worker, the child of the domestic worker, the child of the unemployed. And we need to send our doctors where they are needed most — to Lusikisiki, to
Giyani, to Taung, to Kuruman, to the deep rural areas and the forgotten townships. Healthcare must follow the people, not the postcodes of the rich.
13. Workers’ Day 2026 – A Report Back
Comrades, on the 1st of May this year, COSATU led the working class onto the streets and into stadiums across all nine provinces. From the Royal Bafokeng Stadium to Mthatha, from Kimberley to Polokwane, workers came out in their numbers. The message was clear:
end austerity, create jobs, defend collective bargaining, fight corruption, implement the NHI, protect the National Minimum Wage, and tax the rich.
It was a powerful day. But Workers’ Day is not just one day. The spirit of May Day must live every day — in every workplace, in every hospital ward, in every picket line.
14. The Road to the COSATU National Congress in September
Comrades, in September this year, COSATU will hold its National Congress. It will be a historic Congress. We need SAMATU there, fully mobilised, fully armed with ideas.
We call on SAMATU to play an active role in three areas:
First, unite the federation. Bring your voice, your discipline and your professionalism to help heal divisions and strengthen COSATU as the leading voice of the working class.
Second, draft militant resolutions. On the NHI, on austerity, on unemployed doctors, on gender-based violence in our hospitals, on the right to strike, on the public service wage negotiations, on the fight against privatisation.
Third, take up the daily grievances of workers. Bring the voice of the junior doctors sleeping in the car. Bring the voice of the medical officer working 36 hours. Bring the voice of the unemployed graduate. Make their pain the pain of the whole Federation.
Conclusion
Comrades, let close where I began. The whir coat is a uniform of struggle. The stethoscope is a tool of liberation. The doctor who fights for the patient is also fighting for the worker, for the poor, for the future of this country.
SAMATU, you are not alone. You stand on the shoulders of every worker who has ever fought for this country-from the 1922 strikes on the Rand, to the 1973 Durban Strikes, to the formation of COSATU in 1985, to the workers who voted in 1994, to the doctors who marched on the Union Building in 2026.
Elect a leadership of integrity. Elect a leadership of struggle. Elect a leadership that will recruit. That will service, that will fight, that will lead.
Go back to your hospitals, your clinics, your wards, your communities-and organise, organise and organise.
An injury to one is an injury to all!
Longg Live SAMATU, long live!
Long Live COSATU, long live!
Amandla!
Awethu!
_________
South African Communist Party (SACP) welcomes Cosatu’s engagement with the SACP on the Conference of the Left
Mbulelo Mandlana, SACP Head of Media, Communications and Information, 17 May 2026
The South African Communist Party (SACP) has noted the communication issued by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) following its Special Central Executive Committee meeting held on 14 May 2026, including Cosatu’s reaffirmed interest in the Conference of the Left and its request for further engagement on the character, role and arrangements of the conference.
Cosatu has been part of the broader political process towards the Conference of the Left. While the initiative was originally advanced by the SACP, the conference is now being driven through a broader Steering Committee made up of social and political formations, including Cosatu and other progressive forces.
The Party welcomes Cosatu’s continued commitment to strengthening working-class unity, rebuilding progressive forces, and advancing a socialist-oriented programme against austerity, unemployment, inequality, poverty and the deepening crisis facing workers and communities.
The SACP will engage Cosatu this week to provide a full briefing on the work of the Steering Committee, the state of preparations, the political objectives of the conference, and the role of participating formations. This engagement will also allow the Party and Cosatu to clarify any outstanding organisational and political matters in a comradely manner.
The SACP remains firmly committed to ensuring that the Conference of the Left becomes a unifying platform for workers, communities, social movements, progressive organisations and left formations to develop a common programme of action.
The struggle for working-class unity and socialist transformation continues.
ISSUED BY THE SOUTH AFRICAN COMMUNIST PARTY,
FOUNDED IN 1921 AS THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF SOUTH AFRICA.
Media, Communications & Information Department | MCID
International-Solidarity
Education support personnel and education unions unite for gender justice
Standards and working conditions Education support personnel, 13 May 2026
This year’s World Education Support Personnel (ESP) Day, May 16th, is an opportunity to celebrate, thank, and organise alongside ESP. Education International (EI) and its member organisations are focusing on gender justice in 2026. This reflects a structural reality across education systems worldwide: education support roles are highly feminised, systematically undervalued, and too often characterised by low pay, insecurity, and excessive workloads. They are also the targets of harassment and violence.
This gender injustice is not accidental—it is produced by austerity, privatisation, sexist labour markets, and the historic devaluation of care and support work:
- Work that is feminised is underpaid and underprotected.
- Insecure contracts and outsourcing disproportionately impact women.
- Gender-based violence and harassment are present in education workplaces.
- Racialised, Indigenous, migrant, disabled, and LGBTI+ women ESP face compounded discrimination.
Fighting for ESP rights is therefore a core feminist and trade union struggle.
As EI President Mugwena Maluleke stressed: “When we speak of gender justice, we speak with an intersectional voice We speak for women ESP with disabilities. For Indigenous women, Black women, and women of colour. For LGBTI+ ESP. For migrant workers. For every woman whose voice is left out of the conversation."
"To every ESP woman in our schools and universities: we see you, we value you, and we are with you," he added.
Education International policy on Education Support Personnel (ESP)
Education support personnel are essential to quality public education and to safe, inclusive learning environments. Their work must be fully recognised and properly valued. Education International policy is clear: ESP must enjoy the same rights, status, pay, and working conditions as other education personnel with comparable qualifications and experience, as set out in the EI Declaration on the Rights and Status of ESP.
This Declaration also affirms that all aspects of ESP preparation, employment, and remuneration must be free from discrimination. However, unions consistently report that discrimination remains widespread. Women ESP — particularly those who are non white, Indigenous, LGBTI+, or living with disabilities — face unequal pay, insecure work, limited career progression, and exclusion from decision-making in education systems.
As recognised in the Aveiro Statement, education unions are key to organising for workplaces that are free from violence, harassment, and intimidation and for quality working conditions necessary for gender equality. The statement also calls for increased domestic and international public education financing and specific funding for education support personnel, to ensure regular salaries and fair working conditions.
Unions also play an essential role in defending the well-being of ESP. The EI World Congress Resolution 2024 on Teacher and ESP Well-being highlights the unmanageable workloads and demands that negatively impact the work life balance of ESP. These pressures disproportionately affect women due to unequal care responsibilities at work and at home. These challenges are further intensified by the growing use of artificial intelligence in education, often introduced without consultation, safeguards, or concern for workers’ rights.
Gender justice for ESP will not happen without organising. It requires strong unions, collective bargaining, and sustained action to secure fair pay, safe workplaces, manageable workloads, and full respect for the rights and dignity of all education support personnel.
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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