Taking COSATU Today Forward, 12 September 2025 #CosatuCC2025
Norman Mampane
|
COSATU TODAY Today, it’s #CosatuRedFridays…. #Cosatu scheduled to convene its ordinary 8th Central Committee next week, at Benoni #CosatuCC2025 #WorkerControl #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
12 September 2025
“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!
- NEHAWU Western Cape statement on the collapsed wage negotiations at NSFAS and the collapse of governance at College of Cape Town
- NUM Western Cape Region secures reinstatement of 23 members in a landmark Labour Court Ruling
- Media Alert: Media accreditation applications for COSATU's 8th Central Committee officially open
- South Africa
- COSATU welcomes the National Assembly's passage of the Immigration Amendment Bill
- COSATU broadly welcomes the Liquor Amendment Bill tabled at Parliament
- SADTU mourns the loss of five learners in Pietermaritzburg accident
- International-Workers’ Solidarity!
- Strike averted: Nigerian unions vs Dangote
Workers’ Parliament-Back2Basics
NEHAWU Western Cape statement on the collapsed wage negotiations at NSFAS and the collapse of governance at College of Cape Town
Baxolise Mali, NEHAWU Western Cape Provincial Secretary, September 11, 2025
The National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union [NEHAWU] in the Western Cape convened a media briefing today to provide an update to its members and the public about the course action at the National Students Financial Aid Scheme [NSFAS] in light of the deadlocked wage negotiations, and the worrying developments at the Cape Town College which have led to collapse of governance.
NEHAWU as the only trade union which has bargaining rights at NSFAS has been engaged in long protracted negotiations since March 2025 until July 2025 at the National Bargaining Forum as part of advancing the demands of workers in this institution. We entered this process genuinely and even made some trade-offs with the hope that we would eventually find each other with this employer, but sadly towards the end of July 2025, the management led by the Acting CEO have shown no willingness to listen to our proposals particularly on Cost of Living Adjustment, ex-gratia, and implementation of Job Evaluations outcomes instead hiding behind an outdated NSFAS Act of 1999 needing concurrence from the Minister of Higher Education and Minister of Finance. In fact all the time, we have been demanding the implementation, we are told to wait for submission of memo for concurrence by the two Ministers, a process which never moved from the expensive KPMG offices to these Ministers despite a memorandum having been approved by the then NSFAS Administrator, Mr. Freeman Nomvalo as early as 2023.
On the 01st August 2025, the NSFAS communication team released a media statement on behalf of the NSFAS Board with an intention of turning public against the union by creating a picture of a very irresponsible union, as we were to embark on lunchtime demonstrations as part of making society aware of the reason why NSFAS has been failing to reach its potential yet the blame is always placed on our members.
These issues were not new matters but we have consistently raised them internally but the leadership paralysis has led to years with these following issues not resolved:
• NSFAS being plagued by maladministration, governance failures, irregular and patronage-based appointments, outsourcing, and system collapse.
• Millions being looted from student accommodation funding through middleman structures.
• Workers being threatened and undermined, while students suffer from unresolved queries and a dysfunctional system.
All of the above even when brought to the attention of the Board, we were met with a defensive response because they themselves know that amongst these questionable appointments includes the appointment of the current Acting CEO from NYDA at the time where there was moratorium on filling of vacancies, and the appointment of an individual we believe has closer ties to the Acting CEO in a non-existent post of the General Manager: Finance.
As indicated the current management opted to deliberately engage in spreading fake news about the reason for our lunchtime demonstrations because they did not want the same students depending on NSFAS to know that behind the inability of NSFAS to deliver as expected is not workers but rather the ICT department and system failures which are as a result of the following:
• The ICT department being understaffed with no meaningful ICT appointments being made to strengthen systems under the current Acting CEO and the current Board. In fact, NSFAS does not have one ICT developer meaning that there is no one internally who can work on system issues.
• That when a student calls the contact centre, they may receive 3 different responses from 3 different people. Not because of these people but because the systems are dysfunctional.
• Disbursements are still being processed manually with no indication of change. Staff are forced to run scripts and carry out manual validations, which introduces high risks of error, delays, and potential manipulation.
The public must equally know that since the declaration of deadlock with the institution, and subsequently the mediation process, the union has made various proposals to resolve the current impasse, but the leadership paralysis of the current Acting CEO has led to the board baby-sitting him even on things within his ambit which do not need extra allocation from Treasury and in that process with the Board rejecting any proposal including the last one made by the CCMA Commissioner.
Based on the rejection of the sound proposals made by the union, and the CCMA Commissioner, a strike certificate was issued leading to us giving a seven days’ notice for a full blown strike action with effect from the 12th of September 2025. This is because workers have agreed that we shall not waver or concede an inch in our call for decent salaries, and better working conditions of our members.
As if the issue of the looming strike action was not enough, the acting CEO and the Board Chairperson opted to pour petrol on fire by recklessly addressing the media about fake news of NSFAS Head Office moving to Pretoria. We are correctly labelling such utterances as part of spreading fake news because the Board should have known that it is recklessness of the highest order to publicly pronounce this without having engaged the union on this plan as it will be altering the terms and conditions of the employment of workers.
We have now heard enough because it is clear that the acting CEO doesn’t know how to run this institution, and the board is itself complicit hence we are calling for the Minister to intervene as we believe the current Board will not help him in his agenda to turn NSFAS around.
This strike action is therefore not a narrow fight back over wage increases but it is about assisting the Minister to turn NSFAS around speedily, but most fundamentally it is about stopping the arrogance of individuals which is now prevailing, wherein they think they can do as they wish without any push back. We will fight until our last drop of blood, and we shall not return to work until we are taken serious as a key partner in delivering better services to our people.
Our demands cannot be belittled as they are justified considering that NSFAS workers have lost over 15% of their wages in the last 10 years noting the employer has not been equally paying them their pay progression to an extent that based on that alone NSFAS has saved millions meant for workers which also has led to their pensions being stagnant.
The last point we want to raise is that of the collapse of governance at the College of Cape Town which has led to the current principal being subjected to a process where he must answer about over the 20 misconduct charges which includes seconding his wife to a higher post. Now that we know the public has been following the meetings of the portfolio committee it will be important to indicate that we are fully in support of the Minister decision to open an inquiry in the collapse of governance at this important institution and agree that having a retired judge to deal with this situation speedily is the wisest decision to be made considering the seriousness of the issues being raised.
END
Issued by NEHAWU Western Cape Secretariat
________________________
NUM Western Cape Region secures reinstatement of 23 members in a landmark Labour Court Ruling
Mlondolozi Limaphi, NUM Western Cape regional Secretary, 11 September 2025
CAPE TOWN — The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) Western Cape Region is pleased to announce a significant victory in the Labour Court in Cape Town, which has ordered the reinstatement of 23 union members unjustly dismissed by Baseline Civil Contractors.
The dismissals, which occurred in 2023, followed an unprotected strike action by the workers. The court found that while the dismissals were procedurally fair, they were substantively unfair due to the company's actions. The strike was a direct result of Baseline Civil Contractors' unilateral decision to change the annual attendance bonus payment date from December 14, 2022, to December 23, 2022, without any prior consultation with the employees. This change caused significant disruption to the members' financial plans and holiday arrangements.
Mlondolozi Limaphi, NUM Western Cape Regional Secretary, welcomed the judgment. "We are very happy with the decision of the court. The employer acted with impunity and failed to consider the facts of the case," Limaphi said. "The workers have been vindicated, and the court's decision affirms that the employer must bear responsibility for the circumstances that led to the strike action. While we do not condone employees downing tools, we are relieved to see justice served."
The Labour Court's order for the full reinstatement of the 23 NUM members marks a crucial victory for workers' rights and fair labour practices in the Western Cape. The company must pay each of the 23 NUM members, 16 (sixteen) months’ backpay, arising from their retrospective reinstatement, within 30 (thirty) calendar days of the date they tender their services.
___________________
Media Alert: Media accreditation applications for COSATU's 8th Central Committee officially open
Zanele Sabela, COSATU National Spokesperson, 08 September 2025
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) will convene its 8th Central Committee meeting on the 15th -18th of September.
Held under the theme: “Building working-class unity for economic liberation towards socialism”, the four-day event will bring together around 400 members from the Federation’s affiliates, labour service organisations and international guests to amongst others, review the implementation of resolutions adopted at the previous Congress, provide political direction and focus on organisational issues ahead of the National Congress next year.
COSATU President Zingiswa Losi will deliver the keynote address with messages of support from the African National Congress (ANC) and the South African Communist Party (SACP).
Details of the event are as follows:
Date: 15-18 September 2025
Venue: Anew OR Tambo Hotel (formerly The Lakes Hotel, Benoni, Ekurhuleni)
All members of the media are invited to attend, and are encouraged to apply for accreditation to cover the event.
Applications for accreditation may be submitted to mam...@cosatu.org.za or non...@cosatu.org.za with the following details:
Name:
Surname:
ID number:
Media House/Address:
Contact number/email:
Alternatively, an application form can be completed via this link:
https://forms.office.com/r/Yhyb5S6h59
Issued by COSATU
Zanele
Sabela (COSATU National Spokesperson)
Mobile: 079 287 5788 or 077 600 6639
Email: zan...@cosatu.org.za
COSATU welcomes the National Assembly's passage of the Immigration Amendment Bill
Matthew Parks, COSATU Parliamentary Coordinator, 11 September 2025
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) welcomes the National Assembly’s passage of the Immigration Amendment Bill today.
The Federation supports this progressive Bill that was necessitated by a Constitutional Court judgement. The Bill will capacitate the Department of Home Affairs’ officials to detain persons who may be in violation of South Africa’s immigration laws and to ensure such persons are brought before a Magistrates’ Court within 48 hours to make a final determination on their legal status within the Republic.
Whilst welcoming these common-sense amendments, it is critical that Parliament and the Department of Home Affairs ensure that persons under 18 years of age are not separated from their families or sent to places where their constitutional right to safety may be compromised. We have witnessed the horrors of young children being separated from their parents and placed into horrific detention centres in other countries and would not countenance to South Africa following such barbaric human rights violations.
It is equally urgent that Government and Parliament ensure Home Affairs has the necessary resources to fulfil its mandate, in particular filling an untenable 60% staff vacancy rate, investing in badly aging infrastructure, ensuring it has reliable and modern IT systems, and that corrupt elements are removed and made to face the full force of the law.
We have been pleased with the tremendous work done by the employees of Home Affairs, in particular their strides in reducing backlogs of applications for civic and other services.
It is time the Budget gave them the support they need to once again ensure Home Affairs is an example of a capacitated developmental state machinery.
Issued by COSATU
________________________
COSATU broadly welcomes the Liquor Amendment Bill tabled at Parliament
Matthew Parks, COSATU Parliamentary Coordinator, 11 September 2025
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) broadly welcomes the Liquor Amendment Bill’s tabling at Parliament. The Federation has engaged extensively on this matter and the need to strengthen the Liquor Act at Nedlac. We look forward to its processing at Parliament.
The Bill speaks to the need for a progressive response to the crisis of alcohol abuse that is endemic across South Africa, particularly in working class and rural communities. It is estimated that 40% of the more than 14 000 road accident fatalities annually are due to the excessive consumption of alcohol. Many incidents of violent crimes, including domestic and gender-based violence, are linked to the abuse of alcohol. It is invariably workers and their families who bear the brunt of these tragedies.
There is space for a responsible liquor industry in society. There are thousands of jobs in its value chain, from the vineyards of the Cape Winelands to distilleries, bottlers, packaging, distribution, retail and hospitality. It generates significant revenue needed by the state to fund frontline public services that the poor depend upon. The challenge is to find the correct balance. What we cannot afford to do is to continue to normalise a very unhealthy relationship with alcohol with thousands dying prematurely, families losing loved ones and bread winners, and the state expected to foot the bill.
The Bill raises the importance of restricting advertising alcohol to help reduce its attraction to consumers, in particular young people. This is a key mechanism to begin the journey of nudging society to a more balanced approach to the consumption of alcohol.
The Federation welcomes the Bill’s objectives and looks forward to engaging Parliament as well as the Departments of Trade, Industry and Competition, Agriculture, Health and the Police on it.
We are confident that this Bill can help unlock such a long overdue discussion and that we can emerge with a package of legislative and other interventions to deal with one of society's most dire socio-economic crises.
Issued by COSATU
______________________
SADTU mourns the loss of five learners in Pietermaritzburg accident
Nomusa Cembi, SADTU National Media Officer, 11 September 2025
The South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (SADTU) is deeply saddened by the tragic accident that claimed the lives of five learners in Imbali township, Pietermaritzburg, this morning.
According to reports, the learners aged between 9 and 11 were travelling in a minibus taxi to different schools when the vehicle lost control, collided with a tree, and rolled down before plunging into a preschool. Four learners died at the scene while the fifth passed away enroute to hospital. Five other learners were injured. Fortunately, the children at the pre-school were unharmed, though the front part of the building was damaged.
It is alleged that the driver reported brake failure as the cause of the accident.
SADTU reiterates its long-standing call for a comprehensive and reliable scholar transport plan. In many communities where formal scholar transport is not provided, parents are forced to rely on local minibuses, often referred to “omalume” to transport children. These vehicles must the properly regulated and subjected to regular roadworthiness checks and ensure the safety of learners.
We express our deepest and since condolences to the families and relatives of the deceased learners, their school mates, and teachers. We also wish a speedy recover to all those injured.
This tragedy underscores the urgent need for government intervention to ensure that no learner’s life is lost due to unsafe and unregulated transport.
ISSUED BY: SADTU Secretariat
International-Solidarity
Strike averted: Nigerian unions vs Dangote
10 September, 2025
On 8 September, the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) reached a conciliation agreement with Dangote Refinery and Petrochemical Limited, averting a nationwide strike over anti-union practices.
Brokered by Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, the agreement mandates immediate unionization at the refinery,
with registered unions like NUPENG granted the right to organize workers. The process is to be completed within two weeks, with guarantees against the formation of competing employer-backed unions and protection for workers against retaliation for strike actions.
The agreement marks a significant victory for Nigeria’s labour movement, reinforcing the legal and moral imperative of workers’ rights to organize.
Two years ago, the inauguration of the US$20 billion Dangote Refinery in the Lekki free-trade zone near Lagos was heralded as a milestone for Nigeria’s industrial ambitions. As Africa’s largest refinery, it promised significant job creation and economic diversification.
However, optimism has soured due to the refinery’s initial resistance to unionization, particularly for drivers tasked with
distributing petroleum products nationwide. The refinery, owned by billionaire Aliko Dangote and its distribution partner, MRS, controlled by Dangote’s relative Sayyu Ali Dantata, sought to exclude established unions like NUPENG in favour of an in-house union.
This move prompted NUPENG, backed by the National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), to call for a national strike.
The dispute intensified following Dangote’s importation of 10,000 compressed natural gas (CNG) trucks in late August, aligning with the government’s push for greener fuel alternatives. Recruitment for drivers came with a condition: applicants were required
to pledge allegiance to the company’s union, raising concerns about violation of workers’ rights. The unions argued that Dangote Refinery and MRS’s actions not only violate Nigeria’s Labour Act and Constitution, which safeguards workers’ rights to organize,
but also contravenes International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention 87 on freedom of association and protection of the right to organize, to which Nigeria is a signatory.
Furthermore, the companies’ apparent pursuit of a refining and distribution monopoly challenges the Petroleum Industry Act,
designed to promote competition in a sector long plagued by inefficiency and corruption.
NUPENG’s leadership,president Williams Akporeha and general secretary Afolabi Olawale, condemned the refinery’s approach, accusing it of undermining collective bargaining and imposing exploitative contracts. “Wealth amassed through the suppression of workers’
rights is unsustainable and unjust,” they stated, emphasizing the centrality of union representation to fair labour practices.
Atle Høie, IndustriALL general secretary, welcomed the resolution:
“The actions of Dangote were a clear violation of fundamental trade union rights and IndustriALL intervened towards the company to push them to change their course. This agreement upholds national and international labour standards, befitting a leading African enterprise. We encourage Dangote Refinery to maintain constructive engagement with unions going forward.”
______________________________
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