Taking COSATU Today Forward, 27 May 2026
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
27 May 2026
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Contents
- Workers Parliament: Back to Basics!
- SAMWU Raises Alarm Over Governance Failures, Worker Safety, and Crumbling Labour Relations
- South Africa
- Minister Buti Manamela secures private sector commitment to advance South Africa’s skills revolution
- Home Affairs builds digital verification platform for National Treasury to combat ghost workers
- International-Workers’ Solidarity!
- Global Campaign for Signature Collection: “CUBA IS NOT ALONE! – FIRMO POR CUBA”
Workers’ Parliament-Back2Basics
SAMWU Raises Alarm Over Governance Failures, Worker Safety, and Crumbling Labour Relations
Siphokazi Lobishe, SAMWU Nelson Mandela Bay Regional Secretary, 26 May 2026
The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (SAMWU) in the Nelson Mandela Bay Region, is deeply concerned by the continued deterioration of governance, labour relations, and working conditions within the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality. Municipal workers remain the backbone of service delivery, ensuring communities receive water, sanitation, electricity, waste removal, road maintenance, and essential customer care. Yet, they are increasingly expected to perform these vital duties under unsafe, unstable, and unacceptable conditions.
As SAMWU, we are particularly alarmed that workers continue to be denied proper tools of trade, protective clothing, and safe environments. This failure not only undermines productivity but directly places the lives and well-being of our members at risk. It is unacceptable that officials entrusted with ensuring compliance continue to fail workers without facing consequences for their negligence, mediocrity, and dereliction of duty.
This administrative failure stems from a severe leadership vacuum. The Metro continues to operate under an Acting City Manager while the appointed City Manager, Dr Nqwazi, remains on indefinite suspension. A municipality of this size and complexity cannot be run effectively through temporary arrangements that weaken accountability and paralyse decision-making. Compounding this crisis, not a single directorate is led by a permanent Executive Director. This instability was exacerbated by the Council’s failure to finalise the organisational structure by the 30 June 2025 deadline. Ultimately, workers and communities bear the brunt of this administrative paralysis.
As SAMWU, we also fiercely condemn the rampant vandalism of municipal facilities, including libraries, community halls, and depots, which leaves workers exposed to undignified environments. The situation at the Despatch municipal depot is particularly disgraceful, the facility has been completely vandalised, forcing staff to operate out of vehicles without basic ablution facilities. This is a direct violation of workers' rights to dignity and safety. While the municipality has established an anti-vandalism committee, its complete lack of results shows it is toothless. We demand immediate, practical interventions to secure facilities so workers can deliver quality services safely.
Compounding these environmental hazards is a blatant disregard for labour relations procedures. As SAMWU, we note with outrage the municipality’s failure to finalise disciplinary cases within the prescribed timeframes. Numerous employees have been left in limbo well beyond the 90-day limit stipulated in the disciplinary collective agreement. Most shockingly, an official from Infrastructure and Engineering has reportedly been on suspension for five years without a conclusion, while multiple Budget and Treasury staff face prolonged extensions. This practice is both psychologically damaging to workers and financially wasteful to the municipality, which continues to pay full salaries alongside acting allowances for replacement staff. Suspensions must never be weaponised as pre-emptive punishment.
Furthermore, the incomplete job evaluation process continues to undermine fairness. Many employees are still working without proper job descriptions or remain stuck on incorrect, outdated pay grades. Workers cannot be expected to perform duties without clear roles and fair remuneration.
In light of these pressing challenges, SAMWU demands that the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality take immediate action to:
- Fill all critical senior management vacancies permanently without further delay.
- Finalise the organisational structure and complete the job evaluation process.
- Implement robust security measures to protect municipal buildings and staff.
- Provide workers with proper tools of trade and protective clothing.
- Expedite the fair resolution of all outstanding disciplinary matters.
- Hold accountable all officials responsible for non-compliance and poor performance.
As SAMWU, we remain committed to constructive engagement in the interest of workers, communities, and local government stability.
However, we will not fold our arms while our members are placed at risk, labour processes are undermined, and governance failures go unpunished. We will continue to fiercely resist unsafe working conditions and unfair labour practices.
The Metro cannot continue down a path of neglect; it must act with urgency and accountability now.
Issued by SAMWU Nelson Mandela Bay Region
South Africa #ClassSolidarity
Minister Buti Manamela secures private sector commitment to advance South Africa’s skills revolution
25 May 2026
The Minister of Higher Education and Training, Mr Buti Manamela has successfully secured strong commitments from leaders across the private sector to partner with government in advancing South Africa’s skills revolution and strengthening the country’s dual system of education and training to employability.
As
part of activities linked to the Higher Education and Training Budget Vote speech, Minister Manamela convened a high-level business breakfast with executives and leaders from the agriculture, mining, engineering, ICT, financial services and other strategic
sectors of the economy. The engagement brought together government, business, skills development institutions, intermediaries, and start-ups in a collective effort to address South Africa’s urgent youth unemployment challenge.
South Africa is faced with more than three million young people who are not in education, employment or training. At the same time, many graduates and qualified and skilled young people remain unemployed, while businesses continue to express concern about the
shortage of appropriately skilled workers required by the economy.
The business breakfast sought to directly confront this disconnect by establishing a practical platform through which government and business can work together to ensure that skills development responds meaningfully to labour market demands and economic growth.
The Minister announced that this engagement will evolve into an ongoing partnership platform that will meet regularly and be supported by a clear implementation plan between engagements to ensure measurable progress and accountability.
The discussions were anchored around five strategic themes:
Reimagining public-private partnerships in the Post-School Education and Training (PSET) sector by moving towards strategic, long-term collaboration that builds sustainable systems.
Bridging the skills-industry gap through curriculum alignment, workplace exposure and direct business participation in training design.
Scaling apprenticeships, learnerships and work-integrated learning opportunities by exploring incentives, removing barriers and improving implementation at scale.
Identifying
what business requires from government, including policy certainty, efficient processes, accessible funding mechanisms and improved accountability.
Establishing a shared accountability framework that clearly defines roles, responsibilities and measurable outcomes for both government and business.
The
session concluded with participating executives making formal commitments and pledges in various forms to support the implementation of the skills revolution agenda.
Among the key outcomes of the engagement was strong support for the revitalisation and repositioning of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges. Business leaders emphasised that TVET colleges remain central to South Africa’s economic
future and should be rebranded as institutions that prepare young people for practical, future-focused occupations that will remain essential even in an era increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence and automation.
Participants also stressed the need for improved coordination within government, as well as stronger alignment between government and business, to ensure that skills development interventions are integrated, responsive and effective.
The engagement further highlighted the importance of entrepreneurship development as part of the country’s skills agenda.
Business leaders indicated that young people must increasingly be equipped not only to become job seekers, but also job creators capable of building enterprises, creating employment and contributing to economic growth.
The engagement was co-hosted by Standard Bank and Primestars. Co-host of the engagement, Dr Kirston Greenhop of Standard Bank, reinforced the importance of prioritising vocational education and practical skills development as a key pillar of inclusive economic participation. CEO of Primestars Mr Nkosinathi Moshoana emphasised the importance of learning to earning, one of their key campaigns to ensure that graduates are offered job opportunities.
Minister Manamela emphasised that the outcomes of the engagement must lead to practical implementation and measurable impact.
“The report that emerges from this process must speak directly to how we action partnerships and collaboration in a meaningful and measurable way. There is already important work happening across sectors and institutions. Our responsibility now is to identify what is working, understand how to scale it, and take all of these commitments forward into concrete programmes that benefit young people and the economy,” said Minister Manamela.
The Minister was supported during the engagement by the Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training, Nomusa Dube-Ncube, the Director-General of the Department, as well as Deputy Directors-General responsible for skills development and related branches within the department.
Minister
Manamela concluded the engagement by reiterating government’s commitment to ensure that the post-school education and training system becomes a driver of economic inclusion and opportunity.
“Ultimately, we cannot allow our education and training system to become a waiting room for unemployment for our youth. It must become a platform for empowerment, productivity, innovation and national development,” concluded Minister Manamela.
The Minister will deliver the budget speech in Parliament tomorrow 26 May 2026 at 10:00.
Enquiries: Matshepo Seedat, Spokesperson for the Minister of Higher Education and Training on 082 679 9473
Email: Seed...@dhet.gov.za
Issued by Department of Higher Education and Training
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Home Affairs builds digital verification platform for National Treasury to combat ghost workers
26 May 2026
The
Department of Home Affairs has developed a world-class new online realtime employee verification portal for National Treasury as part of government’s broader digital transformation agenda to strengthen public sector accountability and protect public funds.
The platform will officially go live on 15 June 2026, with the verification process scheduled to run for an initial two-month period across national and provincial departments.
The initiative by Home Affairs is in support of government’s efforts to eliminate ghost employees and payment irregularities, which cost the national fiscus an estimated R3.9 billion in 2025.
Built using the Department of Home Affairs’ cutting-edge trusted digital identity verification capabilities and linked to the population register, the platform enables liveness tests and biometric real-time verification of employee records to ensure that government
personnel information is accurate, current, and reliable.
The project is the latest milestone on Home Affairs’ reform journey, anchored in driving digital transformation to build a capable, secure, and modern state that uses technology to improve governance and service delivery.
The Minister of Home Affairs, Dr Leon Schreiber, said: “If used consistently, this platform has the power to save South African taxpayers billions of Rands by leveraging the power of enhanced biometric systems to identify ghost employees and others involved
in defrauding government payrolls. The application of the digital capabilities our reform work is now consistently delivering to this new use case, demonstrates that the digital transformation of Home Affairs is laying the foundation for an entirely rebuilt
state, with the benefits being felt widely across government and society.”
Media Enquiries: Carli van Wyk – Spokesperson to the Minister
Cell: 079 166 3899
Issued by Department of Home Affairs
International-Solidarity
Global Campaign for Signature Collection: “CUBA IS NOT ALONE! – FIRMO POR CUBA”
by WFTU HQ, 18 May 2026
Global Campaign for Signature Collection: “CUBA IS NOT ALONE! – FIRMO POR CUBA”
TO WFTU AFFILIATES AND FRIENDS
Dear comrades,
The WFTU Presidential Council, which met on the 12th and 13th of May 2026, expresses its full solidarity and unwavering support to the heroic people of Cuba, who continue to defend the gains of the Revolution despite the intensified imperialist aggression and the criminal longstanding blockade imposed by the United States.
Despite the repeated condemnation of the blockade by the overwhelming majority of the international community and by the United Nations General Assembly, the U.S. government continues to intensify the economic war against Cuba. Under false pretexts and through additional sanctions and restrictions, it seeks to suffocate the Cuban economy, creating serious consequences for the living and working conditions of the Cuban people, particularly in the fields of energy, healthcare, transport, and everyday life.
At the same time, the imperialist forces and their allies attempt to exploit these difficulties in order to undermine and overthrow the Cuban Revolution and isolate socialist Cuba internationally. However, the Cuban working class and people continue to resist with dignity, resilience, and determination, defending their sovereign right to choose their own path without foreign intervention and coercion.
In these critical circumstances, solidarity with Cuba cannot remain only at the level of declarations. The present conditions demand concrete internationalist action and practical solidarity from the class-oriented trade union movement and the peoples of the world.
Following the unanimous decision of the WFTU Presidential Council Meeting, held on the 12th and 13th of May 2026, the WFTU calls upon its affiliates and friends to actively participate in the Global Campaign for Signature Collection: “Cuba is not alone! – FIRMO POR CUBA”.
We call on all trade unions, workers’ organizations, youth and popular organizations, activists, and friends of Cuba to strengthen and organize the campaign in every country, every workplace, every sector, every university, and every neighborhood.
Steps for participation in the Global Campaign “Firmo Por Cuba – Sign for Cuba”:
1. Download and print the signature collection form.
2. Organize signature collection initiatives in workplaces, factories, offices, ports, schools, universities, neighborhoods, and communities.
3. Deliver the collected signatures to the Embassy or Consulate of Cuba in your country.
4. Inform the campaign organizers about your participation and the number of collected signatures by email at: con...@firmoporcuba.com , and also the WFTU Headquarters.
5. Promote and share the online international petition! Photos of the signature collection and activities will be also published in the WFTU channels.
The form for printing and collecting signatures can be downloaded here:
https://www.firmoporcuba.com/print
The WFTU calls upon all its affiliates and friends to take immediate initiatives and contribute actively to the success of this important international solidarity campaign.
Solidarity with Cuba!
End the Blockade Now!
WFTU Presidential Council
May 2026
______________________________
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