Taking COSATU Today Forward, 16 October 2025 #Cosatu@40 #Cosatu40thAnniversary
Norman Mampane
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COSATU TODAY #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
16 October 2025
“Build Working Class Unity for Economic Liberation towards Socialism”
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Contents
- Workers Parliament: Back to Basics!
- SADTU KwaZulu-Natal condemns exclusion of special schools from basic allocations
- COSATU to host lectures in the lead up to 40th anniversary
- South Africa
- SADTU in KwaZulu Natal sends a message of support to the Matric Class of 2025
- For Africa and the Global South: A Call to Action on Debt Justice under South Africa’s G20 Presidency
- International-Workers’ Solidarity!
- Taming the Congolese paradox in the battery supply chain
Workers’ Parliament-Back2Basics
SADTU KwaZulu-Natal condemns exclusion of special schools from basic allocations
Nomarashiya Caluza, SADTU KZN Provincial Secretary, 16 October 2025
The South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (SADTU) in KwaZulu-Natal is deeply disappointed and disturbed to learn that Special Schools in the province have been excluded from the payment arrangement that resulted from engagements between SADTU, the MEC for Education, and the Premier in June 2025.
SADTU’s call for the full payment of basic allocations and an end to payment instalments was made on behalf of all schools in the province, without exception. There is absolutely nothing that can justify this deliberate failure to allocate funds to Special Schools, like it was done for the ordinary schools.
This situation exposes the chronic lack of monitoring and accountability within the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education (DoE). It demonstrates how decisions taken during meetings are not properly implemented, reflecting a disturbing pattern of casual and careless management of serious matters that affect our schools. Such tendencies are a clear signal of collapsing leadership and accountability within the Department.
By their very nature, Special Schools require special attention and additional support. However, the Department continues to treat them as an afterthought — an isolated group that can be neglected at will. This disregard for the unique needs of Special Schools is unacceptable.
The Head of Department (HOD) must urgently demonstrate leadership and take full responsibility for this administrative failure. The HOD cannot afford to be an onlooker while education in the province deteriorates. These are not complex policy issues but basic administrative matters that require an active, attentive, and accountable leadership. SADTU cannot remain a spectator while the Department of Education collapses and there is no consequence management for these errors.
SADTU KwaZulu-Natal therefore demands the immediate payment of basic allocations to all Special Schools in the province. Equally, the Union demands accountability from the HOD.
ISSUED BY: SADTU KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Office
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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:
Northern Cape
Date:
30 October
Topic: COSATU and the Liberation Movement
Main Speaker: Solly Phetoe, COSATU General Secretary
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
SADTU in KwaZulu Natal sends a message of support to the Matric Class of 2025
Nomarashiya Caluza, SADTU KZN Provincial Secretary, 16 October 2025
The South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (SADTU) in KwaZulu Natal sends a message of support to all Grade 12 learners in the province who will soon be sitting for their National Senior Certificate examinations.
The 2025 academic year has not been an easy one but with the support of our dedicated teachers and education support personnel, SADTU has no doubt that our learners are ready to enter the examination centres, and show the hard work and resilience they have put throughout the year.
To ensure the smooth administration of these final examinations, SADTU pleads with parents and community members to provide all the necessary support to the Matric Class of 2025. It is our prayer that natural disasters such as heavy rains and storms, as well as public protests that may block access roads to schools, will take a pause to allow the examinations to proceed without disruptions.
SADTU also urges the teachers to trust the process, adhere to invigilation rules and avoid temptation of assisting learners in the examination rooms. Equally, we encourage our learners to trust the knowledge and preparation they have acquired with the help of their teachers from the beginning of the year including during the revision sessions. We urge them to desist from any form of examination cheating.
SADTU wishes each and every learner the best of luck in the examinations.
ISSUED BY: SADTU KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Office
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For Africa and the Global South: A Call to Action on Debt Justice under South Africa’s G20 Presidency
Dear
President Ramaphosa: A call to action on debt justice
14 October 2025
Debt Justice, G20, Open Letter, Resourcing for Rights Realisation
The Institute for Economic Justice (IEJ) is proud to be one of 165 civil society and debt justice organisations urging President Ramaphosa to prioritise debt justice for Africa and the Global South during South Africa’s G20 Presidency.
The Urgency of Debt Reform
Developing countries face unsustainable debt burdens that divert resources from vital development needs. African nations alone pay US$74.5 billion annually in excess interest due to the “African premium,” undermining progress on health, education, and climate
action. Current debt restructuring mechanisms, including the G20 Common Framework, remain too slow and insufficient.
Key Demands
The open letter calls for:
UN-led sovereign debt reform anchored in human rights and equity.
Radical reforms to debt restructuring, including deeper, faster relief and legal enforcement mechanisms.
Establishment of an African Credit Rating Agency and a global, transparent debt registry.
Creation of a Borrowers Club to strengthen negotiating power among debtor nations.
Binding principles for responsible lending and borrowing aligned with developmental goals.
Sale of IMF gold reserves to fund debt relief initiatives.
Cancellation of unsustainable and illegitimate debts from all creditors.
A Chance for Leadership
This initiative aligns with South Africa’s foreign policy objectives and the African Union’s G20 priorities. The letter highlights the urgent opportunity for South Africa to catalyse systemic reforms that benefit Africa and the Global South, ensuring sustainable
development, climate action, and human rights protection.
The IEJ, together with its 164 co-signatories, calls for meaningful progress before the G20 Presidency concludes, emphasising that people’s futures depend on decisive and equitable action on debt.
International-Solidarity
Taming the Congolese paradox in the battery supply chain
15 October, 2025
Trade unions and civil society organizations are joining forces to tame the Congolese paradox in the battery supply chain. The paradox is evident in the stark contradiction in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a nation endowed with vast natural resources such as cobalt, copper, coltan and diamonds, which account for much of the global supply needed for electronics and electric vehicles yet plagued by extreme poverty, armed conflict, corruption and human and workers’ rights violations.
The Congolese paradox has resulted in one of the world’s lowest GDP per capita figures despite mineral exports worth billions
annually, with over 70 per cent of the population living below the poverty line and millions displaced by violence in the resource-rich eastern provinces.
More than 120 participants from trade unions affiliated to IndustriALL, artisanal small-scale mining co-operatives, non-governmental organizations and community groups gathered at a conference in Kolwezi on 9 October to plot a collaborative assault on human
and workers’ rights violations in the DRC’s critical raw materials supply chain.
The DRC is a treasure trove of battery essentials: copper, cobalt, tantalum, lithium and more, all destined for electric vehicles. These are extracted by multinational corporations such as Glencore’s Kamoto Copper Company and Mutanda mine and China Molybdenum’s
Tenke Fungurume Mining, alongside artisanal miners that produce 30 per cent of the country’s cobalt.
The conference urged the creation of a forum for engagement on these minerals, intensified trade-union organizing, the formalization of artisanal mining, sustained discussions with multinationals and tripartite dialogue with the government to align interests
along the battery supply chain.
Spotlight fell on an IndustriALL study, “Exploring the DRC cobalt value chain: challenges, opportunities and stakeholder engagement,” presented by Theodore Kamwimbi of the Centre for Transformative Regulation of Work at the University of the Western Cape. It
dissected mining operations and workers’ rights at Kamoto, Metalkor RTR, the Lualaba Copper Smelter and Sicomines. Subcontractors at Kamoto flouted labour laws, sparking strikes; bribery of inspectors has surfaced at the smelter; Sicomines unions have walked
out over bargaining woes and Metalkor has conducted unfair dismissals. The report noted a dip in child labour but bemoaned weak enforcement of labour laws.
Antoine Kasongo, Fair Cobalt Alliance, country director said:
“More needs to be done to combat human rights violations and non-compliance with national and international standards for the benefit of the artisanal mining community.”
He called for awareness campaigns and training on health, safety, eradicating child labour and local industrialization.
Davidzo Muchawaya, labour-sector lead at the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA), unpacked the IRMA standard’s nuts and bolts and the audit underway at Tenke Fungurume — the first by IRMA of a Chinese multinational.
“Supply chains span the globe these days,” reflected Constantin Grund, FES country director for the DRC, “but for the manual labourer at the beginning of the supply chain, nothing really changes, even though entire product lines could not be manufactured without
them. We need fairness for everyone involved in the manufacturing of a product, especially those blue-collar workers who shed sweat and tears.”
Glen Mpufane, IndustriALL director for mining and diamonds concurred:
“Key players must form alliances over the critical raw materials supply chain to safeguard workers’ rights, hold multinationals to account and secure remedies for communities and workers when violations occur.”
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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