Taking COSATU Today Forward, 9 July 2025
Norman Mampane
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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
9 July 2025
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Contents
- Workers Parliament: Back to Basics!
- School of Government on China partnership to train public servants on city governance
- South Africa
- COSATU statement on the pending new tariff regime on South African exports to the United States
- International-Workers’ Solidarity!
- South East Asia sees surge in trade union youth movements
Workers’ Parliament-Back2Basics
School of Government on China partnership to train public servants on city governance
07 Jul 2025
The National School of Government (The NSG) has organised a learning exchange visit to China on City Governance, hosted by the Beijing Jiaotong University and is supported by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce.
The programme on City Governance runs from the 7th to the 27th of July and is attended by public officials. It seeks to promote knowledge exchanges on enhancing local government performance as municipalities increasingly face growing complexity and public expectations that they must respond to. The programme explores the Chinese advancement in local government innovation in service delivery, modernisation of governance, construction of smart cities, participatory governance, poverty alleviation and development.
Local government is an important sphere of government for implementation of national policy and China’s successes in the performance of this sphere of government has contributed to the abolition of absolute poverty in 2020, ten years before the 2030 deadline which the world set in the United Nations Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development. This is the same deadline that South Africa has set in the National Development Plan to eliminate poverty and inequality by the year 2030 and states “South Africa can realise these goals by drawing on the energies of its people, growing an inclusive economy, building capabilities, enhancing the capacity of the state, and promoting leadership and partnerships throughout society”.
The South African government, in the 7th Administration, has committed itself to drive inclusive growth and job creation; to reduce poverty and tackle the high cost of living with a developmental and capable state playing a central role. “Municipalities therefore have a critical role in the achievement of this commitment. The exchange programme on City Governance is part of the NSG’s international exchanges that are aimed at facilitating public servants’ access to specialist knowledge and skills needed to enhance public sector performance and development among others and learning from the development trajectory of other countries in the global South and North,” said NSG Principal, Prof Busani Ngcaweni.
Prof Ngcaweni added that partnerships were a key focus for the NSG “as they enable us to expand the depth of training delivery, diversity and allow access to expertise that we do not have”.
Enquiries:
Dikeledi Mokgokolo
Media Liaison
Cell: 082 888 2355
E-mail: Dikeledi....@thensg.gov.za
Issued by National School of Government
COSATU statement on the pending new tariff regime on South African exports to the United States
Matthew Parks, COSATU Parliamentary Coordinator, 08 July 2025
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) is deeply concerned about the pending 30% tariff hike on South African exports to the United States (US), the world’s largest economy, announced by US President Donald Trump and fear the devastating impact it may have on an economy that has been languishing at 1% growth since 2008 and a dangerously high unemployment rate of 43.1%.
Sectors most at risk include the automotive and other manufacturing industries, agriculture, clothing, chemicals and jewelry. Depressingly, the pending tariff hike comes in the wake of the Eastern Cape facing 900 jobs on the line at Good Year SA and more with Mercedes Benz "temporarily" shutting down its vehicle production.
COSATU is confident that the Presidency and the Departments for Trade, Industry and Competition, International Relations and Cooperation and Agriculture’s engagements with their counterparts in the United States’ Government will bear fruit and that a mutually beneficial trade agreement can be secured before the pending 1 August implementation of the proposed 30% tariff hike.
The Federation will continue to work closely with the South African government in support of their endeavours on behalf of the nation.
We hope the US Congress will simultaneously renew the African Growth and Opportunities Act before the end of September as its tariff free regime for 35 Sub-Saharan countries, including South Africa’s exports to the US have helped nurture key growth sectors and facilitate regional integration across the African continent.
COSATU will also be seeking urgent engagements with the Department of Employment and Labour, the Unemployment Insurance Fund and the CCMA at Nedlac on decisive interventions to tackle the UIF’s Temporary Employee Relief Scheme’s administrative challenges to enable them to offer affected companies real time support whilst they put in place plans to manage this potential economic blow.
Issued by COSATU
International-Solidarity
South East Asia sees surge in trade union youth movements
8 July, 2025
Since the adoption of the IndustriALL Global Union 2021-2025 Action Plan, the secretariat has been actively driving its transformative agenda, strengthening youth empowerment through enhanced structural arrangements.
The IndustriALL youth working groups for South East Asia, East Asia and the Pacific were established in 2022. Between 2023
and 2025, national youth committees were formed in Indonesia, Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia. In 2024, the IndustriALL Philippines youth committee was revitalized.
The burgeoning national youth committees motivated unions in South East Asia to strengthen the capacity of youth leaders and create more federation and factory level youth committees. Three youth meetings have taken place in the region this year.
On 21-22 June, Confederation of Industrial Labour of Thailand (CILT) organized a youth unity camp in Chonburi. The youth plan to set up 10 youth committees at 10 unionized companies and increase the number of youth activists from 22 to 100 by the end of 2025.
On 1 June, young unionists from IndustriALL Malaysia council formed an interim national youth committee in Penang, after a national youth meeting. The Malaysian youth decided to organize online training handling domestic inquiry in July and leadership training
in September.
On 21-22 May, Cambodian youth leaders reported during a youth committee leadership meeting that five union federations established youth committees, along with six factory-level youth committees. They also expressed their plans to form four more federation-level
youth committees and to organize labour law study circles within the next year.
The youth meetings in Thailand and Cambodia are supported by Union to Union and IndustriALL Swedish affiliates.
Ramo Certeza, IndustriALL South East Asia regional secretary, said:
“The progress of youth work in South East Asia is truly encouraging. It is imperative to collaborate with our affiliates and realize the youth aspiration of the transformative agenda. We should continue to commit our labour and resources in youth empowerment works.”
Sarah Flores, IndustriALL youth and project officer, said:
“Setting up a youth structure is a proven useful instrument that has not only beneficial outcomes for young workers, but
also for the trade unions as it ensures a meaningful participation of young members in their trade union and helps in building their capacity as future leader as well as systematic work on youth topics which can then be in the daily trade union work. In that
sense, unions in SEA are demonstrating a strong commitment toward trade union's renewal and search for more representativity.”
Youth leaders from South East Asia and other IndustriALL regions will meet at the global youth conference on 2 November in Sydney.
______________________________
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