Taking COSATU Today Forward, 25 July 2025
Norman Mampane
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COSATU TODAY Today, it’s #CosatuRedFridays #CosatuCallCentre number is 010 002 2590 #DecentWork #DecentLives #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
25 July 2025
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Contents
- Workers Parliament: Back to Basics!
- COSATU presented its submission on an AGOA renewal to the United States Trade Representative
- NEHAWU KZN to picket outside Durban Magistrate Court during the Ithala SOC Limited liquidation court proceedings
- COSATU scheduled to participate in the #L20 Trade Side event with ITUC Africa as partners supported by SASK and FES at Oubaai hotel, George
- South Africa
- COSATU Northern Cape seeks an audience with President Ramaphosa regarding housing for the ‘missing middle’
- International-Workers’ Solidarity!
- South Africa’s trade union Federations to Host L20 Summit ahead of G20 Labour and Employment Ministerial Meeting
Workers’ Parliament-Back2Basics
COSATU presented its submission on an AGOA renewal to the United States Trade Representative
Matthew Parks, COSATU Parliamentary Coordinator, 24 July 2025
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) presented its submission in support of the African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA)’s renewal to the United States’ Trade Representative (USTR) during its annual review of AGOA member states’ eligibility review.
COSATU appreciates that AGOA’s renewal lays within the domain of the US Congress. We support its renewal before it expires at the end of September and believe it provides a progressive framework for further and enhanced trade relations between the United States (US), South Africa and Africa.
AGOA has been an important stimulant for key jobs and revenue rich sectors in the South African economy, in particular mining, agriculture, motor and manufacturing. It has spurred trade and investment between the US and South Africa, with over 600 American companies invested in South Africa and 500 000 South African jobs linked to trade with the US. AGOA has been a critical boost for South Africa’s economic integration with the region and continent with South African vehicle exports to the US include steering racks from Tunisia, rubber from Cote D’Ivoire, wire harnessing from Botswana and car seats from Lesotho. For any trade agreement to be sustainable, it must be mutually beneficial. AGOA has increased the supply of American components to South African motor manufacturing plants and South African critical minerals and other raw materials to American factories.
AGOA’s renewal before September will provide space for more detailed engagements between the US, South Africa and Africa on what an enhanced AGOA may look like, how additional products and nations can be included, what support can be given to emerging sectors in the continent, how Trade Adjustment Assistance can protect at risk workers, and how it can further support the African Continental Free Trade Area.
COSATU is pleased by the positive response its proposals have received in the US and humbled by the solidarity South African and African workers enjoy from our sister labour movement in America, the AFL-CIO.
The Federation will continue to work closely with the Presidency and the Departments for International Relations and Cooperation and Trade, Industry and Competition, as well as Organised Business and our counterparts in the US, on measures to strengthen bilateral relations and to ensure that they are done so in a manner that respects both nations’ sovereignty, economic growth and developmental paths.
We are heartened by the progress that has been made under President Cyril Ramaphosa’s leadership to put in place processes to reset bilateral relations. It is important that government led by the African National Congress be given the necessary support and space to continue its efforts in this journey.
There is a need for parties and other key stakeholders in South Africa to tone down the unnecessary, over the top and destructive rhetoric that has only served and sought to inflame tensions, disseminate blatantly fake news and shamefully fuel racial tensions. We urge in particular AfriForum, NEASA, Sakeliga and the Freedom Front Plus to place the needs of all South Africans ahead of self-serving partisan point scoring.
Whilst social media clicks may entertain friends over a braai, the malicious decampaigning of South Africa in the US will come at a real cost to all South Africans, in particular Afrikaans farmers and workers.
Ours is a robust constitutional democracy which has proven its ability to hold the state accountable. Any South African with legitimate concerns can use Parliament, the judiciary, law enforcement or other organs of state to address any real (not imaginary) grievances they may have.
There is a time and place for partisanship and that is elections, now is the time to shed narrow racial interests and place those of the nation first.
Issued by COSATU
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NEHAWU KZN to picket outside Durban Magistrate Court during the Ithala SOC Limited liquidation court proceedings
Ayanda Zulu, NEHAWU KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Secretary, July 24, 2025
The National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union [NEHAWU] in KwaZulu-Natal will picket on the 25th of July 2025, during the court proceeding on the matter between Ithala Soc Limited and Repayment Administrator.
This action is prompted by our deep concern about the ongoing liquidation proceedings involving Ithala Soc Limited, which have left our members employed by the entity in a state of anxiety and uncertainty regarding their jobs, salaries, and benefits.
This picket also serves to demonstrate our unwavering support to our members and workers in general whose livelihoods and future remains uncertain to the legal and financial uncertainties surrounding the company.
This liquidation process has affected thousands of Ithala clients whose bank accounts remain frozen. These include pensioners, small businesses, savings clubs, and social stokvels, many of whom have entrusted Ithala with their life savings, retirement funds, and working capital.
The disruption to their access to funds is already causing widespread financial hardship and social distress across communities in KwaZulu-Natal.
Details of the picket:
Date: Friday July 25, 2025
Time: 10H00
Venue: Durban Magistrate Court
As NEHAWU we remain committed to defending the rights and interests of workers, and we will not stand by while our members bear the brunt of corporate and administrative failures.
We reiterate our commitment to defending the rights and livelihoods of our members, while also standing in solidarity with the broader community that depends on Ithala Soc Limited for financial inclusion and economic participation.
END
Issued by NEHAWU KwaZulu-Natal Secretariat Office
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COSATU Northern Cape seeks an audience with President Ramaphosa regarding housing for the ‘missing middle’
Orapeleng Moraladi, COSATU Northern Cape Provincial Secretary, 24 July 2025
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) in the Northern Cape is outraged that a project which was due to be launched in Kimberley five years ago to provide housing for the 'missing middle' was stalled without clear explanation by the provincial government and the local municipality.
The project had a potential to create more than 23 000 jobs and help to house about 12 000 workers who fall within the definition of the ‘missing middle’.
The project was aimed at assisting workers who are unable to secure funding from banks nor get RDP houses. COSATU in the province endorsed and fully supported this noble initiative.
However, nothing materialised thereafter even though no government funding was required to build the houses.
Therefore, COSATU seeks an audience with President Cyril Ramaphosa and government leadership to thrash out this matter, which was referred to the previous Minister of Human Settlement, Honourable Mamoloko Kubayi but nothing tangible happened.
The Federation in the Northern Cape requests the intervention of the Presidency as part of addressing socio-economic challenges faced by the citizens of the province.
COSATU will be picketing at Premier Zamani Saul’s office on Friday, 25 July to raise this concern.
Issued by COSATU Northern Cape
International-Solidarity
South Africa’s trade union Federations to Host L20 Summit ahead of G20 Labour and Employment Ministerial Meeting
24 July 2025
South Africa’s four trade union federations - COSATU, FEDUSA, NACTU and SAFTU - will jointly host the Labour 20 (L20) Summit on 28 and 29 July 2025 at Fancourt in George in the Western Cape. Convened under the global G20 framework, the Summit represents an important step for the labour movement in the Global South, offering a platform for workers to shape international employment policies under the theme: “Fostering Solidarity, Equality and Sustainability through a New Social Contract.”
As the South African government continues its host duties of the G20 Presidency, this L20 is both historic and urgent. Workers across the world, particularly in developing economies, continue to face worsening conditions; informal employment is on the rise, real wages are stagnating, social protection systems remain fragmented, and the labour income share of GDP continues to decline.
These crises are worsened by geopolitical instability, a deepening climate emergency, and rapid technological disruption through artificial intelligence and algorithmic management.
The L20 Summit will provide a worker-led response to these intersecting crises.
Trade unionists from across the globe, together with national and international policymakers, will gather to present progressive, worker-centred policy proposals ahead of the G20 Labour and Employment Ministerial Meeting (LEMM).
These proposals, among others centre around several critical priorities:
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Decent Work and Wage Justice:
The Summit will call for time-bound decent job creation targets, the realisation of living wages, and increased collective bargaining coverage across sectors as key measures to reverse inequality and strengthen social cohesion. -
Fighting Inequality:
Delegates will demand a reversal of the decades-long decline in the labour income share of GDP and an end to the systemic undervaluation of labour, particularly of women, youth, and informal workers. -
Regulating Algorithmic Management and AI:
As digital technologies reshape the world of work, the Summit will advocate for adequate responses from trade unions that will prevent risks while maximising the benefits for workers.
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Green Industrial Policy and a Just Transition:
Unions will call for climate policies that guarantee decent green jobs, reskilling programmes, and strong social protection to ensure workers are not left behind in the transition to a low-carbon economy in light of the fact that most climate policies have not adequately considered the needs of workers and the importance of countries growing their industrial base in a sustainable and inclusive manner. - Expanding countries’ fiscal space - The role of the L20 in promoting progressive taxation and sustainable responses to the debt crisis:
This discussion will address how rising debt levels and inadequate taxation systems restrict countries' capacity to fund essential public services, strengthen social protection, and support workers and their families. The discussion focuses on the L20’s role in advocating for progressive taxation policies and debt relief mechanisms that shift the burden away from workers and promote fiscal justice.
The four federations call on the G20 Labour and Employment Ministers to engage seriously with these proposals. The world cannot afford a recovery that reproduces the structural inequalities of the past. Now is the time for bold commitments that centre workers, formal and informal, urban and rural, young and old, as agents of inclusive economic renewal.
Issued by:
COSATU, FEDUSA, NACTU and SAFTU
Media Enquiries:
Zanele Sabela
National Spokesperson, COSATU
Mobile: +27 79 287 5788 or +27 77 600 6639
Email: zan...@cosatu.org.za
Or
Betty Moleya
FEDUSA Communications Officer
Mobile: +27 63 736 5533
Email: communi...@fedusa.org.za
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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