Taking COSATU Today Forward, 4 November 2025 #Cosatu@40 #Cosatu40thAnniversary
Norman Mampane
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COSATU TODAY #Cosatu40thAnniversary countdown begins… #Cosatu scheduled to hold its 40th Anniversary at Dobsonville, Soweto on December 6 #Cosatu@40 #Cosatu40thAnniversary #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
4 November 2025
“Build Working Class Unity for Economic Liberation towards Socialism”
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Contents
- Workers Parliament: Back to Basics!
- Anti-Worker DA cannot rule Tshwane from the grave
- COSATU to host lectures in the lead up to 40th anniversary
- South Africa
- COSATU honours its women leaders ahead of its 40th anniversary
- International-Workers’ Solidarity!
- Young unionists unite to build global youth power
Workers’ Parliament-Back2Basics
Anti-Worker DA cannot rule Tshwane from the grave
Papikie Mohale, SAMWU National Media Officer, 4 November 2025
The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (SAMWU) strongly condemns the statement issued by DA Tshwane Cllr Jacqui Uys, which attacks the integrity of the SALGBC ruling and attempts to intimidate the City into defying the law. This is a cynical, desperate, and treasonous attempt by the Democratic Alliance to rule Tshwane from the grave.
The DA’s statement, which falsely labels this binding award as “flawed and ruinous,” is a declaration of open war against the working class and a direct, contemptuous assault on the collective bargaining institutions of our democracy. We remind the public that this financial crisis was manufactured under the DA administration, which initially denied workers both the 3.5% (2021/22) and the subsequent 5.4% (2023/24) salary increases. Their claim to champion the city's financial health rings hollow when their own mismanagement created the budget deficits they now fraudulently use as an excuse to avoid paying workers.
The DA’s stance reveals its maliciously hostile anti-black and anti-worker agenda. The overwhelming majority of workers rightfully owed these long-overdue increases are black employees. The DA’s continued opposition is a clear, cold-hearted expression of a party dedicated to obstructing the legitimate financial advancement of the working majority in the municipality. The current financial abyss in the City of Tshwane is the shameful and undeniable legacy of the instability, corruption, and catastrophic financial neglect that characterised the periods when the DA held political power.
Furthermore, the DA’s selective quoting of the SALGBC award is dishonest and a deliberate deception. While the Commissioner did concede the amount is "very huge," this observation was precisely the reason a six-month implementation period was granted, a period for the City to manage the logistics of payment, not a finding that the City is bankrupt. The Commissioner clearly stated in the award that the City's refusal to budget for the increase was deliberate and that it had the liquidity and increasing collection rates to justify paying the increase, stating plainly: "We do not believe that the Applicant's liquidity challenges... warrant an an exemption from paying the salary increase." The DA ignores these facts and relies on outright fear-mongering and lies.
The DA’s call for the City to take this binding decision on judicial review is not only fiscally irresponsible, but also a directive to subvert justice and continue the costly legal bloodbath that has already wasted tens of millions in public funds. We are demanding the City Manager, Mr. Johann Mettler, immediately reject this self-serving, legally illiterate advice from the DA and respect the solemn ruling of the SALGBC. Any attempt to appeal this matter will be met with the full force of SAMWU’s legal and organisational power.
We want to remind the public that it was this same DA that had the audacity to declare: “If you are unable to tell SAMWU that there is no money for salary increases, you will have nothing to inherit.” This statement is proof of their mindset, treating the municipality not as a public servant institution, but as a monarchy with a treasure chest to be inherited. They attempt to isolate workers, painting them as a financial burden, yet these very workers are also the ratepayers of Tshwane who pay the rates and taxes that continue to increase.
The most pathetic hypocrisy of all is that when the City recently voted and approved a 5% salary increase for Councillors, the DA remained silent on affordability because they and their political elite stood to benefit. Their crocodile tears for the City's budget only flow when it is time to pay the hardworking municipal staff.
SAMWU stands resoundingly vindicated. We will not allow the DA, or any political party, to use the integrity of service delivery as a shield to deny workers their legally binding dues. We demand the immediate payment of workers’ 3.5% salary increases as per the SALGBC award and the unconditional reinstatement of the 41 unfairly dismissed workers.
The time for political games is over!
Issued by SAMWU Secretariat
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COSATU to host lectures in the lead up to 40th anniversary
Zanele Sabela, COSATU National Spokesperson, 25 September 2025
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) is set the host a series of lectures in the lead up to its 40th anniversary celebration at Dobsonville Stadium on 6 December.
The culmination of four years of unity talks, COSATU came into being on 1 December 1985, and brought together 33 competing unions and federations opposed to apartheid and whose common goal was to bring about a non-racial, non-sexist and democratic society.
The Federation has been at the forefront of advancing, defending and protecting the interests and rights of workers since, and has led in the formation of the country’s progressive labour laws including workers’ rights to form trade unions, collective bargaining and to strike, minimum conditions of service, National Minimum Wage, etc.
From its vehement resistance of apartheid to the ushering in of the democratic dispensation and improving the economic and social wellbeing of the working class 31 years post democracy, COSATU has stood the test of time.
In the lead up to its 40th anniversary in December, the Federation will host a variety of activities starting with a series of lectures by its National Office Bearers.
The lectures will tackle diverse subjects from COSATU’s pivotal role in gender struggles to the strike that broke the back of industry-wide exploitative labour practices as far back as 1959.
Province:
North-West
Date:
19 November
Topic: Strengthening Industrial Unions to build a militant COSATU
Main Speaker: Duncan Luvuno, COSATU 2nd Deputy President
Province:
Eastern Cape
Date:
20 November
Topic: COSATU and the Reconfiguration of the Alliance
Main Speaker: Mike Shingange, COSATU 1st Deputy President
Province:
Gauteng
Date:
21 November
Topic: COSATU and the Mass Democratic Movement
Main Speaker: Zingiswa Losi, COSATU President
Issued by COSATU
COSATU honours its women leaders ahead of its 40th anniversary
Zanele Sabela, SAMWU National Spokesperson, 4 November 2025
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) is set to honour 40 women leaders to mark 40 years of its existence.
The COSATU Women’s Herstories Project, which profiles the lives of women trade unionists and activists who shaped our movement over the last four decades, will be launched today, 4 November, at the Holiday Inn Johannesburg Airport.
Founded on 1 December 1985, COSATU brought together 33 competing unions and federations strongly opposed to apartheid but committed to a non-racial, non-sexist and democratic South Africa. Throughout, women have been an integral part of the Federation; building unions, leading strikes, challenging patriarchy on the shopfloor and at home, and in the trade union movement.
With this project, COSATU pays homage to their struggles, courage, victories, resilience and voices that tell the story of the organisation’s past while inspiring its future.
The Herstories Project features profiles of heroines like Emma Mashinini, who in the lead up to the launch of COSATU objected to the Federation’s proposed logo by pointing out it did not include any women.
Today, 40 years later, the woman with the baby on her back in COSATU’s logo still exemplifies Mashinini’s courage to voice out her convictions.
The project, however, doesn’t just signify the past but also gives a nod to the present seeing COSATU President, Zingiswa Losi, and National Treasurer, Freda Oosthuysen, are both women. They stand firmly on the shoulders of women leaders who came before them; Dr Connie September – COSATU’s first woman 2nd Deputy President; Joyce Pekani, Violet Seboni and Louise Thipe all held the role of COSATU 2nd Deputy President at different points in time.
Losi is set to give the opening address at the Herstories launch, while Dr September will provide a historical reflection on women’s participation during COSATU’s 40-year existence.
The launch is a culmination of work that began in 2022 in collaboration with the Naledi Research Institute and the Wits History Project – which trained the 35 young women who interviewed the women leaders on research. The young women hail from various Affiliates and structures of COSATU and it was imperative that they not only learn about the history of the Federation through reading but hear the stories firsthand from the women leaders who were part of the activism.
An important lesson was learned during the 50th anniversary of the 1973 Durban Strikes in 2023; when the history was told the women’s activism was effectively erased even though they had contributed significantly more than the men in terms of coordination, participation and underground work. This is why it is critical that the biographies of these 40 women leaders are documented as COSATU celebrates its 40th anniversary to guard against the erasure of women’s contribution to the workers’ struggle.
This is the first batch of 40 women for 40 years that are being celebrated. The legacies of many more women will be documented in subsequent phases of this project, which is a living archive and an ongoing process. Hopefully, today’s launch will make the project visible, enabling more women leaders to come forward for interviews, enabling more stories to be told.
The forty women celebrated today represent thousands more women in factories, hospitals, farms, offices, schools, and homes who organised, resisted, and built this movement. In the same breath, it is important to recognise that women still face ongoing challenges from unfair discrimination to sexual violence and harassment in the workplace and society.
In addition to the biographies, the Herstories Project also features a photographic exhibition that includes women leaders from the Tripartite Alliance. The launch also kickstarts a four-day Transformative Leadership Feminist School that will see delegates exposed to various feminist theories.
Issued by COSATU
International-Solidarity
Young unionists unite to build global youth power
3 November, 2025
IndustriALL Global Union’s youth conference on 3 November saw delegates from around the world uniting under the call for youth power. More than 60 young trade unionists came together to discuss the challenges they face in the world of work and to push for stronger youth representation within the global labour movement.
The conference highlighted various barriers faced by young unionists. Their lives are often dominated by work, family responsibilities, and financial struggles. Young women trade unionists often face stigma and fear when speaking up for youth representation, especially in male-dominated industries.
Youth delegates said that the proposed statute amendments to establish a global youth committee and optional regional youth committees would bring structural change, allowing young members to break the cycle and achieve the change they seek.
Jonathan Cook, member of the global ad hoc youth working group and SEA2PAC co-chair, said:
“The world is different from 30 years ago. Trade unions must understand the new world structure that we are living in. We must organise more young workers and preserve what unions have created. Through the statute amendment, the youth will be able to bring the change that we want, stand for the change that we want — we must fight and we will win!”
Participants discussed strategies for organizing more young workers into unions, sharing good practices such as reaching out
to school students, organising museum visits and tree-planting activities, using mobile apps to provide economic incentives to young workers, and forming study circles to connect with youth.
Most delegates viewed systematic education on organising young workers as extremely important.
They called for the creation of an organising academy with modules tailored to the needs of different regions. Some stressed that trade unions play a vital role in building communities and gaining community support for organising efforts.
IG Metall president and IndustriALL vice-president Christiane Benner said she herself is a product of youth structures and youth empowerment in Germany. IG Metall is committed to building stronger youth structures at national, regional, and enterprise levels.
“We must have union officials responsible for youth activities and adequate financial resources for youth structures and youth organizing.”
Drawing on her experience as a former national youth committee chairperson of IG Metall, Christiane Benner added that youth structures need adequate financial resources to function effectively, as well as dedicated union officials responsible for youth work.
IndustriALL and IF Metall president Marie Nilsson said:
“Young people, you are not the future — you are the present. You are affected by the changing world of work, and you should shape the response on how a sustainable workplace looks. Organising workers across borders is trade unions’ global struggle. We must do the same for young workers, as it gives the movement new energy. International solidarity is absolutely important. Please believe in change — the world needs young unionists. Please take a seat in the union movement and start to build a future around it.”
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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