Taking COSATU Today Forward Special Bulletin, 20 July 2026
Norman Mampane
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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
20 July 2026
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Contents
- Workers Parliament: Back to Basics!
- COSATU opposes African Bank’s proposed job cuts in solidarity with Sasbo
- 2026 National Employment Equity roadshows debuts in Kimberley and Polokwane this week
- Employment and Labour strengthens collaboration and expand outreach programmes to extend access to social security due to ex-mine workers
- South Africa-#ClassSolidarity!
- Department of Employment and Labour unlocks over R1,2 million in benefits during Ex-Mineworkers' Outreach in Port St Johns
- Home Affairs launches digitalised Trusted Employer Scheme Phase II
- International-Workers’ Solidarity!
- Argentina: New evidence of escalating attacks on education workers’ rights brough to the ILO
- Ukrainian union leader jailed for doing his job
Workers’ Parliament-Back2Basics #ClassWar
COSATU opposes African Bank’s proposed job cuts in solidarity with Sasbo
Zanele Sabela, COSATU Spokesperson, 17 July 2026
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) stands squarely behind Sasbo as it pushes back on African Bank’s plan to retrench 1 200 workers and close 90 branches.
African Bank announced the plan to media on Thursday before properly engaging with its employees’ recognised representative - Sasbo.
Given our country’s sky-high unemployment rate of 43.7%, we cannot afford to lose a single job. COSATU will therefore do everything in its power to support Sasbo to ensure that every one of the1 200 jobs is saved. We cannot have a situation where workers shoulder the burden of management’s strategic blunders.
Over the last two years, African Bank has gone on an acquisition spree, bringing on board Ubank, Grindrod Bank, Sasfin Capital Equipment Finance and Commercial Property Finance businesses. Now, following a R624 million loss in the half year to March, it is apparent its acquisition strategy was not well thought out.
The mooted retrenchment will have a devastating impact on workers’ livelihoods and that of their families. COSATU and Sasbo would be remiss to let that happen.
The Federation calls on African Bank to engage in meaningfully consultation with Sasbo to find alternative cost-saving measures and totally avoid job losses.
We urge the South African Reserve Bank as main shareholder and the Department of Employment and Labour to intervene and avert this looming disaster.
Issued by COSATU
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2026
National Employment Equity roadshows debuts in Kimberley and Polokwane this week
20 July 2026
The joint national employment equity roadshows/workshops by the Department of Employment and Labour, Commission for Employment Equity (CEE) and the Commission for Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) to deal with equity issues, ending workplace discrimination,
and enforcing the Employment Equity Act begins this week.
The first 2026 Employment Equity (EE) workshops/roadshows will be held on Tuesday (21 July 2026) in Kimberley, Northern Cape at Horseshoe Inn 101 Memorial Road, Royldene. The second workshop will be held on Thursday (23 July 2026) in Polokwane, Limpopo Province
at – Meropa Casino 59 Prov Roodepoort Street, Ivy Park X14.
Held under the theme: “Bridging the Equity Gap Through Diversity & Inclusion” – the national workshops will end in September 2026.
The 2026 workshops will focus on:
• Presentation on the Draft Amended Code of Good Practice on the preparation, implementation and monitoring of the EE Plan;
• Presentation on practical demonstration of how to utilise the EE System online facilities to capture EE Reports and request EE Certificate of Compliance;
• Presentation on sharing of all types of unfair discrimination cases by the CCMA; and
• Presentation on labour law amendments – Labour Relations Act (LRA), Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA), Employment Equity Act (EEA), National Minimum Wage Act (NMWA)
This year’s national EE workshops/roadshows come a year following the implementation of the Employment Equity Amendment Act, No 4 of 2022 which came into force on 1 January 2025. The new amendments and regulations introduced the setting of five-year sector
EE targets, the enhancement of EE System, how to request EE Certificate of Compliance to be able to conduct business with the State.
The rest of the schedule of 2026 national workshops is as follows:
Mpumalanga
• Mbombela Khayalami Hotel 29 Van Wijk Street (28 July 2026)
North West
• Rustenburg – Orion Safari Hotel, 1 Donkerhoek Road (30 July 2026)
KwaZulu-Natal
• Durban (04 August 2026)
• Pietermaritzburg (06 August 2026)
Western Cape
• Cape Town (11 August 2026)
Eastern Cape
• KuGompo (18 August 2026)
• Gqeberha (20 August 2026)
Gauteng
• Pretoria (25 August 2026)
• Johannesburg (27 August 2026)
Free State
• Bloemfontein (01 September 2026)
The EE workshops are targeted at Employers or Heads of organisations, employees and trade unions, Assigned Senior EE Managers, Consultative EE forum members, Human Resource Managers and Practitioners, Academics, Civil society, and interested stakeholders.
NB: All the workshops will be held from 09:00 to 16:00 and members of the media are invited.
More information on the EE workshops, including updates on the venues to be used, will be available on department’s and the CCMA's social media platform as well as the Department’s website:
www.labour.gov.za
For media inquiries, please contact:
Teboho Thejane
Departmental Spokesperson
082 697 0694/ teboho....@labour.gov.za
-ENDS-
Issued by: Department of Employment and Labour
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Employment
and Labour strengthens collaboration and expand outreach programmes to extend access to social security due to ex-mine workers
17
Jul 2026
Department of Employment and Labour to strengthen collaboration, expand outreach programmes to extend access to estimated R10-billion social security due to ex-mine workers
The Department of Employment and Labour Acting Director General, Jacky Molisane has committed the department to ramp up its effort to continue to strengthen collaboration, expand outreach programmes, improve access to Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) and Compensation
Fund (CF) services for ex-miners.
Molisane said by accelerating access to social security working with all partners - this is to ensure that ex-mine workers receive the dignity, support and benefits they deserve.
“The Department of Employment and Labour, through the Unemployment Insurance Fund and the Compensation Fund, continues to implement interventions aimed at improving access to social protection and compensation benefits for workers, including former mine workers,”
she emphasised.
Molisane was speaking during an ex-mineworker stakeholder’s session held at Umgazana River Lodge conference centre in the coastal town of Port St Johns. The session was intended to resolve and finalise matters related to compensation of ex-miners and their
access to social security insurance.
Participating in the session was the Department of Employment and Labour, Eastern Cape provincial government led by Premier Oscar Mabuyane, department’s entity the Compensation Fund, Rand Mutual Assurance, National Department of Health and SA Medical Association
and various stakeholders.
-mineworkers affected by historical injustices. Today’s discussion among others focused on interventions and resolutions on coordinating and resourcing the Ex-mineworkers Intervention Programme.
-miner’s stakeholder session is a culmination of a week-long intensive multidisciplinary and departmental initiative to also bring access to government services in the impoverished coastal communities of Port St Johns and neighbouring areas.
These
services included conducting inspections and processing unemployment insurance and compensation for occupational injuries and diseases claims, career counselling and registration of work seekers on ESSA system.
Medical Bureau for Occupational Diseases (MBOD) and Compensation Commissioner for Occupational Diseases (CCOD), Commissioner Barry Kistnasamy said there were some R10-billion claims due to ex-miners. Kistnasamy called for urgent access to database of ex-mine
workers. He said his organisation has assisted in the payment of R1-billion.
He said government had a debt of R18 million that is due to the ex-miners located in Port St Johns. Kistnasamy said there can never be an excuse to hide behind Protection of Personal Information (POPI) Act to access information to facilitate payment.
Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane said he cannot accept the excuses that database(s) cannot be accessed “when we are trying to alleviate the suffering of our people. It is unfortunate that the rewards of workers efforts have not followed them to home”.
Molisane acknowledged the invaluable partnership between the Department, the Office of the Premier, Rand Mutual Assurance, the Thubalethu Project, organised labour, community structures, and all stakeholders who continue to work tirelessly to address the challenges
confronting ex-mine workers.
The Acting DG reiterated that the CF remains a critical pillar in providing compensation and support to workers who suffered occupational injuries and diseases in the course of their employment. Similarly, the UIF continues to extend support to qualifying beneficiaries
through unemployment, illness, maternity, dependants', and other benefits. The Fund’s outreach programmes have been instrumental in taking services closer to communities and ensuring that vulnerable citizens are not excluded from accessing their rights, he
said.
Molisane said while progress has been made, there remains work to be done, “many ex-mine workers continue to face challenges relating to documentation, historical records, benefit tracing, and access to services. These challenges require a collective response
from government, social partners and community stakeholders”.
She said Eastern Cape contributed approximately +370,000 ex-mineworkers to the national total of about +1 million since 1965 alone. This is characterized by a large population of ex-mineworkers from Eastern Cape being exposed to occupational hazards such as
silica dust, leading to high rates of tuberculosis (TB), Silicosis, Black Lung, and other occupational lung diseases, occupational diseases, injuries and fatalities, she said.
According to Molisane UIF has been able to pay R16 712 417,44 to 5625 EX-Mine workers since 2019.
The Accounting Officer said South Africa’s mining industry has historically drawn a significant workforce from rural parts of the country, notably the Eastern Cape, resulting in substantial labour migration. Eastern Cape contributed approximately +370,000 ex-mineworkers
to the national total of about +1 million since 1965 alone.
She noted that the Thubalethu project is an initiative to rollout services-on-wheels by relevant stakeholders and departments for ex-mineworkers in the Eastern Cape to address unclaimed and unpaid Social Protection Benefits and Occupational Diseases and Injuries
claims due to them.
For media inquiries, please contact:
Teboho Thejane
Departmental Spokesperson
Cell: 082 697 0694
Email: teboho....@labour.gov.za
Issued by Department of Employment and Labour
South Africa #ClassSolidarity
Department
of Employment and Labour unlocks over R1,2 million in benefits during Ex-Mineworkers' Outreach in Port St Johns
20
July 2026
The Department of Employment and Labour, together with its entities the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) and the Compensation Fund in partnership the Eastern Cape Provincial Government and the Port St Johns Municipality today concluded a week-long Ex-Mineworkers'
Outreach. The initiative which forms part of the Project Thubalethu is aimed at tracking down unclaimed and unpaid social benefits owed to former mineworkers in the OR Tambo District.
To many families, the money paid out this week could not have come at a more appropriate time. Some of the mineworkers on whose behalf claims had been lodged, did not live to see the outreach; in those cases, the benefits now pass to their dependents, offering
a measure of relief to households that carried the weight of illness, injury or loss without the support that was due to them all along.
Commissioner for Occupational Diseases, Barry Kistnasamy, of the Medical Bureau for Occupational Diseases (MBOD) and the Compensation Commissioner for Occupational Diseases (CCOD) put a figure on what remains outstanding in this district alone at an estimated
R18 million in unclaimed benefits for ex-mineworkers from Port St Johns.
Nationally, an estimated R10 billion in benefits still sits unclaimed by ex-mineworkers and their dependents. Kistnasamy says bringing these services directly to the communities the mineworkers came from. Is the guaranteed way of getting that money back into
the hands it belongs to.
The Department's Acting Director-General placed the outreach in its historical context, noting that South Africa's mining industry has long drawn its workforce from rural parts of the country, the Eastern Cape chief among them, fueling decades of labour migration
to the mines. "Project Thubalethu is an initiative to roll out services-on-wheels by relevant stakeholders and departments for ex-mineworkers in the Eastern Cape to address unclaimed and unpaid Social Protection Benefits and Occupational Diseases and Injuries
claims due to them," she said.
The Eastern Cape Premier Honorable Oscar Mabuyane struck a similar note, pointing to the roughly 370,000 ex-mineworkers in the province who spent their working lives underground, contributing to an industry that shaped the national economy while exposing many
of them to serious occupational hazards. Some contracted silicosis while others died from work related injuries. Integrated outreach programmes like this one, the Premier said, are how government ensures that beneficiaries and their dependents where applicable,
finally receive what has long been owed to them.
UIF paid out a total of R1,278, 846.28 in benefits to 277 clients, offering direct financial relief to beneficiaries and in cases where beneficiaries have since died, to their dependents. Additional 319 ex- mineworkers were assisted with work related injury
claims. While over 400 work seekers were assisted with registration on the ESSA database and also received employment counselling
The program also entailed workplace inspections which were targeted at the Wholesale and Retail sector, this led to 11 non-compliance orders being issued and 53 contravention notices issued to employers for non-compliance with Basic Conditions of Employment
Act Occupational Health and Safety Act.
For media inquiries, please contact:
Teboho Thejane
Departmental Spokesperson
082 697 0694/ teboho....@labour.gov.za
-ENDS-
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Home
Affairs launches digitalised Trusted Employer Scheme Phase II
20
Jul 2026
Home Affairs launches digitalised Trusted Employer Scheme Phase II to cut red tape, attract investment, and create jobs
The Department of Home Affairs has today gazetted the launch of Phase II of its highly successful Trusted Employer Scheme (TES), marking another major step in modernising South Africa's immigration system to reduce red tape, attract investment, and support
economic growth and job creation.
Building on the success of the first phase, the expanded scheme will now include companies involved in strategic infrastructure projects, businesses establishing regional and global headquarters in South Africa, and qualifying entities in the financial sector.
It also forms part of the Department's broader digital transformation agenda and features a dedicated online application process that will ultimately be integrated into the world-class Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) platform.
TES uses a risk-based approach to simplify visa applications for accredited employers. This enables qualifying businesses to recruit critical skills faster, while upholding the integrity of the immigration system. To qualify, companies must demonstrate meaningful
investment in South Africa, employ predominantly South African citizens or permanent residents, invest in skills development, and operate in priority sectors. Applications to TES Phase II will be independently assessed by an interdepartmental committee to
ensure a transparent, merit-based process.
The Minister of Home Affairs, Dr Leon Schreiber, said: "The launch of a bigger and better TES is yet another marker that Home Affairs increasingly works as an economic enabler, rather than as a constraint. This directly contributes to the apex priority of the
Government of National Unity, which is to grow the economy to create jobs.”
Minister Schreiber concluded: “The introduction of a secure and efficient online portal, as well as our ongoing work to transition TES into the world-class ETA platform, also forms part of our broader digital transformation agenda. Through our vision to deliver
Home Affairs @ home , we are irrevocably committed to building a digital-first Department that enables investment, creates jobs, and makes South Africa’s economy more globally competitive."
Expressions of interest for TES Phase II are open from 20 July 2026 and close on 4 September 2026. The Government Gazette is available here:
https://www.dha.gov.za/index.php/notices/2066-gazette-no-55036
Media Enquiries:
Carli van Wyk – Spokesperson to the Minister
Cell: 079 166 3899
Issued by Department of Home Affairs
International-Solidarity
Argentina: New evidence of escalating attacks on education workers’ rights brough to the ILO
17 July 2026
The Confederation of Education Workers of the Argentine Republic (CTERA) has brought new allegations to the International Labour Organization (ILO) of what the EI-affiliated education union characterizes as a systematic effort by the national government
of Argentina to weaken teacher unions, dismantle sectoral social dialogue, and reduce public investment in education.
As the ILO continues its examination of the case, the outcome may have implications extending beyond Argentina, touching on fundamental questions concerning the protection of trade union rights and public education worldwide.
These new allegations, submitted in May 2026, are a further update to the ongoing CTERA complaint before the ILO Committee on Freedom of Association (Case No. 3485, initially filed in April 2024). It argues that the Argentine government has not only failed
to address concerns raised in earlier complaints but has deepened policies that undermine freedom of association, collective bargaining, the right to strike, and public education itself.
The case No. 3485 has evolved from a challenge to a single decree into a broader dispute over the future of labour rights and public education in Argentina.
An increasingly hostile environment
Since President Javier Milei's far-right administration took office in 2023, education workers and their unions have faced an increasingly hostile environment. The government has advanced broad anti-union measures that weaken labour protections and favour private-sector
interests, including the dismantling of social dialogue mechanisms and reforms that restrict freedom of association and the right to protest. Reflecting this deterioration, Argentina was included among the ten worst countries for workers' rights in the latest
ITUC Global Rights Index.
CTERA and the other EI affiliates in the country – the Confederación de Educadores Argentinos (CEA), the Federación Nacional de Docentes Universitarios (CONADU), and the Sindicato Argentino de Docentes Privados (SADOP) – have denounced the measures taken by
the Milei government and have been taking strong actions to defend the rights of their members.
Education International has repeatedly expressed its full support and solidarity with Argentinian education unions. “We stand in solidarity with our affiliates in defense of quality education and against any action that undermines democratic values and the
well-being of teachers, education support staff, and students,” stated David Edwards, EI General Secretary. “These decrees are a direct attack on teachers, public education, and the rights of Argentine workers. No pasarán!”
A continuing dispute over the right to strike
The central issue throughout the complaint has been repeated government attempts to classify education as an “essential service” for the purposes of restricting strike action. In its original 2024 complaint, CTERA challenged Decree 70/2023, which introduced
sweeping labour reforms and designated education as an essential service subject to strict minimum service requirements during strikes.
In 2025, after portions of Decree 70/2023 were declared unconstitutional by Argentina’s labour courts, the government issued Decree 340/2025. The right to strike is enshrined in the Constitution of Argentina.
According to CTERA, the new decree largely reproduced the same restrictions, again placing education among essential services and requiring the maintenance of at least 75 per cent of normal operations during industrial action.
The latest allegations from CTERA argue that the government has now gone even further. Through Law 27.802, enacted in 2026, Argentina once again classifies early childhood, primary, secondary and special education as essential services and retains the requirement
that no less than 75 per cent of normal service be maintained during strikes. CTERA contends that this effectively neutralises the right to strike and constitutes a direct contradiction of long-established ILO principles.
Ignoring national courts and ILO jurisprudence
A key argument advanced by CTERA is that both Argentina’s courts and the ILO have already determined that education is not an essential service in the strict sense of the term.
The union recalls a landmark 2002 ruling by the National Chamber of Labour Appeals, subsequently upheld by the Supreme Court, which struck down government attempts to classify education as an essential service and affirmed that teachers could exercise their
constitutional right to strike.
CTERA also points to previous findings of the ILO Committee on Freedom of Association, which explicitly recalled that essential services are those whose interruption would endanger the life, health or safety of the population, and that “the education sector”
does not fall within that category.
From the union’s perspective, the government’s repeated attempts to reintroduce the same restrictions through successive decrees and legislation demonstrate disregard for both national judicial decisions and international labour standards.
Attacks on collective bargaining and union activity
The complaint also details what CTERA considers a broader assault on collective labour rights. The original 2024 filing challenged provisions weakening collective bargaining agreements, restricting workplace assemblies, and creating new sanctions against forms
of trade union action traditionally protected under international labour law.
In 2025, the union further challenged Decree 341/2025, which effectively removed the national government from the National Teacher Collective Bargaining Process. CTERA argued that the measure undermined legislation guaranteeing national-level bargaining in
education and violated various ILO Conventions, including Convention 87 on freedom of association, and Convention 98 on the right to organise and collective bargaining.
The 2026 submission states that Law 27.802 expands these restrictions. Among other measures, it reportedly limits the continuation of collective agreement provisions after expiry, weakens financing mechanisms for unions, restricts trade union assemblies, requires
employer authorisation for workplace meetings, and introduces financial penalties for workers participating in union activities. According to CTERA, these provisions interfere directly with trade union autonomy and the right of workers to organise freely.
Education funding at the centre of the dispute
In its 2026 update to the ILO, CTERA also drew particular attention to the government’s ongoing reductions in education funding.
CTERA underlines that the designation of education as an “essential service” is particularly contradictory given concurrent budget cuts affecting schools, teachers, and students. The union highlights Administrative Decision No. 20/2026, published in May 2026,
which introduced further reductions to education spending.
According to CTERA, the cuts include:
A reduction of approximately USD 29.4 million from the National Literacy Plan.
A reduction of USD 18 million from infrastructure and equipment programmes.
A reduction of approximately USD 7.4 million from the Teacher Salary Compensation Fund.
A reduction of approximately USD 5.5 million from socio-educational support programmes serving vulnerable schools and communities.
A near-halving of funding allocated to Educ.ar, the country’s public educational technology platform.
Significant reductions in funding for university infrastructure investments.
CTERA maintains that these measures continue a pattern already denounced in previous submissions, including the suspension of the National Teacher Incentive Fund (FONID), the closure of national dialogue mechanisms, the reduction of educational programmes,
and declining public investment in education.
CTERA called on the ILO to examine these latest developments and to reaffirm that education is not an essential service in the strict sense as recognised by international labour standards, that teachers’ rights to organise and bargain collectively must be protected,
and that governments must engage in genuine social dialogue rather than imposing unilateral restrictions on trade union freedoms.
Education International remains committed to supporting its member organisations in Argentina and globally in their collective struggle to uphold labour rights, democracy, and decent work.
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Ukrainian union leader jailed for doing his job
16 July, 2026
Yarema Zhuhaievych, chairman of the Trade Union of Aircraft and Machine Building Workers of Ukraine (TUAMBWU), has been in pre-trial detention since 1
May this year. His bail is set far beyond his personal means.
Zhuhaievych was arrested as chairman of the supervisory board of PJSC Ukrproftur, a company the Federation of Trade Unions of Ukraine set up to manage trade union assets and delegated him to represent as shareholder. The charges stem from decisions the board
took collectively, within its lawful powers, which he was obliged to sign.
This should be a property dispute before Ukraine’s civil and commercial courts. Instead, it has become a criminal case against an individual trade union leader. A final judgment of the Supreme Arbitration Court of Ukraine confirmed the lawfulness of Ukrproftur’s
establishment. That judgment dates back to January 1997.
The ILO Committee on Freedom of Association has repeatedly found that detaining trade union leaders over their legitimate activities severely violates freedom of association. This applies under Conventions 87 and 98, both ratified by Ukraine. The case forms
part of a long-running conflict over trade union property in Ukraine, parts of which have reached ILO supervisory bodies. It also comes as labour law developments in the country already concern unions there.
It also sits awkwardly alongside Ukraine’s bid for EU membership. Judicial independence and the rule of law sit at the core of accession talks. A country cannot advance towards Europe while prosecuting trade union leaders for doing their job.
Together with industriAll Europe, IndustriALL Global Union has written to Ukraine’s President, its prosecutor general, the ILO and the European Commission, calling for Yarema Zhuhaievych’s release.
“The charges against him must be dropped, the property dispute must be settled in the civil courts where it belongs, and trade union rights must be respected. He is, in other words, being prosecuted for doing what his mandate and the law required of him. What
concerns us is the use of criminal law, and of prolonged pre-trial detention, against a trade union leader for doing his job,”
said Judith Kirton-Darling, general secretary of industriAll European Trade Union, and Atle Høie, general secretary of IndustriALL Global Union.
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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