Taking COSATU Today Forward, 31 July 2026 #CosatuRedFridays
Norman Mampane
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COSATU TODAY COSATU Call Center Contacts: 010 002 2590 Today, it’s #CosatuRedFridays… #ListeningCampaign… #GreenJobs #NationaActionAgainstCostOfLiving Campaign continues… #ClassWar #Cosatu40 #SACTU70 #ClassStruggle “Build Working Class Unity for Economic Liberation towards Socialism” #Back2Basics #JoinCOSATUNow #ClassConsciousness |
Taking COSATU Today Forward
‘Whoever sides with the revolutionary people in deed as well as in word is a revolutionary in the full sense’-Maoo
Our side of the story
31 July 2026
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Contents
- Workers Parliament: Back to Basics!
- COSATU Western Cape opposes Premier Foods attempts to close Tulbagh plant
- South Africa
- COSATU welcomes the pending release of the 69 delinquent municipalities' Equitable Share Grants by National Treasury
- International-Workers’ Solidarity!
- Southern African teacher unions’ renewed commitment to Go Public! Fund Education campaign
Workers’
Parliament-Back2Basics #ClassWar
COSATU Western Cape opposes Premier Foods attempts to close Tulbagh plant
Malvern De Bruyn, COSATU Western Cape Provincial Secretary, 30 July 2026
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) is deeply concerned following Premier Foods’ announcement of a plan to close the Tulbagh plant.
COSATU is worried that this move will have huge socio-economic implications not only for Premier Foods direct employees, as well as farm-based workers but also for the entire Tulbagh area. Were it to go ahead, the closure would affect nearly 300 permanent staff and 2 000 seasonal workers. Given South Africa’s alarming unemployment rate of 43.7%, we cannot afford to lose a single job.
The mooted closure would also pose a significant threat to the country’s industrial capacity. Linkages between agriculture and agro-processing must be carefully defined and not just driven by corporate greed to maximise profits as well as dividends for shareholders. Considering economic growth has been stagnant at 1% for more than a decade, now is the time for all stakeholders to partner in finding solutions that will benefit the entire country.
COSATU calls on the Competition Commission to investigate the proposed closure and its probable impact on competition policy in South Africa. The Competition Commission approved Premier’s merger with RFG Holdings in March this year with specific conditions in place. Now those conditions will be flouted by the plant closure.
The Federation further calls on Nedlac to urgently convene engagements that will include the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration, who must facilitate discussions to develop a plan to keep the plant operational.
COSATU calls for this crisis to be transformed into an opportunity to empower workers in the plant and in the supplying farms. The corporates that are in control of the processing capacity in SA must think beyond short-term profits; put efforts into growing the economy, transform old ownership patterns, and ensure that workers also benefit.
The Federation has in the past been involved in discussions with Langeberg in Ashton, who also contemplated closing the plant two years ago. COSATU proposes a similar process of engagement with all the role players to find a solution that keeps factory open while securing export markets. The Langeberg plant was able to achieve positive outcomes for all involved.
COSATU also calls on the Premier Foods shareholders including Mr Wiese, the food producers’ biggest shareholder, to oppose this rushed closure, as well as Mr Sihlobo, the Economist for Agri SA, to encourage the company to engage in good faith.
The engagements must be mindful of positioning the industry towards the future and identifying partnerships to achieve this. Due consideration must also be given to the workers and the affected communities. As part of building an industrial democracy, workers must also be regarded and also benefit from the developments.
COSATU urges the Western Cape Provincial Government under whose jurisdiction Tulbagh falls, to assist in preserving jobs.
COSATU will be joining workers and the community at a meeting to find solutions to keep the plant open on Sunday 2 August, at 4pm at the Tulbagh Community Hall.
Issued by COSATU Western Cape
South Africa #ClassSolidarity
COSATU welcomes the pending release of the 69 delinquent municipalities' Equitable Share Grants by National Treasury
Matthew Parks, COSATU Parliamentary Coordinator, 30 July 2026
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) welcomes the pending release of the 69 delinquent municipalities’ Equitable Share Grants by National Treasury.
The Federation is, however, extremely angered by reports that workers in Maluti a Phofung, Mantsopa, Mafube, Mohokare and Masilonyana in the Free State; iMpendle in KwaZulu-Natal; Tswaing in North West have still not been paid their salaries. This is an abomination and must be treated as the criminal offence it is, and their Municipal Managers must be charged as such.
We are equally concerned by the lack of a comprehensive package of interventions to stabilise and rebuild the alarming number of financially distressed municipalities. The reality is some of these municipalities have been run into the ground by incompetent Councillors and managers and bolder action is needed by national and provincial government to stablise and turn them around, including ensuring that their salaries, pensions and other legally required third-party obligations are paid.
COSATU notes tentative progress with 42 delinquent municipalities responding to National Treasury’s temporary withholding of their Equitable Share Grants. The absence of plans to respond to Treasury’s call for actions from the remaining 17 municipalities is staggering.
Equally worrying is the seemingly pedestrian approach from the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) to the deterioration of municipal governance and even the collapse of basic services in countless municipalities under their lackluster watch.
COSATU appreciates the need to install financial discipline in these errant municipalities, in particular to ensure that they honour their payment obligations to workers’ salaries and pension funds, Eskom, Water Boards and other third parties.
We are, however, deeply worried about the unintended consequences of withholding payments to municipalities with 21 of them so financially cash strapped that this action may cause some basic services to grind to a halt and leave many municipal workers unpaid once again. This crisis is not limited to these 69 municipalities.
It is critical that urgent engagements take place between Treasury, the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) as well as SALGA to put in place interventions to resolve these ever-worsening crises. Withholding conditional grants is only a punitive tool and does not resolve the systemic faultlines that have brought many municipalities into severe financial difficulties.
A comprehensive package of interventions is needed to ensure competent management is appointed, corruption and wasteful expenditure is dealt with the assistance of the Auditor-General plus the Hawks and the SIU, a new municipal funding model is put in place, and external support is deployed from Eskom, the Water Boards and SANRAL to maintain critical infrastructure and restore basic services and billing collection capacity.
If these municipalities are to be stabilised and set back on the path of recovery, then the municipal debt crisis must be tackled with a massive R218 billion owed to these 69 municipalities alone. This is critical to tackling R97 billion owed to workers’ pension funds and other third-party payments, the South African Revenue Service, Eskom and Water Boards.
This must include targeted actions to ensure the urgent recovery of R11 billion and R46 billion owed by state institutions and the private sector respectively to these municipalities.
Local government remain the state’s Achilles’ heel with little signs of a turnaround. It is key that interventions do not lead to a further collapse of municipal services or see more workers pickpocketed. COSATU with its affiliate, the South African Municipal Workers’ Union (SAMWU) will continue to engage government on a package of short-, medium- and long-term interventions to set local government firmly on a path to recovery. This is a ticking time bomb that cannot perpetually be kicked down the road.
We are deeply disappointed that COGTA and Treasury have failed to respond to SAMWU’s call for urgent engagements with labour to find and put in place lasting solutions to these crises.
If we are to turn the corner in local government, it is incumbent upon all political parties to end the culture of mediocrity and to deploy Councillors equipped with the necessary skills, integrity and sobriety.
Issued by COSATU
Internationalism-Solidarity
Southern African teacher unions’ renewed commitment to Go Public! Fund Education campaign-Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4 Fighting the commercialisation
of education Standards and working conditions Leading the profession Go public! Fund education
30 July 2026
Education union leaders from across Southern Africa have reaffirmed their commitment to quality, inclusive, equitable and publicly financed education as a fundamental
human right and a public good.
The Education International (EI) sub-regional meeting, “Quality public education begins with quality funding,” held from July 23rd-24th, 2026, in Johannesburg, South Africa, gathered 33 representatives from EI member organisations from Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho,
Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe, alongside officials from Education International, the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), and the Regional Teacher Initiative for Africa (RTIA), to strengthen collective advocacy for Education financing
under the Go Public! Fund Education campaign.
“We fund what we value”
Addressing participants, EI President Mugwena Maluleke reasserted that “education is not a privilege. It is a fundamental human right and the foundation upon which just, democratic and prosperous societies are built.”
He however noted that, “across Southern Africa, the reality remains harsh. Classrooms are overcrowded, schools lack resources, teachers are overstretched, and millions of children are denied the quality education they deserve. Governments often tell us there
is no money for education, no money for teachers, and no money for infrastructure and learning materials.”
For him, the question is not whether money exists, it is rather: what are our governments choosing to fund?
Across Africa, he reported, due to the international monetary structures, countries spend far more on debt repayments than on education. Money that should be building schools, employing teachers and supporting learners is instead flowing to creditors, he said,
stressing that, at the same time, billions of dollars leave the continent every year through illicit financial flows, tax avoidance, and profit shifting.
“These are not economic accidents. They are political choices,” Maluleke explained. “When teachers are denied decent salaries, when recruitment is frozen, and when schools crumble while wealth accumulates in the hands of a few, we must speak honestly about
injustice. We must challenge austerity policies that place debt before development, creditors before children, and profits before people.”
He went on reminding the Go Public! campaign is not simply about increasing budgets. “It is about building a different vision of society – one where public education is recognised as a public good, where teachers are respected as professionals, and where every
child has access to free, inclusive and quality public education regardless of their background.”
The EI leader also reiterated the education unions’ demands globally: Fully fund public education; invest at least 20% of national budgets in education; recruit and retain qualified teachers; end austerity measures that undermine public services; advance tax
justice and stop illicit financial flows; and reject the privatisation and commercialisation of education.
He also highlighted that “we fund what we value. If we value our children, our future, our democracy and our development, then we must fund public education accordingly. Budgets are moral documents. They reveal our priorities. Let us therefore demand that governments
put their money where their promises are and invest in the future through quality public education.”
“Let us organise. Let us mobilise. Let us act. Because we fund what we value, and there is no greater investment than the education of our children. The future of our nations depends on it,” he concluded.
Identifying advocacy spaces where EI and education unions can act
Also addressing participants, EI Africa Regional Director Dr Dennis Sinyolo stressed that greater investment in teachers, education support personnel, infrastructure, teaching and learning resources are required throughout the continent.
He also identified spaces where EI and teacher unions can be present and advocate for increased funding in public education. There are clear opportunities for engaging with the African Union and the Southern African Development Community, he said.
Mentioning the Decade of Accelerated Action for the Transformation of Education and Skills Development in Africa launched in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in October 2025, he said that the Decade, in line with the Agenda 2063 – The Africa We Want and the Sustainable
Development Goal (SDG) 4, is anchored on three major continental frameworks: the African Union’s Continental Education Strategy for Africa 2026-2035; the Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa ; and the Continental Technical and Vocational
Education and Training.
The Decade is guided by three main commitments, : end learning poverty and ensure foundational literacy and numeracy for all African children; elevate the teaching profession, ensuring teachers are trained, valued, and empowered; and align education with the
future of work, emphasising digital transformation, innovation, and skills relevant to green and digital economies.
After participants reported on the campaign efforts in their respective countries, he commended them, saying: “You have painted clearly what the context is, the challenges you face, and more importantly the progress you have made despite the challenges.”
He further encouraged unions to engage in evidence-based advocacy and to use strategic regional and continental platforms to influence policy and budget decisions.
EI’s Go Public! Fund Education Campaign Manager, Angelo Gavrielatos, highlighted the global teacher shortage crisis and outlined strategies for teacher unions to mobilise members, engage policymakers, and build public support for education financing. He also
stressed that the UN Recommendations on the Teaching profession are key tools teacher unions can use to lobby governments for increased investment in public education.
Investing in education at country level
Sharing examples of how the Global Partnership for Education supports countries in the region through grants, technical assistance, and reforms aimed at improving teaching quality, equity, accountability, and domestic education financing, GPE Senior Partnerships
Specialist April Golden acknowledged that teachers shape public opinion, influence fiscal decisions, and hold governments accountable.
She also underlined a paradox: while education is the most powerful source of resilience, yet it is being deprioritised when it matters most.
She went on to explain that GPE organises local education groups, acting as country level platforms for education planning, monitoring, and dialogue.
GPE has been working with EI to find ways to bring teachers into policy dialogue spaces, she also agreed.
She also reported on GPE funding-adjustment for Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, and insisted on a dual approach to education financing: raising funds for GPE, as well as raising domestic budgets.
Johannesburg Declaration on Financing Public Education
The teacher education leaders also adopted the Johannesburg Declaration on Financing Public Education.
The declaration recognises that “education is central to sustainable development, social justice, economic transformation, peace and democratic participation,” and that “no education system can exceed the quality of its teachers and that sustained investment
in the teaching profession is essential for delivering quality education for all.”
It also expresses “deep concern over the teacher shortage and infrastructure crises caused by chronic underfunding of public education across Southern Africa.”
It calls on Southern African Development Community’s member states and all education stakeholders to:
Increase public investment in education by meeting the internationally agreed education financing benchmarks of 6% of GDP and 20% of the national budget;
Prioritise investment in the teaching profession, including teacher training, recruitment, professional development, decent salaries, and improved conditions of service;
Strengthen public education systems through investment in infrastructure, teaching and learning materials, digital resources, and safe learning environments;
Reject policies that commercialise or privatise public education at the expense of equity, quality and social justice;
Promote social and policy dialogue by engaging education unions and their members in the design, implementation and monitoring of education policies;
Implement the UN Recommendations on the Teaching Profession as a pathway to strengthening education systems and achieving SDG 4;
Support tax justice and progressive domestic resource mobilisation to ensure sustainable financing for quality public education; and
Protect education as a public good and a human right, ensuring that every child, youth and adult has access to free, inclusive and quality public education.
It also urges EI member organisations to “expand and accelerate national and regional mobilisation under the Go Public! Fund Education Campaign, strengthen alliances with civil society, parents, learners, parliamentarians and development partners, and intensify
advocacy aimed at securing increased and sustainable public investment in education.”
EI affiliates should also “monitor government commitments, sharing evidence and experiences across the region, and collectively advancing the vision of strong, well-resourced and fully funded public education systems that leave no one behind.”
You can read more about this meeting on the EI Africa website.
https://ei-ie.africa/en/item/32778:southern-african-teacher-unions-renew-the-call-for-full-financing-of-public-education-johannesburg-south-africa-23-24-july-2026
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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