Taking COSATU Today Forward Special Bulletin, 11 February 2026
Norman Mampane
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COSATU TODAY #HandsOffCuba #HandsOffVenezuela #Back2SchoolCampaign continues… #Cosatu40 #SACTU70 #ClassStruggle “Build Working Class Unity for Economic Liberation towards Socialism” #Back2Basics #JoinCOSATUNow #ClassConsciousness |
Taking COSATU Today Forward Special Bulletin
‘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
11 February 2026
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Contents
- Workers Parliament: Back to Basics!
- Inspection blitz in the infamous Newcastle textile belt nets two employers and 34 illegal foreigners
- South Africa
- COSATU welcomes marginal improvement in mineworker fatalities but feels one death is one too many
- North West Provincial Government targets Africa Mining Indaba to lure investments
- International-Workers’ Solidarity!
- Union partnerships are redefining professional development worldwide
- Pakistan Accord renewal protects textile and garment workers
Workers’ Parliament-Back2Basics
Inspection blitz in the infamous Newcastle textile belt nets two employers and 34 illegal foreigners
06 February 2026
A joint inter-departmental inspection blitz in the notorious sweat shops of Newcastle has led to the arrest of two Chinese employers for abusing immigration laws by hiring 34 illegal foreigners who were working in South Africa without valid documents.
The joint inspection by Department of Employment and Labour, the SAPS, Newcastle Metro police and Department of Home Affairs was conducted in the Newcastle Industrial Park's textile/clothing industry. The joint inspection was overseen by the Parliamentary Employment and Labour Portfolio Committee, who are this week conducting an oversight of Department of Employment and Labour operations in the Amajuba district.
The oversight by the Committee has included visit to the Newcastle Labour Centre and conducting of multi-sector inspection blitz of farms, manufacturing, clothing/textile and retail sector.
The inspection led to the serving of a prohibition notice to Qing Xiu Clothing. The clothing/textile company was issued with the notice following its failure to have safe electrical installations; failure to register and produce steam generator certificate; failure to comply with the Unemployment Insurance Act (UIA); not complying with Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases (COID) Act among others.
The notice means that the company must not resume activity until it has taken action to remove or control the risk.
Workers who were provided with an on-premises accommodation in the factory have been ordered to vacate by Friday (6 February 2026). The workers' quarters were a fatal hazard waiting to happen and these were found to be unhygienic and susceptible to fire risk.
Department of Employment and Labour Provincial Chief Inspector, Mlungisi Zondi said there is a need to conduct further sustained intensive inspection blitzes across all sectors in the area.
In terms of the Thursday's inspection blitz six manufacturers were inspected and in terms of:
- Unemployment Insurance Fund: six were found non-compliant
- Basic Conditions of Employment Act: four were compliant
- Occupational Health and Safety: five were non-compliant
- COID: five were non-compliant
For
media enquiries, please contact:
Teboho Thejane
Departmental Spokesperson
082 697 0694/ teboho....@labour.gov.za
-ENDS-
Issued by: Department of Employment and Labour
South Africa #ClassSolidarity
COSATU welcomes marginal improvement in mineworker fatalities but feels one death is one too many
Zanele Sabela, COSATU Spokesperson, 11 February 2026
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) welcomes the marginal decrease in the number of mineworkers who died on duty in 2025 to a record low of 41, from the 42 recorded the previous year.
According to the Minerals Council of South Africa, this record low of 41 represents a 91% drop in fatalities compared to the 484 the industry recorded in 1994. COSATU commends its Affiliate, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), the industry and government led by the ANC for this downward trajectory and the efforts to keep mineworkers safe and healthy at work.
Whilst this is welcome news, we feel one death is one too many, because behind these numbers are workers with families, dependents and colleagues. The impact to families is doubly devastating if the deceased mineworker is a breadwinner. It is therefore crucial for the industry and the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources to continue striving for their stated goal of Zero Harm.
The Minerals Council also expressed concern that embedded in the 41 deaths is an increase in the falls-of-ground fatalities from 12 in 2024 to 15 in 2025, even though over the years it has noted a sharp decline of about 78%. The Council undertook to engage member companies to understand the reasons for this regression.
The decline in the number of serious injuries from 1925 in 2024 to 1693 the following year was noted. The industry also claims an 80% decrease in TB and silicosis incidence to 220 cases per 100 000 workers in the last 15 years.
COSATU continues to urge all workers who contracted TB in the mines or any other lung disease to follow the necessary process to check their eligibility for compensation from the Medical Bureau of Occupational Diseases (MBOD). This includes ex-mineworkers who contracted TB or silicosis from working in gold mines during specific periods between 12 March 1965 and 10 December 2019. Should the mineworkers be deceased, their dependants will be eligible to claim for compensation.
Any mineworker who worked in these mines for more than five years is entitled to a free medical benefit examination to determine whether they have silicosis or TB as defined in the trust deed.
Should they test positive for these diseases, they will be eligible for compensation. The amount of compensation will depend on the nature of the eligible claimant’s illness.
The Federation once again reminds workers that a person who works or has worked on a mine has a lifelong right to two-yearly medical examinations to determine whether they have an occupational lung disease. This service is provided free by the Department of Health.
The Federation urges government to table the long-awaited Mine Health and Safety Amendment Bill to further strengthen protections for workers.
COSATU remains committed to the health and safety of all workers and will continue to ensure that this is prioritised.
Issued by COSATU
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North West Provincial Government targets Africa Mining Indaba to lure investments
09 Feb 2026
North West provincial Government targeting Africa minng Indaba to lure investments
A high level delegation of the Northwest Provincial Government led by Premier Lazarus Kagiso Mokgosi accompanied MEC for department of Economic Development, Environment, Conservation and Tourism, Bitsa Lenkopane, is expected to engage with Industry Leaders in Mining on the side lines of the Mining Africa Indaba currently underway in Cape Town. The North West province is positioning itself as an ideal and preferred destination for investments and expansion in mining operations.
The province forms part of the world’s largest belt which boasts seventy percent of reserves in Platinum Group Metal Groups (PGMs). Issues ranging from mineral beneficiation, social labour plans, preferential procurement for small enterprises are expected to top the agenda of the meetings.Of critical importance is the commercialisation of the Bojanala Special Economic Special Zone for long-term partnership in areas such as mineral processing, services and specialised equipment.
The
creation of logistical hubs and corridors which link the province with other commercially sound regions on the African continent and Southern African Developing Community (SADC) will also occupy centre stage during discussions.
Premier Mokgosi maintains government is gearing itself up to commercialise the province’s two airports as part of its ongoing efforts to see to the full implementation of the Special Economic Zone (SEZ).
With the Provincial Growth and Development Strategy officially adopted by the Executive Council, Premier Mokgosi believes the province is more than ready to turn the tide against low investment patterns bedeviling its developmental trajectory.
Enquiries:
Sello Tatai
Spokesperson to the Premier
North West Provincial Government
Cell: 064 756 2510 / 082 450 7842
E-mail: SIT...@nwpg.gov.za
Brian
Setswambung
Provincial Head of Communication
Office of the Premier
North West Provincial Government
Cell: 076 012 450
Issued by North West Provincial Government
International-Solidarity
Union partnerships are redefining professional development worldwide
Standards and working conditions Leading the profession Union renewal and development Together we build union power, 10 February 2026
From Canada to The Gambia, from Denmark to Zanzibar, education unions are reshaping professional development as a collective, teacher-led project rooted in solidarity, dignity and local realities.
Through concrete cooperation projects — designed and delivered by unions — professional development is being used as a lever to build membership, enhance advocacy and demonstrate to governments that unions are indispensable actors in the pursuit of quality education.
On January 22nd, 2026, Education International convened an online Development Cooperation Café that brought together union leaders and education professionals from across continents to examine the following question: how can professional development strengthen both teaching and unions themselves?
Two initiatives were highlighted: the long-running “Teaching Together” program linking the Canadian Teachers’ Federation (CTF) and the Gambia Teachers’ Union (GTU) - as one example of 15 such projects carried out by CTF each year -,and a partnership between the Danish Union of Early Childhood and Youth Educators (BUPL) and the Zanzibar Teachers’ Union (ZATU) focused on early childhood education.
“Teaching Together”: Professional Learning, Union Building
At the heart of the CTF–GTU partnership is “Teaching Together,” an international professional learning program.
“It is an immersive collaborative professional learning program,” said Beverley Park, Director of the International Cooperation Program at the Canadian Teachers’ Federation. “And the significant thing is that it is for teachers by teachers.”
The program connects Canadian teachers with peers in partner countries to co-design and co-facilitate projects based on locally identified needs. Curriculum is not exported; pedagogy is discussed, adapted, and lived through practice. “We don’t go in and say, ‘Here’s how you’re supposed to teach,’” Ms. Park explained.
For the Gambia Teachers’ Union, the impact has been both pedagogical and profoundly organizational.
“Especially having some of the Canadian teachers here with us, it is an enriching program for the teachers,” said Momodou Baka Dem, Program and Communications Officer of the GTU. Many participants are early-career educators, paired with more experienced colleagues from abroad — a combination that, he said, has had a visible effect in classrooms.
But the union dimension is just as central. “Teaching Together” has become a recruitment and visibility platform, allowing the GTU to reach young teachers who might otherwise never get to know about the union. “They would always ask: what is the Gambia Teachers’ Union doing for us?” Mr. Dem said. “This program is that platform where we answer some of those questions.”
He also explained that the program has been a crucial tool in recruiting young teachers into leadership roles within the union. “We encouraged participants to be part of the union to take up leadership roles during these programs. For example, he underlined that the regional chairperson for the educational region one – out of 8 regions - during one of the programs, became the Vice-Chair of the Gambia Teachers Union Ladies Society, and the Vice-President of the Gambia Teachers’ Union. Because of the lessons that they got from this program, some of our trainees, those that attended the program, are winning National Teacher Awards because of the impact of the program that they attended, as is the case for the first winner of the Gambia Teacher Prize that was initiated in 2022.”
Through direct engagement, the union has strengthened its advocacy capacity, gathered evidence from lived realities of members, and used it to press government on issues such as teacher housing — with tangible results.
Early Childhood Education and the Power of Context
If “Teaching Together” shows how professional development can renew union life, the partnership between Denmark’s BUPL and Zanzibar’s ZATU illustrates how cooperation can help build entire policy frameworks — especially in underdeveloped sectors like early childhood education.
“Our focus is early childhood education,” said Lasse Bjerg Jørgensen, Treasurer and Head of International Affairs at BUPL. “But we very much make agreements with those countries we cooperate with on what your biggest challenges and issues are, and then we work on that.”
In Zanzibar, those challenges were systemic: low pay, informal employment, weak labor protections, and limited recognition of early childhood educators. According to ZATU General Secretary Haji Juma Omar, the project aimed to address these issues simultaneously — through professional training, advocacy, and social dialogue.
“The project aimed to improve early childhood education by enhancing labor law compliance, working conditions and teacher competence,” Mr. Omar said, emphasizing learning-through-play methodologies alongside union-led advocacy.
The results have been concrete. Teachers have moved onto government payrolls; collective bargaining agreements have been signed in private schools, and early childhood education has been formally integrated into national education policy discussions.
Beyond Numbers, Toward Lasting Impact
Speakers also noted that formal evaluations are rare, and impact is often narrated rather than quantified. But that, Ms. Park suggested, may be precisely the point: “We can give you statistics,” she said, “but that doesn’t tell the story of the impact.”
What does, however, tell the story are teachers who become union leaders, educators who win national awards, and unions that gain the credibility to sit across from governments as equal partners.
The message from the Development Cooperation Café was clear: when teachers lead their own professional development — through their unions — they are not just improving classrooms. They are rebuilding the collective power of the profession itself.
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Pakistan Accord renewal protects textile and garment workers
06 February 2026
In a major gain for workers, representatives from UNI Global Union, IndustriALL Global Union, and global brands have renewed the Pakistan Accord – securing support for a worker health and safety programme at factories supplying signatory fashion and home goods brands in Pakistan.
More than 100 global brands and retailers have signed the renewed Pakistan Accord since it came into effect on 1 January 2026. More brands are expected to join after completing internal approvals. The agreement will be automatically renewed on 31 December 2026 for a further three years and will expire on 31 December 2029, to align with the International Accord framework agreement.
The legally-binding Pakistan Accord improves factory safety through independent inspections, remediation measures, safety training and the worker complaints mechanism. These measures play a crucial role in identifying risks, preventing workplace accidents, and ensuring workers’ health and safety across Pakistan’s textile and garment industry.
With the extension in place, Pakistan Accord programmes at sourcing suppliers for signatory brands will continue to support factories in achieving tangible safety improvements, expanding business opportunities, and giving brands confidence in sourcing responsibly from Pakistan.
“The International Accord framework has fundamentally changed garment worker safety in Bangladesh, and its extension through the Pakistan Accord shows that this model works,” said Christy Hoffman, General Secretary of UNI Global Union. “The Accords save lives, and workers in Pakistan continue to benefit from the protections that have helped transform conditions in their factories.”
“This renewal underlines a simple reality: voluntary approaches are not enough. The Pakistan Accord delivers real safety improvements because it is binding and enforceable. Brands that source from Pakistan should be part of this agreement and take responsibility for the conditions in their supply chains,” said Atle Høie, IndustriALL General Secretary.
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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