Taking COSATU Today Forward Special Bulletin, 8 June 2026
Norman Mampane
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COSATU TODAY COSATU Call Center Contacts: 010 002 2590 #COSATU set to launch the Cost of Living Campaign this month, on the 19th June… #NationaActionAgainstCostOfLiving #ILC2026 #ClassWar #Cosatu40 #SACTU70 #ClassStruggle “Build Working Class Unity for Economic Liberation towards Socialism” #Back2Basics #JoinCOSATUNow #ClassConsciousness |
Taking COSATU Today Forward Special Bulletin
‘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
8 June 2026
“Build Working Class Unity for Economic Liberation towards Socialism”
Organize at every workplace and demand respect for labour rights Now!
Defend Jobs Now!
Join COSATU NOW!
Contents
- Workers Parliament: Back to Basics!
- NEHAWU to convene its 13th National Congress
- South Africa
- SAMWU Western Cape welcomes tariff judgment and demands accountability over public funds wasted on failed litigation
- SACP conveys its message of condolences to the family of renowned South African scholar John Pampallis
- International-Workers’ Solidarity!
- Fight for jailed Belarusian unionists continues
- International Labour Conference: Education International calls for teachers and unions to be at the center of the debate on Artificial Intelligence
Workers’ Parliament-Back2Basics #ClassWar
NEHAWU to convene its 13th National Congress
Lwazi Nkolonzi, NEHAWU National Spokesperson, June 08, 2026
The National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union [NEHAWU] will hold its 13th National Congress at the Birchwood Hotel & Conference Centre in Boksburg from the 26th to 29th of June 2026.
The congress is convened under the theme “Advance Workplace Organisation to Defend Collective Bargaining, Heighten Class Consciousness and Advance Internationalism".
The congress will serve as a critical platform to deliberate and develop concrete responses to key international, national political and socio-economic matters as well as organisational matters affecting our members and the working class in general.
The congress will receive addresses from the African National Congress [ANC], South African Communist Party [SACP], Congress of South African Trade Unions [COSATU], World Federation of Trade Unions [WFTU] and Trade Union International Public Service & Allied [TUI – PS&A].
The congress will be attended by more than 750 delegates drawn from all structures of the union and other fraternal organizations from South Africa and Internationally.
Members of the media are hereby invited to apply for accreditation to cover the 13th National Congress.
The following information should be included in the application: Full name, Media House, and contact details.
The deadline for accreditation applications is Friday 19th June 2026.
The application for accreditation should be sent to the following email: lwa...@nehawu.org.za
Issued by NEHAWU Secretariat
For further information, please contact: Lwazi Nkolonzi (National Spokesperson) at 081 558 2335 or email: lwa...@nehawu.org.za
Visit NEHAWU website: www.nehawu.org.za
South Africa #ClassSolidarity
SAMWU Western Cape welcomes tariff judgment and demands accountability over public funds wasted on failed litigation
Mhle Dlamini, SAMWU Western Cape Provincial Secretary, 8 JUNE 2026
The South African Municipal Workers’ Union in the Western Cape welcomes the recent court judgment declaring aspects of the City of Cape Town’s tariff structure unlawful. This judgment is an important victory for residents and communities who have consistently raised concerns about the affordability, legality and fairness of municipal charges imposed by the City.
It reaffirms an important principle: municipalities are not above the law. They must exercise public power lawfully, fairly and in the interests of the communities they are constitutionally mandated to serve.
For SAMWU, this judgment raises serious questions about governance, decision-making and the use of public funds by the City of Cape Town. Residents and ratepayers are entitled to know how much public money was spent defending a tariff regime that has now been found to be unlawful.
They are equally entitled to know what steps will be taken to ensure that similar unlawful decisions are not repeated in future.
While the City has every right to pursue legitimate legal remedies where genuine disputes exist, such rights must be exercised responsibly. Public resources cannot be treated as an unlimited litigation fund to defend decisions that may have been flawed from the outset.
Every rand spent on avoidable and unsuccessful litigation is a rand taken away from service delivery, infrastructure, worker development and community support.
This matter does not affect residents alone. Municipal workers have for years experienced the consequences of a litigation culture in which arbitration awards, court orders and dispute resolution outcomes are routinely challenged by the City, even where workers have already succeeded in proving their cases.
This approach delays justice, prolongs suffering and places workers and their families under unnecessary financial and emotional strain.
SAMWU is currently assisting members whose matters have remained before the courts for more than five years, while some workers have spent close to a decade awaiting finality despite having already secured favourable rulings. In other instances, employees who have obtained reinstatement orders continue to face further delays in receiving salaries and back pay legally due to them. Some are even forced to return to court simply to enforce judgments already granted in their favour. This is unacceptable. Justice delayed is justice denied.
Municipal workers are not separate from the communities they serve. They are residents, ratepayers, parents and breadwinners. They face the same rising cost of living, the same municipal charges and the same economic pressures confronting communities across Cape Town.
When public funds are wasted on prolonged and unsuccessful litigation, both workers and communities carry the burden.
The Union therefore finds it difficult to understand how the City can publicly raise concerns about the financial implications of adverse judgments while, at the same time, spending significant public resources on litigation that often delays justice for workers and communities alike. Accountability cannot be demanded from residents and workers while being absent from those entrusted with making legal and administrative decisions on behalf of the City.
A municipality genuinely committed to justice should not force workers to spend years enforcing rights they have already won. Nor should it spend public money defending decisions that ultimately fail legal scrutiny.
SAMWU therefore calls on the City of Cape Town to urgently review its litigation strategy, particularly in labour matters. Appeals and review applications should only be pursued where there are genuine and reasonable prospects of success, not as a tactic to delay implementation or frustrate workers who have already won their cases.
The City must publicly account for expenditure incurred in unsuccessful litigation, implement arbitration awards and court orders without unnecessary delay, and strengthen alternative dispute resolution mechanisms where appropriate to avoid wasteful legal costs. Decision-makers must also be held accountable where public funds are repeatedly spent on litigation that ultimately fails.
In particular, SAMWU calls for accountability within Labour Relations Management where advice and decisions repeatedly result in unsuccessful litigation at significant cost to the public purse, while workers and their families are subjected to years of avoidable hardship.
The Union is not suggesting that the City should abandon its legal rights. We are calling for a responsible, balanced and accountable approach that recognises both the financial cost to taxpayers and the human cost to workers.
At a time when communities are struggling with rising living costs and municipal workers continue to provide essential services under difficult conditions, public funds must be used to improve lives, not to prolong disputes that could have been resolved fairly and lawfully.
SAMWU believes accountability must apply equally to all. Just as residents are entitled to demand accountability when public funds are spent defending policies later found to be unlawful, workers are entitled to demand accountability when prolonged legal battles delay justice, prolong suffering and consume scarce public resources.
The City of Cape Town must demonstrate its commitment not only to defending legal disputes, but to fairness, accountability, responsible governance and respect for the rights of both workers and communities.
Issued by SAMWU Western Cape Province
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SACP conveys its message of condolences to the family of renowned South African scholar John Pampallis
Mbulelo Mandlana, SACP Head of Media, Communications and Information, 8 June 202
The South African Communist Party (SACP) conveys its message of heartfelt condolences to the family of renowned South African scholar, educator, historian, and former public servant John Pampallis. We also send our condolences to the entire liberation movement, in which he served with utmost dedication, and the people of South Africa for the loss.
John Pampallis’ intellect and integrity as a scholar whose intellect left an indelible mark on the country’s schooling and post-school systems. His loss will be felt by many generations of our country.
Beginning his career as a teacher in South Africa, he continued his work with passion, teaching in various countries, including Botswana, Canada and Tanzania. While in exile, he worked at the Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College in Tanzania, from May 1980 to December 1989, as a teacher and deputy vice principal, helping to educate young South African activists who had taken up the baton to fight against the racist apartheid system. His commitment to the liberation struggle was unblemished.
Following our 1994 democratic breakthrough, Pampallis played a significant role in the rebuilding of the South African education system and its institutions. He contributed to the transformation of the system to the new department of higher education and training to create clearer pathways from school to further study and work. With his background rooted in a strong commitment to social justice and his genuine care for young people, his tireless efforts led to a more inclusive system that would give young people from poor and rural backgrounds better opportunities to study after leaving school.
In memory of John Pampallis, the SACP calls for the further development of our system of education and training, particularly with more focus on townships and rural areas. We also support the calls for the abolition of student debt and the creation of pathways to education, skills, work and dignity for young people. Further, education institutions and transport systems must be accessible, inclusive and accountable to learners and educators with disabilities in line with the nation’s aspirations of equal access to education and work.
ISSUED
BY THE SOUTH AFRICAN COMMUNIST PARTY,
FOUNDED IN 1921 AS THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF SOUTH AFRICA.
Media, Communications & Information Department | MCID
International-Solidarity
Fight for jailed Belarusian unionists continues
5 June, 2026
On 4 June 2026, trade union activists and delegates at the 114th ILC gathered in front of UN Palace of Nations near the Broken Chair monument in Geneva, demanding the immediate release of imprisoned Belarusian trade unionists. Among them was Aliaksandr Yarashuk, BKDP president, free after three and a half years in prison.
The ILC is the ILO’s annual governing body. It brings together government, employer and worker representatives from its 187 member states. The Broken Chair has become a regular gathering point for trade union solidarity actions during the conference. For example, demonstrations on Belarus were organized due to absence of any progress in the country on regular basis for a number of years.
Workers in Belarus face punishment simply for defending their rights. Since the 2020 pro-democracy movement, the government has dismantled all independent unions. It has dissolved the Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions (BKDP) and its member organizations including the Free Trade Union of Metalworkers (SPM), the Belarusian Independent Trade Union (BNP) and the Belarusian Trade Union of Radio-Electronic Industry Workers (REP), an IndustriALL affiliate. Also, the Free Belarusian Trade Union (SPB) was dissolved.
Dozens of union leaders and activists have been jailed on fabricated charges, with many still imprisoned. In April 2025, global unions stepped up pressure on the Belarusian government through coordinated solidarity actions and formal letters to Belarusian embassies.
The demonstration coincides with Belarus appearing before the ILC’s Committee on the Application of Standards for a special sitting. This is a significant moment of international scrutiny. Moreover, questions are being raised in the ILO credentials committee about the credibility of the official Belarusian labour delegation. This delegation is composed of members of the government-controlled national federation who do not represent workers’ interests.
This follows the Article 33 procedure invoked against Belarus in 2023. That procedure obliges ILO member states to take all possible steps to ensure Belarus implements the recommendations of ILO Commission of Inquiry first established in 2003. Despite sustained international pressure, including a special ILC session in June 2025, the appointment of an ILO special envoy and a further Governing Body follow-up decision in March 2026, Belarus has persistently failed to act. It has not implemented the commission’s recommendations. In addition, it has refused to allow an ILO mission into the country. It has not permitted independent doctors to visit imprisoned trade unionists to assess their health.
Maksim Pazniakou, the BNP chairman, said:
“International solidarity really works, we see it today. We continue to come here repeatedly every year. All imprisoned unionists must be released. Let’s bring freedom of association back to Belarus.”
IndustriALL assistant general secretary, Kemal Özkan, said:
“We are very happy that Aliaksandr Yarashuk is with us. The struggle has never ended and will continue until all our comrades in prison are freed, until Belarus becomes a democratic country and until justice arrives in the workplaces. We will never give up. We stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters.”
Aliaksandr Yarashuk, BKDP president said: “Colleagues, friends and comrades, I am very happy to welcome you here. Thank you for coming to support our friends, comrades and Belarusian trade unionists who are in jail. Thanks to your support I am finally free after spending three and a half years in prison. Let’s focus on the next step, which is to free the remaining prisoners, so that they too can join us next year.”
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International Labour Conference: Education International calls for teachers and unions to be at the center of the debate on Artificial Intelligence
Trade union rights are human rights, 5 June 2026
“Education is not an assembly line, a content delivery platform, or, under any circumstances, a transaction. Our students are not data, and our classrooms are not markets.”
This was stated by José Olivera of Uruguay’s National Federation of Secondary Education Teachers (FENAPES) during his intervention before the International Labour Organization (ILO) at the 114th International Labour Conference (ILC), on behalf of Education International (EI).
In his speech, Olivera referred to the ILO Director-General’s report, “A moment of choice: Harnessing artificial intelligence for decent work”, and issued a strong call for action: “throughout the report’s more than 30 pages, the word ‘teacher’ does not appear a single time; and ‘education’ is mentioned only a handful of times”
The trade union leader stressed that teachers are not merely passive consumers of technology but essential actors in shaping how it is used in education. “There can be no legitimate governance of artificial intelligence in education without the active participation of teachers and their trade unions.”
At the same time, he noted that the report recognizes that “technological change is not neutral, that governance matters, and that we need a people-centred and rights-based approach.”
He also stressed that “The report reminds us that human intelligence, creativity and empathy must be protected, not displaced by artificial intelligence, and that technology should complement human capacities, not replace them. In education, that human capacity has a name: teachers’ professional judgment.”
During his intervention, Olivera also drew attention to the situation in Palestine, where education continues to be under attack, and expressed Education International’s solidarity. “Palestinian teachers have gone years without receiving full salaries, and students are learning under conditions of displacement and trauma. Yet teachers continue to teach, continue to resist, and continue to defend the right to education,” he emphasized.
The International Labour Conference is the annual meeting of the International Labour Organization, the United Nations’ tripartite agency that brings together governments, employers, and workers to develop and oversee international labour standards. In it, the IE delegation has followed up on several cases of violations of trade union rights and has spoken out in defense of decent working conditions for teachers.
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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