Taking COSATU Today Forward, 3 February 2026
Norman Mampane
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COSATU TODAY #Back2SchoolCampaign continues… #Cosatu40 #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
3 February 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!
- DITSELA Institute invites Educators, Skills Development Officers in all federations at the 2026 Worker Education Program Launch
- African Unions invited to Trade Unions for Energy Democracy Africa Regional Quarterly Virtual Meeting
- South Africa
- SACP dips its red flag in tribute to liberation struggle stalwart, Comrade Leon Levy
- International-Workers’ Solidarity!
- Panama: ITUC condemns arbitrary detention and expulsion of trade union leader
Workers’ Parliament-Back2Basics
DITSELA Institute invites Educators, Skills Development Officers in all federations at the 2026 Worker Education Program Launch
January 2026
Attention: Educators & National/Provincial Office Bearers Responsible for Education
Dear comrades and colleagues,
Ditsela Programme 2026 Theme: “Educate, Engage, Empower for Resilient and Inclusive Labour Movement”
You are invited to the launch of the 2026 Ditsela Programme
Date: Thursday 12 February 2026
Time 10h00 – 12h00
Venue: Ditsela Offices
Johannesburg Office
21 Marshall Street
4th Floor t
Johannesburg
We would like to urge educators to make every effort to ensure that office bearers responsible for education are available for this meeting. In 2025 we tried to include office bearers in all strategic activities so that they could engage with Ditsela on the priorities for workers’ education; this has proved to be a very successful way of communicating with our constituency about workers’ education.
In this meeting we will be sharing:
▪ New developments for 2026 Programme
▪ Recruitment processes to Ditsela Programme
▪ Required documentation for the application
Note: Ditsela would like affiliates to share their Union programme as well to establish areas of collaboration.
Please confirm your attendance by completing the reply slip to vero...@ditsela.org.za
Fax: 011 492-0302
Yours in the continued struggle for power through education.
Khanyisile Khanyi
Programme Manager
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African Unions invited to Trade Unions for Energy Democracy Africa Regional Quarterly Virtual Meeting
Dear Comrades
SAVE THE DATE: 10th February 2026
Africa Regional Quarterly Virtual Meeting
Please join us for a virtual meeting of African unions and their allies on:
February 10th, 2026. Time: Johannesburg. South Africa/16:00, Tunisia/15:00.
Find your local time here:
https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html
Anyone that wants to attend must please register. All registrants will receive a zoom link. RSVP:
Please register HERE.
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/g1hf5pbiS5WPSMXDB92Ziw#/registration
Interpretation: to be confirmed! Dependent on the need and resources required.
Why This Meeting?
Join the meeting to listen to updates from Tunisia, South Africa, and Ghana regarding renewable energy costs, the unbundling and privatization of energy institutions, and the role of private sector participation, amongst other things.
See article attached on the Tunisia case study of the cost of renewable energy.
Kind Regards
Suraya Jawoodeen
on behalf of the TUED team
SACP dips its red flag in tribute to liberation struggle stalwart, Comrade Leon Levy
Mbulelo Mandlana, SACP Head of Media, Communications and Information, 2 February 2026
The South African Communist Party (SACP) dips its red flag in tribute to our liberation struggle stalwart, Comrade Leon Levy, 96, who breathed his last today.
The SACP conveys its message of heartfelt condolences to his family, the South African liberation movement and the entire working class whom he served diligently.
Comrade Leon together with his twin brother, Norman, who passed away in July 2021, served the people of South Africa in the struggle against apartheid and continued his activism post our 1994 democratic breakthrough.
Born in Johannesburg in 1929 to Mary and Mark Levy, immigrants from Lithuania, the Levy brothers dedicated their lives to fighting against colonial and apartheid rule in South Africa. They were born into a family that was conscious of the evils of racism as per their experience in Europe and thus from a young age became actively involved in the struggle. They joined and participated in the Young Communist League of South Africa and by the age of 17 were actively participating in the SACP, then called the Communist Party of South Africa.
As the liberation struggle intensified, especially with the Communist Party’s influence, the apartheid regime was forced to revert to another reactionary step by passing the Suppression of Communism Act of 1950 and thereafter banned the SACP, the first organisation to be banned under the anti-communism law. Consequently, the regime’s security police arrested the twin brothers in December 1956 and detained them at the Old Fort in Johannesburg together with 154 others. They were charged with high treason but eventually acquitted along with 61 others in December the following year.
Becoming an active trade unionist by the age of 24, in 1955 Comrade Leon went on to help form and lead the first non-racial trade union federation in South Africa, the South African Congress of Trade Unions (Sactu) – the predecessor of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) – wherein he was elected as its founding president. He served in that position with distinction for nine years, helping to unite and strengthen the trade union movement.
As Sactu leader, Comrade Leon was among the organisers and signatories of the Congress of the People which adopted the Freedom Charter in Kliptown, Soweto, on 26 June 1955. The five other signatories to the Freedom Charter were African National Congress President Chief Albert Luthuli; Jimmy La Guma of the South African Coloured People's Congress; Monty Naicker of the Natal Indian Congress; and Pieter Beyleveld of the Congress of Democrats.
Comrade Leon was one of a large group of activists arrested after the declaration of the state of emergency in 1960. In 1962 the apartheid regime extended his banning orders to the prohibition of the publication of his writings and statements, and his presence in any African township, compound or hostel.
Following his arrest under the 90-days without trial law, subjecting him even to a period of solitary confinement and myriad other forms of persecution, the apartheid regime then forced Comrade Leon to go into exile in the UK in 1963. In the UK, he continued to contribute to the struggle against apartheid, participating in the anti-apartheid movement.
Upon his return to South Africa, he contributed to Cosatu’s submission to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on business and apartheid. He has published several works relating to trade unions and labour relations issues.
In paying tribute to Comrade Leon, the SACP calls for the unity of the working class in the fight against capitalism, in the pursuit of socialism. In this context, the SACP will continue to wage a relentless struggle against neoliberal policies and also fight against imperialism. To this end, the SACP is taking all practical steps to unite the working class for socialism, including the convocation of the Conference of the Left, towards building a left popular front to confront the deep-rooted problems faced by the working class in the current juncture.
ISSUED BY THE SOUTH AFRICAN COMMUNIST PARTY
FOUNDED IN 1921 AS THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF SOUTH AFRICA.
Media, Communications & Information Department | MCID
International-Solidarity
Panama: ITUC condemns arbitrary detention and expulsion of trade union leader
2 February 2026
The ITUC strongly condemns the arbitrary detention and expulsion of trade union official Marcelo Di Stefano by the Panamanian authorities.
Marcelo Di Stefano – Organising Secretary at the ITUC regional organisation, TUCA – was entering the country on 1 February to attend a trade union seminar organised by global union federations and European trade unions, and participate in an ILO tripartite mission bringing together workers, employers and the Panamanian government.
He was held for over seven hours without explanation at Panama’s international airport before being expelled, despite holding a formal invitation to participate in the ILO-supported mission.
“This unjustified and hostile action is a serious violation of international norms and an attack on freedom of association, trade union rights and social dialogue,” said ITUC General Secretary Luc Triangle
"It is deeply troubling that the Panamanian authorities would deny entry to a legitimate trade union leader invited to participate in an ILO mission. It sends a clear message of hostility towards democratic dialogue and workers’ rights. The Government of Panama must provide a full explanation, ensure it upholds its obligations under international law and put an end to all forms of intimidation and restriction on trade union activity.
"However, this is not new. Trade unions in Panama work in an extremely hostile environment. In the ITUC Global Rights Index, the country is rated 4 because of systematic violations of rights. Trade union leaders are detained without charge, workers are harassed daily, and basic organising rights are not respected. What happened to Brother Marcelo is part of a systematic anti-union campaign by the authorities in Panama that must stop.”
______________________________
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