Taking COSATU Today Forward, 30 June 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
30 June 2025
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Contents
- Workers Parliament: Back to Basics!
- NEHAWU North West notes the announcement by MEC of Health on Witrand Hospital and demands urgent action on systemic failures in health facilities
- South Africa
- SADTU Post National Executive Committee Statement
- COSATU welcomes the intervention to save Ithala Bank
- South African Communist Party Statement of the SACP Politburo
- International-Workers’ Solidarity!
- Milestone for shipbreaking workers as global Convention comes into force
Workers’ Parliament-Back2Basics
NEHAWU North West notes the announcement by MEC of Health on Witrand Hospital and demands urgent action on systemic failures in health facilities
Zanele Lawu, NEHAWU Provincial Secretary, June 28, 2025
The National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union [NEHAWU] in the North West notes the announcement by the MEC for Health, Sello Lehari, regarding the appointment of a nine-member investigation team to probe the alleged death of a long-term patient at Witrand Psychiatric Hospital, as well as a separate incident involving a patient who allegedly absconded from Mahikeng Provincial Hospital.
While we acknowledge this intervention, NEHAWU wishes to remind the Department that these incidents are not isolated, nor are they unforeseen. As a union, we have consistently raised concerns with the department’s management structures about the deteriorating state of patient care, chronic understaffing, and appalling conditions under which both workers and patients are expected to survive in our health institutions.
For months, and in some cases years, the union has raised with management issues of patients’ safety, including:
• Inadequate security measures at facilities, particularly in psychiatric hospitals and general wards.
• Lack of essential amenities for patients, clean linen, and sufficient hot water- a shocking reality in facilities mandated to provide dignified, humane care.
• Poor infrastructure maintenance, broken water boilers, chronic food shortages, and insufficient resources to ensure the well-being of long-term and vulnerable patients.
• The unsafe working conditions of our members who have been pleading for the department to intervene decisively before more lives are lost.
As recent as two weeks ago, a worker at Tshepong Hospital’s laundry department narrowly escaped losing his hand while operating a faulty laundry machine- a machine that workers had repeatedly reported to hospital management as unsafe and in need of urgent repair. It is by sheer luck that the worker’s life was not permanently altered. This incident is yet another example of the department’s gross negligence and disregard for worker safety in the province’s public health facilities.
These systemic failures are not new and have been repeatedly tabled at various labour-management forums, occupational health and safety committee meetings, and during union engagements with both hospital management and departmental leadership. It is therefore disingenuous for the department to react only when tragedies surface on social media while workers and patients suffer in silence daily.
As NEHAWU, we demand that the investigation team’s scope be broadened beyond these two incidents to address the underlying operational and management deficiencies across all health facilities in the province. A piecemeal, reactive approach to crisis management will not resolve the deep-seated crisis engulfing the public health system in the North West.
As NEHAWU, we further call for:
• The MEC to urgently address the chronic shortages of food, clothing, linen, and functioning hot water systems at Witrand Psychiatric Hospital and other affected facilities.
• The immediate repair and safety audit of all hospital equipment, starting with high-risk areas such as laundries, kitchens and psychiatric units.
• The swift implementation of outstanding occupational health and safety improvements to protect both workers and patients.
We reiterate that the dignity, safety, and wellbeing of patients and workers must not be negotiable. It is a constitutional imperative.
NEHAWU will closely monitor the outcomes of the investigation and will seek an urgent audience with the MEC to discuss implementation of the report.
END
Issued by NEHAWU North West Secretariat Office
SADTU Post National Executive Committee Statement
Mugwena Maluleke, SADTU General Secretary, 28 June 2025
The National Executive Committee (NEC) of the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (SADTU) held its second ordinary meeting of the year on the 26th and 27th of June 2025 in Kempton Park.
The first day of the meeting coincided with the country’s commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the adoption of the Freedom Charter during Youth Month. June also recognises the World Day Against Child Labour on June 12th, which highlights the pervasive issue of child labour and galvanises global action towards its elimination.
In marking the Freedom Charter anniversary, the NEC reaffirmed the Union’s deep commitment to the Charter’s call: “The doors of learning and culture shall be opened.”
This clause has had a profound and lasting impact on the transformation of education in South Africa and continues to serve as a guiding light in our struggle for a truly equitable, decolonised, and people-centred education system.
The Freedom Charter inspires the Union to advocate for decolonised, inclusive curricula that do not merely teach what to think, but how to think. The Union is working with the Kara Heritage Institute towards creating a decolonised and people-centred education system. Recognising SADTU as a beacon of hope in the cultural revolution, the Institute has proposed a collaborative relationship to assist SADTU in establishing a Heritage and History Commission to help rewrite true African history and partner in the promotion of African culture, history, and spirituality across generations.
Solidarity with flood victims in the Eastern Cape
The NEC noted and expressed its support and solidarity with the Eastern Cape families whose lives were devastated by the recent floods, particularly in Mthatha and Butterworth. Hundreds of homes and basic infrastructure were destroyed, and lives were tragically lost including learners from Jumba Senior Secondary School, Bambanani Primary School, and Fairfield Primary School.
The NEC resolved to make an urgent call to members to donate towards the victims, echoing the Union’s 2022 initiative when all nine provinces of SADTU contributed food, clothing, and learning materials to flood victims in KwaZulu-Natal.
The state of the Union:
We celebrate the renewal sparked by our recent branch and ongoing regional Triennial General Meetings. This vibrant momentum has strengthened our unity and fuelled remarkable growth, confirming our place as the union of choice, a beacon of hope for teachers and education workers, and reinforcing our commitment to driving education transformation nationwide.
Looking ahead, we will build on this energy by:
• Hosting feedback forums to capture member ideas.
• Launching targeted professional-development initiatives.
• Deepening community partnerships to broaden our impact.
Together, we will keep elevating the teaching profession and shaping the future of education.
SADTU proudly announces a landmark victory for Grade R practitioners where we have secured permanent employment for every practitioner in the North West province who was previously deemed “irregular,” and we have won a government- funded draft collective agreement to upgrade Grade R professional status.
SADTU remains the majority union in the ELRC, PSCBC. The NEC called on every province to step up efforts to represent members, grow the union and, reinforcing that “each member is an organiser.”
The state of education: Provincial Challenges and Campaign Against Austerity
This NEC meeting was the first since the Union’s National March on April 23rd to the Department of Treasury and Finance, Department of Basic Education, and
Department of Higher Education and Training to demand increased education funding amid ongoing austerity measures.
Challenges raised by provinces include:
• KwaZulu-Natal (KZN): Failure by the provincial department to disburse funds for stationery and the School Nutrition Programme. The department’s limited capacity had led to a proposed withdrawal from SASCE music competitions.
The Union successfully pushed back and obtained commitments from the provincial government.
• North West: Ongoing issues with infrastructure, office-based staff allowances (Travel and Office-Based Maintenance), learner transport, and delays in disbursing Section 21 and National School Nutrition Programme funds.
• Western Cape: Concerns about overcrowded classrooms, extortion at schools, non-payment of UIF for underqualified Grade R practitioners, and lack of conversion for qualified practitioners to Post Level 1 educators.
• Northern Cape: Qualified Grade R practitioners are not being permanently employed. The provincial department blames austerity measures, risking the loss of qualified practitioners.
The NEC resolved to continue with the “Go Public, Fund Education!” campaign in various forms to fight austerity and push for investment in quality public education.
Education Matters.
Skills Training: As part of the Teacher Union Collaboration (TUC), SADTU has signed a new Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for 2025–2027 with the Department of Basic Education (DBE), aligned to the Integrated Strategic Planning Framework and the Skills for a Changing World initiative. SADTU will train 15,095 teachers annually, focusing on Assessment for Learning (AfL). DBE has also identified Entrepreneurship and Mother Tongue-Based Bilingual Education (MTbBE) for rollout.
Additionally, in collaboration with the National Education Collaboration Trust (NECT), SADTU will train 1,000 school leaders across provinces to improve their support in implementing AfL strategies.
Coding and Robotics: SADTU fully supports the inclusion of Coding and Robotics in the curriculum, recognising its role in developing critical thinking, creativity, and
digital literacy. However, the NEC expressed concern about poor implementation, lack of consultation, and inadequate teacher preparation. The NEC resolved to call on the DBE to pause further implementation of the current CAPS for Coding and Robotics pending a comprehensive re-evaluation.
Promotion and Progression in the GET Phase: The Union is actively engaging in discussions around proposed changes to promotion and progression requirements in the General Education and Training (GET) phase and will consult members to inform its position.
NSC Marker Competency Tests: SADTU strongly opposes competency tests for National Senior Certificate (NSC) markers unless included as part of professional
development. The Union sees the current move as an attempt to de-professionalise educators.
History Curriculum: The NEC welcomed progress made on the draft History Curriculum for Grades 4 to 12, aligning with SADTU’s long-standing demand for History to be a compulsory subject. This overhaul—not a superficial revision—will require significant professional development for teachers.
I_Menstruate Movement and Menstrual Health Equity Bill (Draft): SADTU supports the draft Menstrual Health Equity Bill, aimed at eradicating “period poverty” by ensuring access to menstrual products, education, and facilities in all schools advancing gender equality and learner dignity.
The Union’s gender desk leads fundraising across regions to provide sanitary pads and toiletries to under-resourced schools. Securing government support for these supplies would help prevent school dropouts by alleviating the shame, bullying, and emotional strain that menstruating learners often face.
On Political Matters:
SADTU is charting its course within the National Democratic Revolution, noting the ANC’s renewal efforts and the SACP’s move to contest elections independently. To resolve which Alliance partner to back in upcoming polls (currently the ANC), the union will convene a Special Congress in late 2025 or early 2026 and work to dispel strategic confusion ahead of COSATU’s Central Committee meeting.
The NEC also welcomed the withdrawal of the proposed VAT increase and the guarantee on the public service wage agreement, while calling for greater investment in education infrastructure.
International Matters:
The NEC condemned Donald Trump’s reckless foreign policy maneuvers for stoking global instability and the specter of a world war, warning that innocent civilians, especially women, children, the elderly and the working class, bear the heaviest toll.
They emphasised that history shows wars produce nothing but destruction and human suffering, with no genuine path to progress.
Palestine: The NEC expressed deep concern over the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza, pledging support and calling on members to donate aid for affected Palestinians. The UN must step in boldly to stop the genocide.
Israel-Iran Conflict: The NEC noted rising tensions that now include direct confrontation, following Israel’s violation of international law by recklessly attacking Iran. The bullying actions by Israel must condemned and the UN must be bold to hold Israel accountable. The war must be stopped immediately.
Myanmar: The NEC condemned ongoing violence by the military junta, including airstrikes on schools and widespread displacement. It called for urgent international action and accountability.
Leadership update:
The NEC elected Thando Ndaba-Makitla, Deputy Chairperson of Limpopo, as the Union’s new Vice President (Gender). She succeeds Dudu Nkosi, who retired at the end of April.
2025 Southern African Teachers’ Organisation (SATO) Games:
Preparations are underway for the 2025 SATO Games, to be hosted by SADTU from 29 to 31 August 2025 in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal. The Games will bring together teachers from eSwatini, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, Mozambique, and other SADC countries.
Participants will compete in athletics, soccer, basketball, volleyball, tennis, table tennis, darts, chess, and pool.
Together, we rise in revolutionary solidarity to reclaim education as our most powerful tool for justice, equality, and the liberation of all.
-Ends-
ISSUED BY: SADTU Secretariat
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COSATU welcomes the intervention to save Ithala Bank
Zanele Sabela, COSATU National Spokesperson, 27 June 2025
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) commends Finance Minister, Enoch Godongwana, for his decisive intervention in ensuring that Ithala Bank is saved and no longer liquidated.
In January this year, COSATU in KZN, its vigilant Affiliate, the National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (NEHAWU), along with Alliance partners, raised strong objections after the South African Reserve Bank’s Prudential Authority applied to have the state-owned Ithala provisionally liquidated.
Ithala is owned by the KZN Provincial government and in early 2025 was reported to be insolvent, prompting the Prudential Authority’s application for its liquidation. Strictly speaking, Ithala is not a bank as it does not have a banking licence but was granted a temporary exemption to accept deposits by the same Prudential Authority, with the expectation that in time it would comply with stipulated conditions and eventually be granted a licence.
After renewing the exemption several times, and in reaction to the insolvency status, the authority decided to shutdown Ithala.
However, COSATU and NEHAWU objected mainly due to the more than 400 workers who would lose their jobs if the development finance agency closed its doors forever. The Federation was also concerned about the impact the closure would have on Ithala’s more than 257 000 depositors, who were workers and grant recipients.
It is with a sense of relief that COSATU welcomes the news that this institution that has been of service to the people of KZN will continue to do exactly that. The Federation also welcomes assurances by the provincial task team of the ANC in KZN that steps to ensure the viability and sustainability of Ithala will be implemented. It is critical that the Prudential Authority, Treasury and the KZN Provincial government work together to strengthen governance and internal controls, enhance compliance with banking regulations, and launch a turnaround strategy focused on accountability, transparency and performance.
The Federation is pleased the jobs at Ithala are will be safe and that the clients of this crucial institution will not become suddenly unbanked.
Issued by COSATU
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South African Communist Party Statement of the SACP Politburo
Mbulelo Mandlana, SACP Head of Media, Communications and Information, 28 June 2025
The South African Communist Party (SACP) held its Politburo meeting on Friday, June 27, 2025, in Johannesburg at Moses Kotane House. The Politburo discussed and took decisions to take forward the work of the National Congress, the special National Congress and the last Central Committee meeting.
International Situation
The Politburo reviewed the significant developments in the international political landscape, particularly the intensification of military conflict in the Middle East. The ongoing attacks on Iran serve as a manifestation of this persistent imperialist advance to further encroach upon the region, while simultaneously suppressing the potential of Iran to assert its independence as a sovereign state with a distinctly anti-imperialist orientation that is deeply rooted in its own national identity and sovereignty.
The Communist Party recognises the current war in Iran and the ongoing occupation of Palestine, which is accompanied by remarkable violence, as the highest expression of the actions of the United States of America in the Middle East. These events are viewed as a representation of the American and Israeli agendas to achieve their objectives through violence and war. The geopolitical power dynamics in the Middle East region are also being exploited and engineered to bolster their imperial interests and ensure the sustainability of the Zionist Israel project as a satellite state of Western Imperialism.
The assertions by Israel and the United States that these attacks are connected to the alleged nuclear power capabilities of Iran have been repeatedly debunked and effectively dismissed in the recent past by competent and relevant institutions and experts. No novel evidence has been presented to support any contrary information. To that extent, the attacks on Iran are unprovoked, unjustified and blatantly illegal and are aimed as a political punishment towards Iran for their autonomy and non-compliance with Israel’s regional political agenda and its imperialist policies and ambitions. As the South African Communist Party, we pledge our solidarity with the people of Iran and people of Palestine and call on the international community to rebuke and act against these illegal activities of the USA and Israel.
Sudan war
The Politburo acknowledged the ongoing war in Sudan and its severity. The
Communist Party is deeply concerned about the escalation of the war, which has surpassed the Palestine war in deaths, with 150,000 fatalities. As the Communist Party we believe that it is time to build a solidarity movement among the people of global south and Africa to prevent the worsening of the war, which could lead to a genocide.
The South African Communist Party offers its solidarity to the Sudanese people and commits to working with various social forces in the country and continent to find a solution for Sudan.
70th Anniversary of the Freedom Charter
The Politburo recognised the 70th anniversary of the People’s Congress in 1955 and its adoption of the Freedom Charter as one of most important events in the political history of South Africa. The Politburo recognised the profound and indeed foundational role that was played by Communist cadres and leaders in the organisation of the Congress of the People, the compilation of the people’s demands that constituted the content of the Freedom Charter and the final authorship of the Charter itself. The Freedom Charter however, at the present time, stands as an unfulfilled promise and a betrayed vision whose radical and transcendent aims have been undermined by a policy perspective and state policy aligned to conservative and liberal principles which has given us results of an unchanged economic ownership, continued land ownership patterns that excludes workers, increased unemployment, stagnant wages as well as stagnant economy, a weakening state unable to intervene in the economy and an education system that is unable to respond to national developmental needs, among other challenges.
This inability and indeed unpreparedness of the leadership of the liberation movement to fulfil the objectives of the freedom charter as their leadership responsibility, occurs alongside the proliferation of a national monopolistic economy whose structure and functioning stands as a stumbling block to prevent and water down thoroughgoing economic transformation. This presents a crisis for us as Communists. At the heart of this crisis lies neoliberal economics as an organising principle that hinders transformation. As the South African Communist Party, we steadfastly maintain our opposition to neoliberal economic policies that disproportionately favour affluent corporations and influential entities of the bourgeoisie at the expense of the working class and impoverished segments of society. This approach fervently contradicts the vision of the freedom charter.
National Treasury World Bank loan
The Politburo noted and discussed the June World Bank loan sought and received by the National Treasury. The SACP denounces the National Treasury’s decision, announced on 9 June 2025, to contract a new US$1.5 billion (approximately R28 billion) foreign-currency loan from the World Bank. This decision deepens our country’s subordination to imperialist-controlled global finance capital, reinforcing a neo-colonial debt regime that erodes national sovereignty, undermines democratic development and threatens the interests of the working class. The Politburo is concerned about the fact that money from this loan will not be used by the state for developmental objectives under its management and control and in the public interest, but that this money will be made available to fund private sector companies in the energy sector. On the one hand, this is the state acting directly to prop up economic interests of private capital while on the other hand actively disarming its own apparatus of capabilities needed to act in service of the people. This classical neoliberal approach amounts to a new form of capture of the state by economic interests of monopoly capital.
National Dialogue
The Politburo discussed the impending national dialogue as announced by the President of the Republic. The SACP believes that the new process of the national dialogue as announced waters down its initial intent and limits the potential scope as originally conceived. The SACP is concerned that the changing of the former President Thabo Mbeki as the leading figure in the national dialogue preparations risks putting the process in jeopardy in as far as credibility and legitimacy is concerned given the amount of work done in his presence together with other earlier contributors to the process. The SACP believes that the national dialogue must take on a popular format rather than an engagement of the elite and that the dialogue must involve the key constituencies that are key to building a national consensus on the key matters of development and transformation. To that end, the SACP will embark on its own mobilisation of the working class to play a critical role in the national dialogue processes. Part of this said mobilisation will be the SACPs convening in the “Conference of The Left” in September this year. The Conference of The Left intends to organise all left forces to chart a way forward for national development. The Communist Party calls for left organisations to participate in the Conference in the interests of defending national democracy and our national transformation project.
People’s Red Caravan
The Politburo received and deliberated on a report of the People’s Red Caravan event in Motlhabe village in the North West province. The Politburo received the positive feedback that shows that our campaign to reconnect with our communities as a measure to mobilise the working class towards self-reliance has started to a great aplomb. The People’s Red Caravan programme is our programme to activate the capabilities of our communities to build self-reliance, community solidarity, fight hunger and poverty while building local economies. The Red Communist Caravan will next be stationed in Matibidi in Mpumalanga province where we will be stationed for a full week working with the communities to build sustainable development managed by, and beneficial to, the said communities. We call on the communities to join us in our effort to build socialism from the ground up; to build socialism, community by community.
ISSUED BY THE SOUTH AFRICAN COMMUNIST PARTY,
FOUNDED IN 1921 AS THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF SOUTH AFRICA.
Media, Communications & Information Department | MCID
International-Solidarity
Milestone for shipbreaking workers as global Convention comes into force
26 June, 2025
Today, 26 June, marks the entry into force of the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships (HKC), a landmark step for workers in what is often called the world’s most dangerous industry.
Adopted by the International Maritime Organization in 2009, the HKC sets global standards for dismantling end-of-life ships, mandating safety, environmental protection, and worker rights. Non-compliant yards will no longer be permitted to operate.
“This is a great victory! The entry into force of the HKC is the result of a long and determined campaign by IndustriALL and its affiliates. The Convention provides the framework for safe and environmentally sound ship recycling. It is up to all stakeholders – employers, unions, governments, cash buyers and shipowners – to put flesh on the bones and make it a living instrument that protects workers and the environment, while creating quality jobs and contributing to the local economy,”
says Walton Pantland, IndustriALL’s director for shipbuilding and shipbreaking.
In Karachi, Pakistan, a roundtable was held today to mark the Convention’s entry into force. Hosted by the National Trade Union Federation (NTUF), an IndustriALL affiliate, the event gathered unions, government officials, and shipbreaking industry representatives. Pakistan ratified the HKC in December 2023, becoming the 23rd country to do so. All major ship recycling nations have now ratified the Convention.
Nasir Mansoor, NTUF general secretary, says:
“The ratification of the Hong Kong Convention is a turning point for Pakistan’s shipbreaking sector. All stakeholders—government, employers, and workers—must now collaborate to implement the Convention’s standards and revive this vital industry to benefit both the economy and the workforce.”
Under HKC rules, shipyards must submit detailed recycling plans and meet strict standards before dismantling begins. Hazardous materials must be safely removed, hot work certificates granted and blocks cut on impermeable floors rather than directly on beaches. Workers must also receive proper training and personal protective equipment.
Participants raised concerns about the sector’s decline in Pakistan, driven by high taxes and unchecked smuggling. Only two
or three of Gadani’s 63 shipbreaking yards are currently operating. Though upgrades are underway at about ten yards, none yet meet HKC standards. Urgent calls were made for a national policy aligned with the Convention.
IndustriALL and its affiliates pledged to monitor HKC implementation and push for stronger safety and environmental protections across the sector.
“Ship recycling can bring quality jobs and regional development. But it requires leadership from government, investment from employers, and collaboration with trade unions. The HKC is a skeleton, our collective action will give it life,” says Walton Pantland.
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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