Taking COSATU Today Forward Special Bulletin, 2 March 2026 #IWD2026
Norman Mampane
|
COSATU TODAY International #WomensDay is coming on March 8… #GenderStruggle #EqualPay #ClassSolidarity #Cosatu40 #SACTU70 #ClassStruggle “Build Working Class Unity for Economic Liberation towards Socialism” #CosatuCallCentre 010 002 2590 #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
2 March 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!
- Department of Employment and Labour convenes the National Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Conference 2026
- Media Invite: SAMWU to convene its 13th National Congress under the Theme: “Towards 4 Decades and Beyond in Defence of Workers’ Interests”
- South Africa
- COSATU welcomes the R358 million fine for Mr. Stehan Gorbler for his role in the infamous Steinhoff heist
- South African Communist Party Politburo statement on the budget and associated medium-term expenditure framework
- COSATU notes the court agreement in preparation for the Constitutional Court challenge on the National Health Insurance Act
- International-Workers’ Solidarity!
- COSATU Statement on the US-Israeli imperialist war against Iran and the people of the Middle East
- Initiative in Mexico targets industrial homicide after Pasta de Conchos
- ITUC urges immediate ceasefire and renewed peace talks in the Middle East
Workers’ Parliament-Back2Basics
Department of Employment and Labour convenes the National Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Conference 2026
02 March 2026
The Department of Employment and Labour is to host a three-day National Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) conference 2026 to reimagine the future of OHS in South Africa.
The OHS conference forms part of the Department's Inspection and Enforcement Services (IES) branch's broader programme to modernise the OHS system, strengthen enforcement capacity, and embed prevention as the organising principle of workplace regulation.
National Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) conference is expected to bring together 800 delegates including 600 OHS inspectors, departmental OHS experts, OHS industry experts/organisations, regulatory organisations, organised business, labour federations, academia, and the International Labour Organization (ILO).
The theme of the conference is: “Beyond Compliance: Prevention in Practice". The Conference is convened at a critical moment in South Africa's economic and labour market trajectory. It reflects the Department's strategic repositioning of Occupational Health and Safety as:
- A constitutional imperative
- A fundamental right at work
- A core function of state authority
- A pillar of economic productivity and investor confidence
- A foundation for decent work and inclusive growth
Among issues that will come under the spotlight during the conference include: addressing regulatory gaps in South Africa's OHS landscape: challenges, enforcement failures and policy reform pathways; leveraging on statistics to reduce injuries and occupational diseases; turning regulations into action: using the OHS regulatory framework to prevent and reduce incidents and illnesses; creative solutions to manage risks in the explosives industry; construction - accountability through competency to reduce workplace incidents; management of change in process safety to reduce Major Hazard Installation (MHI) incidents; risk assessment; global perspective on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the prevention of occupational injuries and diseases; the use of technology to prevent incident in the construction sector; and the role of research in preventing injuries and diseases among others.
The three-day gathering will culminate with a Gala Awards Ceremony to honour outstanding inspectors and champions of policy development which are aimed at Promoting Vision Zero principles.
Members
of the media are invited to attend the National Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) conference which will be held as follows:
Venue: Birchwood Hotel & OR Tambo Conference Centre,44 View Point Rd, Bartlett, Boksburg,
Date: 17–19 March 2026
Time: 07:45 – 16:00
For media inquiries, please contact:
Teboho Thejane
Departmental Spokesperson
082 697 0694/ teboho....@labour.gov.za
-ENDS-
Issued by: Department of Employment and Labour
_____________________
Media Invite: SAMWU to convene its 13th National Congress under the Theme: “Towards 4 Decades and Beyond in Defence of Workers’ Interests”
Papikie Mohale, SAMWU National Media Officer, 25 February 2026
The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (SAMWU) will convene its 13th National Congress from 17 to 19 March 2026 at Church Unlimited, Nelspruit, Mpumalanga. Held under the theme “Towards 4 Decades and Beyond in Defence of Workers’ Interests,” this Congress marks an important milestone as the Union reflects on nearly forty years of militant struggle, organisational consolidation, and unwavering defence of municipal and water sector workers.
Members of the media are invited to attend and cover the open sessions of Congress on 17 and 19 March 2026.
The Congress will be addressed by the national leadership of the Alliance partners: The African National Congress (ANC), The South African Communist Party (SACP), The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU). These addresses will engage the political, economic and social challenges confronting workers and outline the programme required to defend and advance working-class interests.
The 13th National Congress will deliberate on key organisational, political and collective bargaining matters, including strategies to strengthen the Union and respond decisively to the deepening crisis in local government.
Members of the media are encouraged to confirm their attendance with the National Media Officer, Cde Papikie Mohale, at pap...@samwu.org.za in order to secure accreditation by 10 March 2026.
Please note that only accredited members of the media will be allowed access to the Congress venue.
Issued by SAMWU Secretariat
South Africa #ClassSolidarity
COSATU welcomes the R358 million fine for Mr. Stehan Gorbler for his role in the infamous Steinhoff heist
Matthew Parks, COSATU Parliamentary Coordinator, 02 March 2026
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) welcomes the R358 million fine imposed by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) upon Steinhoff co-accused, Mr. Stehan Grobler, for his role in the infamous Steinhoff heist. Mr. Grobler is due to appear in court in May on a separate criminal charge.
This is a welcome and long overdue victory, albeit after so many years, for workers and pensioners who saw R24 billion in pension and other funds lost in the Steinhoff heist, one of the most notorious in South African history. Whilst appreciating this victory and earlier fines and convictions for some of the Steinhoff accused, COSATU is deeply disappointed that eight years down the road, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has yet to conclude the prosecution and conviction of all involved in the Steinhoff theft and much of the stolen funds remain unaccounted for.
For years the leadership of the NPA offered meaningless platitudes to the public that it is busy building a case to ensure justice for the victims of Steinhoff with few convictions to show for their losses and pain. Whilst the NPA’s leadership has been slumbering their way through life, key perpetrators of the Steinhoff heist have mostly escaped justice.
The consequences of the embarrassing failures by the NPA to act for many years, have not only been felt by the workers and pensioners who were robbed of their hard-earned savings, but the nation at large.
Workers paid a further price to state capture and corruption with the nation’s resulting grey listing. International investors and pension funds are extremely reluctant and often prohibited from investing in grey listed or sanctioned economies. This period of grey listing was a painful blow for a stagnant economy bleeding jobs and battling a 41.1% unemployment rate.
Whilst the African National Congress led Government and Parliament have made positive progress to secure South Africa’s exit from grey listing, we cannot afford to be complacent.
The NPA’s less than inspiring performance must ring alarm bells in Government and Parliament. Interventions are needed to ensure the NPA has the resources it requires to win the war against crime and corruption, in particular filling of prosecutorial and other critical vacancies. The Courts too, need to be given the resources required to end the massive backlog in cases and expedite those involving serious commercial crimes.
COSATU welcomes Advocate Andy Mothibi’s taking over as the National Director of Public Prosecutions. The NPA desperately needs leadership with the necessary passion and hunger for justice and the capacity to deliver. Society, in particular the working class, needs to see the tide turning in the war against crime and corruption.
Key to winning this war is fixing the state, growing the economy, creating jobs and improving the lives of all South Africans. Society is correctly impatient and expects more from government.
Issued by COSATU
_______________________
South African Communist Party Politburo statement on the budget and associated medium-term expenditure framework
Mbulelo Mandlana, SACP Head of Media, Communications and Information, 28 February 2026
The Political Bureau of the South African Communist Party (SACP) is holding its two-day Lekgotla in Johannesburg, starting on Friday, 27 February 2026. The meeting has received a political input presented by the General Secretary Solly Mapaila. It has discussed a wide range of economic, political, social and international developments and is still in session. The meeting will conclude late on Saturday, 28 February 2026.
This statement communicates the key outcomes on the budget tabled to Parliament and the nation on Wednesday, 25 February 2025, by the Minister of Finance, Enoch Godongwana, and the associated medium-term expenditure framework. A separate statement focusing on other key outcomes will follow in due course.
Failure of the budget to support industrialisation, large-scale employment creation and proactive agricultural land acquisition and redistribution major concerns for the SACP and the working class at large
While the budget speech does not, indeed, appear at first sight as if it is driving austerity, and there is average annual medium-term expenditure framework growth for budget allocations in a number of economic classifications and expenditure items, this has to be obvious in the context of recently improved tax collection. The average annual medium-term expenditure framework growth rates, although welcome where they apply compared to austerity in its outright intransigence, are, as a critical examination of the full budget review will reveal, nominal, insignificant or underwhelming. That is, they fall far short of what is required to address the multiple crises we face. These crises include the long-term unemployment crisis, poverty crisis and extreme levels of racialised, gendered and spatialised inequality, including under-development in rural areas and in both the semi-periphery and periphery of major metropolitan areas. It is important to underline that in our country, the long-term and structural character of the unemployment crisis also affects a significant proportion of college and university graduates with higher certificates, diplomas, advanced diplomas, bachelor’s degrees, honours degrees and master’s degrees.
In particular, the SACP is deeply concerned that under the economic classification of Industrialisation and exports, there is a negative average annual medium-term expenditure growth rate for Economic development and incentives (-1.4 per cent). Over the next three years, up to 31 March 2029, if this path is not altered, this trajectory will seriously impede industrialisation and associated large-scale employment creation. The negative average annual medium-term expenditure framework growth translates into a decline in government investment into or government spending in pursuit of industrialisation and associated large-scale employment creation. This cannot be good news.
Besides, the average annual medium-term expenditure framework growth curtailment contradicting the commitment made by President Cyril Ramaphosa during the State of the Nation Address and debates regarding the need for South Africa to develop a comprehensive industrial policy to drive industrialisation, our country continues to face de-industrialisation. This is indicated by manufacturing closures and a decline in manufacturing contribution to overall national output and employment. A decline in government spending negatively affecting industrialisation, and thereby associated employment creation, cannot halt the long-term de-industrialisation wave, nor can it deliver re-industrialisation and associated large-scale industrial employment creation.
What is required is positive, and for that matter significant, average annual medium-term expenditure framework growth for industrialisation and associated large-scale employment creation. This must support a comprehensive, high-impact industrial policy to stop the de-industrialisation wave and drive both re-industrialisation and associated large-scale industrial employment creation.
In the same way, the negative annual medium-term expenditure framework growth for the Agricultural Land Holding Account (-0.1 per cent) must be a cause for concern. If this facility forms part of measures to transform agricultural land ownership and to redress the results of past racial prejudices, it must be supported by adequate investment in proactive acquisition, management and redistribution of agricultural land. This, in the context where the Agricultural Land Holding Account must be well managed to be highly impactful, must form part of the wider national imperative. It should contribute to building and expanding access to productive work to tackle unemployment.
Re-industrialisation, agricultural land ownership transformation, redistribution and productive support, and associated employment creation, also require a supportive monetary policy, including developmental or moderate interest rates rather than high interest rates. In this regard, the South African Reserve Bank must play a developmental role. The Cabinet must review macro-economic policy, both fiscal and monetary policies, to stop de-industrialisation, re-industrialise our economy and create large-scale employment to bring down unemployment, poverty and inequality. Towards these economic policy goals, the SACP calls for a review of the budget trajectory.
Fruitless and wasteful spending
The SACP calls for decisive action against fruitless and wasteful expenditure.
The Auditor General’s consolidated audit outcomes, as reflected in the February 2026 Budget Review, reveal a crisis of financial governance across all three spheres of government. Fruitless and wasteful expenditure continues to drain public resources that should be directed towards healthcare, education, housing, public transport and decent work. There can be no doubt that maladministration, corruption and theft of public funds are part of the factors underpinning fruitless and wasteful spending.
At national level, fruitless and wasteful expenditure in the period under review is no less than R2.1 billion. This includes avoidable interest on overdue accounts, penalties for late payments and abandoned projects left incomplete, and legal costs arising from administrative failures. The funds lost as a result of fruitless and wasteful expenditure have delivered no public value. The money has not built any school. It did not equip a hospital or a clinic. It did not create productive work for a single worker.
At provincial level, fruitless and wasteful expenditure is no less than R3.4 billion. The bulk of this arises from departments of health, education and public works. These are the very departments that should serve the working class and poor communities. Instead of strengthening frontline services, billions are squandered through tenderisation, which is privatisation, and associated reckless procurement, litigation due to maladministration, and non-compliance with prescripts and due processes.
At the municipal level, fruitless and wasteful expenditures also surpass the billion-rand threshold. Municipalities continue to incur avoidable penalties, interest on overdue bulk service payments, payments for undelivered goods and services, and costs linked to unlawful or irregular tenders. In many municipalities, weak internal controls and political interference in procurement processes remain entrenched.
Across the three spheres, fruitless and wasteful expenditure is no less than R7.4 billion. This minimum figure reflects only what has been disclosed and audited. The real scale of fruitless and wasteful expenditure is probably higher where records are incomplete, unreliable, deliberately obscured or destroyed.
Sky-rocketing irregular expenditure
The SACP therefore calls for increased zero-tolerance approach to systemic irregular expenditure and enforced consequence management and insourcing of all unnecessarily outsourced public functions. Repeated deviations from prescripts and due processes must trigger automatic investigations and disciplinary processes or criminal cases where evidence of deliberate wrongdoing is established.
It is a fact: besides fruitless and wasteful expenditure, the SACP is gravely concerned about the scale of irregular expenditure across all spheres of government, which exceeds R60 billion, while unauthorised expenditure is also in the billions.
Irregular expenditure does not automatically mean that funds have been lost. In some instances, value for money may have been realised, but prescribed procedures, regulatory requirements or due processes were not followed. However, when irregular expenditure becomes systemic, structural and skyrocketing, it signals profoundly wrong practices within the machinery of the state.
Persistent and escalating irregular expenditure implies entrenched weaknesses, most of which are rooted in tenders and tender corruption, including deliberate manipulation of procurement processes, political interference, poor oversight and a culture of impunity. These erode transparency and create fertile ground for corruption, patronage networks and the capture of public institutions through tenderisation, tenders and contract variations.
Even where no immediate financial loss can be proven, systemic irregular expenditure destroys public confidence, distorts priorities and weakens the developmental capacity of the state. If left unattended, it will normalise non-compliance. It will shift governance from rules-based administration to discretion driven decision making, often influenced by private interests.
The working class cannot be told that there is no money for healthcare, education, housing and public transport while tens of billions of rands are trapped in irregular processes and billions more are spent without authorisation. A developmental state cannot be built on procedural decay, governance shortcuts and procurement manipulation.
Systemic irregular and unauthorised expenditure are not a technical glitch. It is a warning sign of institutional erosion. It must be confronted decisively and rooted out without fear or favour.
Neo-liberal orientation of structural reforms
While the structural reforms adopted by the National Treasury in 2019, drawn from the imperialist, Washington-based International Monetary Fund- and World Bank-backed Going for Growth: Economic Policy Reforms prescribed in 2017 by the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, are presented as though they are separate from fiscal consolidation, the reality is that they are part and parcel of the same agenda.
The austerity imposed under the fiscal consolidation linked with the structural reforms agenda has been promoted through the notion of debt-to-gross domestic product ratio stabilisation and reduction, by driving liberalisation measures that bring in private capitalist wealth accumulation and competition in key network infrastructure sectors such as electricity generation and transmission, rail, ports and water. This liberalisation to “bring in private sector participation and competition” in these sectors constitutes a new form of privatisation that does not involve the sale of the targeted infrastructure or network sector but opens it up to their exploitation against the growth and expansion of the state-owned enterprises. The agenda includes directly stopping, curtailing or replacing increased government investment, recapitalisation and expansion of the affected state-owned enterprises, which have historically operated in these sectors, to hand over the role they could play through their growth and expansion to private capitalist interests.
Therefore, instead of decisively recapitalising and strengthening public entities to drive developmental transformation, the state has increasingly shifted towards creating space for private capital, often justified on the basis that “government has no money”. This narrative, however, collapses under scrutiny.
It reveals a deeper neo-liberal ideological orientation that elevates market mechanisms and private wealth accumulation over democratic public ownership, going against the Freedom Charter, and developmental state leadership. The consolidation of these reforms under the banner of “Operation Vulindlela”, now in its new phase, confirms this trajectory. What is presented as pragmatic reform to unlock growth in practice advances a restructuring of the state’s role in favour of private capital in core infrastructure sectors.
Fiscal consolidation, liberalisation and austerity are therefore not separate strands of policy. They are interconnected elements of a single macro-economic orientation that constrains public investment, limits expansion of state capacity and opens strategic infrastructure to intensified private exploitation and wealth accumulation.
It is important for the working class to recall, however, that in the telecommunication infrastructure sector, the neo-liberal structural reforms agenda involved the old form of privatisation through the auctioning of the high radio-frequency spectrum. This strategic national productive asset has since been privatised to the highest bidders, consolidating the duopoly of Vodacom and MTN rather than achieving the de-monopolisation claimed as the purpose of the privatisation.
The SACP has rejected the neo-liberal trajectory, however it is disguised, packaged or rationalised. South Africa’s network industries must serve developmental transformation, industrialisation and the overwhelming majority of the people, being the working class, in line with the ownership principles of monopoly industry as set out in the Freedom Charter, as opposed to being reformed to serve as new frontiers for private profit extraction.
Austerity under continued fiscal consolidation
While, on the face of it, the budget speech appears as though the budget is not an austerity budget, the reality is that austerity, under the strategy of fiscal consolidation, continues. It includes, among other measures, the agenda to cut the public-sector wage bill and reduce the size of the public service, leaving it smaller and burdened with numerous vacancies through a variety of mechanisms, including early retirement schemes and recruitment moratoriums.
In the same vein, the R8.4 billion cut in spending on the public transport network subsidy is part and parcel of austerity under continued fiscal consolidation, which the National Treasury seeks to further institutionalise or entrench through the so-called fiscal anchors. This budget cut will result in increased transport fares for affected workers and unemployed commuters who depend on low-cost, subsidised transport, in a country where there are many workers who spend at least one-third of their wages on transport. Under this austerity agenda, the National Treasury offers no alternative funding to build and ensure immediate access to an affordable, safe, reliable and integrated public transport system, including in rural and other areas where there are no effective and efficient passenger rail services.
The working class must rise against austerity, however it is framed or designed. For its part, the SACP will strengthen its capacity as part of this struggle.
SACP denounces the budget for blocking the advance to quality healthcare for all by depriving the National Health Insurance of funding for immediate, decisive and full implementation
The SACP is deeply concerned that the budget does not allocate funds for the immediate, decisive and full implementation of the National Health Insurance, NHI. Depriving the NHI of funding forms part of a negative, capital-driven ideological reaction to the NHI and of the strategy of fiscal consolidation under which the National Treasury has implemented austerity. In particular, capitalist private-sector-controlled and financially administered medical aid schemes and other segments of finance capital constitute the core class forces opposed to the NHI.
These capitalist private-sector-controlled and financially administered medical aid schemes seek to continue exploiting those with medical aid cover through exorbitant monthly premiums, including by cutting essential day-to-day healthcare cover and reducing it to insignificant savings that are exhausted by the first half of the year, leaving those affected without day-to-day cover for the remainder of the year. As a result, many of those with medical aid cover are forced to make out-of-pocket payments for the essential day-to-day healthcare consultations and medicines.
Without the allocation of funds for the immediate, decisive and complete implementation of the NHI by legally activating the NHI fund as a necessary precondition for rolling out the NHI, South Africa will continue with the unjust two-tier healthcare system: one for the minority of the rich and well off, around 15 to 16 per cent of the over 63 million-strong national population, who can afford access to exorbitant private healthcare, and the other being the underfunded, under-resourced, overcrowded and overwhelmed public healthcare clinics and hospitals, including those that are dilapidated or falling apart in many respects. These facilities are characterised by long daily queues and lengthy waiting lists, resulting in patients’ health deteriorating and others even dying while on those critical-care waiting lists.
The SACP reiterates its call to progressive organisations and communities to unite and campaign for NHI funding and for its full, immediate and decisive implementation. This requires a rolling mass action and the intensification of the campaign on all fronts. In addition, this widest possible working-class unity must confront and defeat right-wing opposition to, including litigation against, the NHI.
National security and defence
In delivering the Budget Speech, Minister Godongwana said: “To support this and other efforts to intensify law and order, spending on peace and security increases from R268.2 billion in 2025/26 to R291.2 billion in 2028/29.” This means the roughly R23 billion increase is spread over three years. In this regard, the question is whether it is sufficient to address the challenges of under-capacity in peace and security, given the negative impact that austerity has had on these areas over the years. The same question applies to the R2.7 billion added to defence, also spread over the next three years, given the negative impact that austerity has had on defence capacity and, therefore, on national security.
The SACP is calling for this budgeting trajectory to be re-examined in favour of stronger and more capable defence capacity and national security, in the face of a global environment that has increasingly become hostile and technology intensive in the areas of defence, security, peace and crime-fighting. Its review must include greater emphasis on domestic innovation, research and development, and production in the defence, security and crime-fighting sectors.
People’s Red Caravan in Ixopo, Zamafuthi Village
From 16 to 22 February, the SACP was stationed in Ixopo in the Moses Mabhida province of the SACP, KwaZulu Natal, as part of our programme to promote community self-reliance and community solidarity among the people. The People’s Red Caravan is the SACP’s flagship programme to build socialism from the ground up. The PRC aims to ensure community self-reliance and tackle poverty from its source which is food production. Its intention is to ensure household-based employment, household-based income generation and household-based food production. As it is usual in the work of the People’s Red Caravan, as the Party we practically relocated our head office and all of our operations to the community where the caravan is stationed for the duration of its stationing. The PRC in Moses Mabhida was one of the most successful and most impactful of the activations we have had thus far.
Among other achievements, the Ixopo Zamafuthi PRC, in the stream of food production, planted 20,000 spinach seedlings, 53 avocado trees, 8000 potato seedlings, 150 kg of seedlings of beans and fertilised the communal land as well as installed a sprinkler irrigation system over the 1.5 hectares of land. The community, working through PRC, built a chicken coop and placed 400 poultry birds for egg production. The PRC has started a bee farming programme in the community. There is now a functional and productive beehive, and we are working with our in-house bee farming expert to train more beekeepers going forward. The PRC has worked with the community and those already active in household production to create a mutually beneficial system of aggregation to create more value and diversify production, over and above the communal farms established through the PRC. As part of creating more value for the producers, the PRC has secured a milling machine for the benefit of the community to be used for processing of maize and other crops or other kinds of produce.
The food production work stream, among other work streams of the PRC, is the pillar stream as it addresses the most urgent of the challenges facing the working class; poverty and hunger. As part of infrastructure development work stream of the PRC, a number of arterial roads have been graded to improve accessibility to the village. In the same stream, the PRC successfully connected a communal tap for drinking water.
The SACP has implemented five PRC activations so far and will implement three more to finish the national activations.
The work of the Moses Mabhida PRC activation was not concluded, and our teams remain to finish some of the work with the understanding that the community are owners of projects and ultimately bear the responsibility to sustain and protect its future. We call on communities to join us and work with us in confronting challenges of the people directly to fight hunger and poverty in the spirit of self-reliance and solidarity.
ISSUED BY THE SOUTH AFRICAN COMMUNIST PARTY,
FOUNDED IN 1921 AS THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF SOUTH AFRICA.
Media, Communications & Information Department | MCID
____________________________
COSATU notes the court agreement in preparation for the Constitutional Court challenge on the National Health Insurance Act
Matthew Parks, COSATU Parliamentary Coordinator, 27 February 2026
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) notes the court agreement between government and various litigants challenging the National Health Insurance (NHI) Act in numerous court cases.
Whilst the Federation is deeply concerned by shameful attempts to delay, water down and overturn the NHI Act, we appreciate assurances by the President of the Republic, Mr. Cyril Ramaphosa, and the Minister for Health, Dr. Aaron Motsoaledi, that government remains firm in its determination to commence laying the foundations for the NHI and that this court agreement is to enable a single judicial process to hear challenges to the Act as opposed to these being fought through multiple courts.
A single court process will help protect the NHI from prolonged challenges that will delay its roll out.
The NHI Act and policy mandate have been adopted by Cabinet, passed by both Houses of Parliament and received enthusiastic support from thousands of workers attending countless public hearings on the NHI Bill over five years.
The Federation remains convinced that South Africa’s myriad healthcare crises require the creation of a National Health Insurance (NHI) as the most effective path towards universal healthcare.
COSATU and the overwhelming majority of workers are in support of and determined to defend the NHI. Society cannot turn a blind eye to the reality that most South Africans, in particular the working class, lack access to quality and affordable health care.
This is not due to lack of resources but their skewed distribution. We dare not continue to place the profit margins of private industry above the needs of society.
South Africa spends 8.5% of its Gross Domestic Product on healthcare. This is higher than many industrialised and peer nations. However, half of this is spent on the 16% of society fortunate enough to have medical aid. The other half is spent on public health care for the 84% dependent upon the state.
As
a result, we have first class but under-utilised private health care available for 16% but charged at exorbitant prices and public health care overwhelmed by long queues, critical post vacancies, aging infrastructure and shortages and thus battling to provide
basic health care for 84% of society.
Consequently, many workers and their families are infected and dying from preventable and manageable diseases. Workers fortunate enough to have medical aid, battle to afford to pay the ever-increasing medical charges. Most workers’ medical aids are depleted
halfway through the year and are saddled with painfully unaffordable co-payments. They are often forced to forego necessary but unaffordable treatment.
The
economy needs a healthy workforce if it is to meet its full potential.
The reality is that South Africa’s public and private health care systems are broken and unsustainable. It is critical that Government move with speed to resource and build a NHI that will guarantee quality, accessible and affordable universal health coverage
for all South Africans. Internationally the equivalents of an NHI in Scandinavia and elsewhere provide positive models for South Africa.
We cannot afford 32 years after 1994 to still grapple with the racially skewed distribution of resources and access to health care. The right to life and access to health care are inalienable constitutional rights. It is time that all South Africans enjoy these.
COSATU appreciates President Cyril Ramaphosa and the African National Congress led government’s continued support for the NHI and its implementation. Government must remain vigilant and avoid any temptation to pander to the vested interests of private industry’s lust for profits at the expense of the health of millions of ordinary South Africans.
Issued by COSATU
International-Solidarity
COSATU Statement on the US-Israeli imperialist war against Iran and the people of the Middle East
Bongani Masuku, COSATU International Secretary, 02 March 2026
COSATU condemns the unjustified wars of aggression against the people of the Middle East, Iran in this case.
These wars led by the twin axis of occupation, aggression and genocide, being Israel and the US. From Gaza to Venezuela, Iran to the DRC and Sudan, these are the forces involved in wars of conquest, dispossession and looting of nations’ natural resources and territories.
COSATU has been consistently opposed to war and imperialism. The Federation has stood firmly on the side of justice, peace and an end to occupation and imperialism. This includes in Palestine, Latin America and on our own continent, Africa.
COSATU calls on the UN to hold Israel and the US responsible for the escalation of violence in the region and beyond. International law should be placed above narrow, self-interests of an empire with an appetite for more wars.
The amassing of vast power capabilities in the form of the world's two biggest aircraft carriers to the waters of the Middle East, signals the expressed intentions of imperialism on its war crusade.
This happened at a point when the world was hoping negotiations would be given a chance, moreover Iran was at the negotiating table; the vicious attack has plunged the entire region in total chaos with the real danger of this conflict engulfing multiple nations and causing the loss of life of many civilians.
COSATU supports the progressive global trade union movements calls for global marches for peace and justice against imperialism and wars of occupation and plunder. The single biggest threat to lasting peace in the world is Zionism and imperialism.
COSATU reaffirms the fundamental perspectives expressed by our 8th Central Committee to mobilise and act in defence of our democratic sovereignty and that of other Global South countries. It's a matter of life and death for humanity.
COSATU offers unwavering solidarity to the peace-loving people of the Middle East during these trying times in their quest to end occupation and wars.
The Federation adds its voice to calls for an immediate cessation to all acts of war and aggression. Ultimately the Middle East will only know true and lasting peace when the people of Palestine too are allowed to live in peace and an independent, sovereign state.
Issued by the COSATU General Secretary, Solly Phetoe.
____________________________
Initiative in Mexico targets industrial homicide after Pasta de Conchos
25 February, 2026
Twenty years after the industrial homicide at Pasta de Conchos that claimed 65 miners’ lives, families are still demanding justice. Not all the bodies were recovered and Grupo México has never taken full responsibility. A new legislative initiative seeks to reform the law to include criminal liability for individuals in cases of industrial homicide, aiming to prevent tragedies like Pasta de Conchos.
The disaster at the Pasta de Conchos mine in Coahuila killed 65 Grupo México miners working in high-risk conditions. Workers had repeatedly reported serious safety failures, including inadequate ventilation, methane gas build-up and lack of essential equipment. Although the company insisted the mine was safe, later investigations and testimonies pointed to dangerous conditions. Grupo México denied responsibility from the outset and suspended rescue efforts after five days, leaving 63 miners trapped underground.
MP Jesús Jiménez recently presented a bill to the House of Commons in Mexico to incorporate the concept of “industrial homicide” into the Penal Code, with the aim of holding companies criminally accountable for worker deaths resulting from serious breaches of industrial safety and occupational health regulations. The proposal seeks to establish legal mechanisms to prevent similar industrial tragedies.
The initiative was originally drafted by Napoleón Gómez Urrutia, general secretary of IndustriALL affiliate Los Mineros, to ensure corporate responsibility is not diluted through administrative procedures. Gómez Urrutia has also called for the immediate rescue of the workers, an objective, independent and neutral investigation to determine the causes and punish those responsible with the full force of the law, and — in cases of death — fair and dignified compensation for the families.
Gómez Urrutia explained to Mexican publication La Jornada:
“The aim is to strengthen the legal framework so that the corporate obligation to guarantee safety does not remain a dead letter and that, when negligence leads to death, there are clear criminal consequences. It is about transforming the world of work into a fairer and more dignified one, where the lives of workers are worth more than any profit, gain or financial balance sheet. (…) Pasta de Conchos cannot be forgotten or abandoned.”
IndustriALL General Secretary Atle Høie said:
“Twenty years after the tragic industrial homicide in Pasta de Conchos, Mexico, justice has still not been done for the 65 victims and their families. Grupo México has not assumed its responsibilities and the country has not honoured their sacrifice by creating legislation that guarantees corporate accountability, at least not yet. The new legislation must create safe mining and functioning chains of responsibility. The 65 miners who lost their lives and their families deserve this respect, as do all mining communities in Mexico.”
__________________________
ITUC urges immediate ceasefire and renewed peace talks in the Middle East
2 March 2026
The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) calls for immediate de-escalation, an end to all military operations, and a return to peaceful negotiations in the Middle East.
“International law must be respected. War is never in the interest of working people. Workers want peace, democracy and decent work, not relentless bombing and retaliatory attacks.”ITUC General Secretary Luc Triangle
“The irresponsible use of military force must stop immediately. Diplomacy, with a strong and coordinated role for the United Nations, is essential to secure a just and lasting peace.”
The ITUC strongly condemns the irresponsible and illegal bombing carried out by Israel and the United States against Iran and calls for an immediate end to these operations. Such actions violate international law, undermine diplomacy and are predictably plunging the region into a wider, devastating war.
The subsequent retaliation by Iran across the region, including attacks on Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Cyprus, further endangers civilian lives and deepens instability. Escalation by any side will not bring security, peace or democracy.
The ITUC further calls for:
An immediate ceasefire and full de-escalation by all parties.
Strict respect for international law and the UN Charter.
A renewed commitment to nuclear disarmament and regional security arrangements based on dialogue.
Full respect for freedom of expression, freedom of association and democratic rights across the region.
International law
The ITUC underlines that diplomacy, anchored in international law and supported by effective UN coordination, is critical to building a just and peaceful future for the region. The recent setbacks to mediation efforts, including those facilitated by Oman, are deeply regrettable and must be reversed urgently through renewed commitment to negotiation.
The ITUC is profoundly concerned about the decision of democratic countries such as Canada, Australia and the UK to explicitly support these military operations that violate international law. Some EU countries have expressed support, while also expressing concerns over legality. A failure to consistently uphold international law undermines its credibility and threatens peace and security for all.
Workers and their families are always the first to suffer the consequences of war. In Iran, sanctions, a lack of basic democratic rights and regime incompetence have wreaked havoc on the economy. Millions face poverty, insecurity and extremely limited economic prospects. Military escalation will only exacerbate this suffering.
Workers’ rights
The ITUC, its affiliates worldwide and the Global Union Federations have long stood with Iranian workers in their fight for democracy, livelihoods, safety, rights and solidarity. Independent trade unionists in Iran continue to face repression for exercising fundamental freedoms.
Workers’ voices have been sidelined both by authoritarian governance and by the logic of militarisation. A change of regime cannot be imposed by force. The people of Iran itself must decide for themselves who should rule their country. They must have the right to determine their own future, free from external aggression and internal repression.
The ITUC reiterates its solidarity and support for the labour movement, independent unions and the people of Iran. Iranian workers must be at the table to shape their own future.
Luc Triangle added: “Bombs and violence will not achieve democracy. Sustainable peace can only be built on social justice, human rights, democratic participation and decent work.
“The global trade union movement stands in solidarity with working people throughout the region and reaffirms its unwavering belief in peaceful and negotiated solutions to conflict. Peace, democracy and workers’ rights must prevail to deliver lasting security and prosperity for all.”
______________________________
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