Taking COSATU Today Forward, 27 March 2026 #CosatuNationalGenderConference2026
Norman Mampane
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COSATU TODAY COSATU Call Center Contacts: 010 002 2590 #CosatuNationalGenderConference concludes its business today at Benoni #GenderTransformativeChange#GenderStruggle #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
27 March 2026
“Build Working Class Unity for Economic Liberation towards Socialism”
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Contents
- Workers Parliament: Back to Basics!
- South Africa
- COSATU welcomes SARB’s sober decision not to increase the repo rate
- COSATU Eastern Cape supports NEHAWU’s views on the fire incident at Botha Sigcau building
- International-Workers’ Solidarity!
- Global unions call for defence of democracy and workers’ rights at G20
Workers’ Parliament-Back2Basics #ClassWar
COSATU mourns the passing of struggle stalwart, comrade Terry Bell
Matthew Parks, COSATU Parliamentary Coordinator, March 26, 2026
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) mourns the passing of struggle stalwart, comrade Terry Bell. The Federation wishes his family, friends and comrades well during this painful moment of loss. They can rest assured that over his 84 years, he left South Africa richer for his contributions to the liberation struggle.
Comrade Terry’s life journey spanned many chapters of the liberation movement from his time in detention in the 1960s to 27 years in exile. His contributions towards the liberation struggle from exile, were many, with notable highlights from his time at the Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College (SOMAFCO) in Tanzania to helping found the Anti-Apartheid Movement in New Zealand and organising the Springbok Tour boycott.
Before and after his return from exile and throughout his years post-1994, he made an indelible mark on workers’ struggles in the media space, from his newspaper columns on the exploitation and hopes of the working class, to his helping found the then South African Union of Journalists.
Terry was renowned for his forthright nature, his unshakeable principles and his unwavering passion for working class struggles. Even during his final years his energy and dedication were relentless. He held the trade movement to account not to score points but because he correctly expected them to do more to advance the rights of workers and to improve the lives of the working class.
The passing of this giant of workers’ struggles and the progressive media landscape, leaves a massive void. We have seen a shrinking of the pool of labour reporters in many media outlets. We owe it to Terry to correct this newsroom travesty. The plight of workers is not an obscure niche matter to be covered occasionally but must be at the centre of media coverage. It is workers’ sweat, blood and monies that drive the economy. Terry would want to see his rich legacy continue with the next generation of journalists.
COSATU and the entire labour movement is indebted to the sacrifices of this humble giant and grateful to his family for sharing him with the nation.
Hamba kahle comrade Terry.
Issued by COSATU
South Africa #ClassSolidarity
COSATU welcomes SARB’s sober decision not to increase the repo rate
Matthew Parks, COSATU Parliamentary Coordinator, March 26, 2026
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) welcomes the South African Reserve Bank’s sober decision not to increase the repo rate despite inflationary pressures due to the pending fuel price hikes.
The Federation urges swift action by government to cushion society from the massive fuel price hikes due to come into effect on 1 April of nearly R6 per litre of petrol and R10 per litre of diesel. These hikes are due solely to the ongoing war in the Middle East and the havoc it has caused to international oil and gas supplies and prices.
The devastating impact these unprecedented price hikes will have upon the working class and the economy cannot be overstated, it will be a bloodbath. Projected economic growth for 2026 of an already weak 1.4%, will be gone. Businesses will not manage a 50% hike in diesel prices. Many will retrench workers in large numbers. Painstaking gains reducing unemployment over the past five years may be lost.
Workers already drowning in debt and supporting about seven relatives each will simply not cope. Most workers already spend an average of 40% of their salaries on transport. This will now jump to 50% to 60%. Workers will now have to choose between feeding their children and travelling to work and school.
Whilst appreciating the state’s fiscal pressures, it must move quickly to cushion society, in particular the working class, and the economy from the spillover of the latest war in the Middle East. The fundamental solution to this global crisis is for the war to immediately end and sanity to be restored. South Africa’s government has a very limited say in this, but it can do much to help protect the nation from the coming pain.
The most urgent action needed before Wednesday’s fuel price hikes is immediately suspending or lowering the fuel levy and taxes for the duration of the war.
Further interventions that need to be put in place include:
Providing support to Eskom to lower the price of electricity.
Expediting measures to return Transnet and Metro Rail to full capacity to shield food and urban commuters from inflation.
Targeted support for the agricultural sector to help reduce food inflation.
Adjusting social grants, including the SRD Grant, for inflation.
Expanding public employment programmes to absorb more unemployed.
Distributing food parcels to indigent households and social grant recipients.
Offering financial relief for embattled companies and sectors, including fixing the Unemployment Insurance Fund’s Temporary Employment Relief Scheme.
No repo rate hikes by the Reserve Bank.
Loan and insurance payment holidays for struggling consumers and businesses.
Halt on retrenchments by the private sector.
It is critical that Nedlac urgently convene the leadership of government, business and labour to craft a rapid response to this coming disaster. South Africa cannot afford to weather this storm on a wing and a prayer.
Government must put in place a bold and progressive financial, economic and social relief package, starting with slashing fuel taxes before the Wednesday’s price hikes.
Issued by COSATU
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COSATU Eastern Cape supports NEHAWU’s views on the fire incident at Botha Sigcau building
Mkhawuleli Maleki, COSATU Eastern Cape Provincial Secretary, 26 March 2026
The Congress of South African Trade Unions in the Eastern Cape regretfully notes the burning of the Botha Sigcau building in Mthatha recently.
The Botha Sigcau building has been housing several government departments since the advent of democracy after inheritance from the then Transkei government. The impact of the fire has dire consequences on both the workers and the communities that were receiving services from that centre.
There has been numerous health and safety concerns raised by workers about condition of the building. There have been instances of registered non-compliance to Occupational Health and Safety brought to the management of respective departments occupying the building by unions.
The multi-stakeholder Provincial Task Team proposed by NEHAWU would help a great deal in addressing inclusivity and transparency in dealing with investigation as well finding suitable and accessible alternative offices to accommodate workers and community that has been receiving the much-needed services from departments that operated from the Botha Sigcau Building.
Compliance with health and Safety Regulations must be one of the central factors in finding alternative temporary offices.
NEHAWU, our affiliate continues to be our ears and eyes in that space. COSATU rallies behind its affiliates in ensuring that every workplace is a conducive environment for every worker to work in.
The federation expresses sympathy with workers and the community of O. R. Tambo District for the inconvenience they are experiencing and losses that have been sustained subsequent to the fire outbreak at Botha Sigcau Building.
Issued by COSATU Eastern Cape
International-Solidarity
Global unions call for defence of democracy and workers’ rights at G20
26 March, 2026
Following high-level meetings in Washington DC in early March, The Labour 20 (L20), the official G20 engagement group representing workers, has issued a strong statement calling on G20 governments to defend democracy, workers' rights and the international rule of law, pushing back against what unions describe as an agenda designed to enrich a small elite at the expense of working people worldwide.
The statement comes as the Trump administration’s US G20 presidency has stripped back the G20 agenda to three priorities, deregulation, fossil fuel expansion and AI, refusing to convene working groups on employment, development, health or inequality.
South Africa, which drove significant progress for workers during its 2025 G20 presidency, has not been invited to this year’s summit and has been replaced by Poland. The L20 itself has not been recognized by the US presidency.
ITUC general secretary Luc Triangle warned that any attempt to weaken democratic institutions or workers’ protections in favour of billionaires and big corporations will only deepen inequality and instability.
TUAC general secretary Veronica Nilsson added that working people need their governments to tackle inequality, climate change and technological disruption, not fuel them with deregulation, fossil fuel expansion and unchecked corporate power.
Workers’ demands for the G20
The L20 statement sets out a comprehensive vision for what the G20 should deliver for working people, including fair and living wages, universal social protection, rights-based regulation, a just transition away from fossil fuels, and fair taxation upheld by a UN tax convention.
The statement also explicitly endorses the establishment of an International Panel on Inequality, a key recommendation of the G20 Extraordinary Committee report on global inequality commissioned under the South African presidency and led by Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz.
The union movement is clear that the current US G20 agenda moves in the opposite direction. The L20 statement describes the deregulation agenda as a cover for shifting the role of government from advancing the interests of all people to reinforcing inequality for the benefit of a small elite.
“The decision to exclude the Labour 20 from the G20 is not an oversight. It is a statement about whose interests this presidency serves. Workers are not a side issue in the global economy, they are the global economy. We will not wait for an invitation that is not coming. We will build the counter-agenda that working people need and make sure it shapes every G20 presidency that follows this one,”
said Kemal Ozkan, IndustriALL assistant general secretary.
What is at stake
The G20 Leaders’ Summit is scheduled for 14-15 December 2026 in Miami. With no working groups on labour, employment or inequality convened under the US presidency, unions are building their own counter-agenda, through public campaigns, coalition-building and engagement with future G20 presidencies, including the United Kingdom’s in 2027.
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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