Taking COSATU Today Forward Special Bulletin, 15 August 2025 #CosatuCC2025 #CosatuRedFridays
Norman Mampane
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COSATU TODAY #Cosatu scheduled to convene its ordinary 8th Central Committee in September 2025 #CosatuCC2025 #WorkerControl #SACTU70 #ClassStruggle “Build Working Class Unity for Economic Liberation towards Socialism” #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
15 August 2025
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Contents
- Workers Parliament: Back to Basics!
- Condemnation of the attack on an emergency services personnel
- POPCRU Limpopo on the tragic loss of life in Mokopane–Mookgopong road accident and the need to review inmate transport protocols
- South Africa
- POPCRU on DCS Self-Sustainability Programme
- International-Workers’ Solidarity!
- SACP condemns assassination of journalists in Gaza
Workers’ Parliament-Back2Basics
Condemnation of the attack on an emergency services
personnel
Mpho Mpogeng, SAEPU President, 14 AUGUST 2025
As the representative body for emergency workers, we are appalled and outraged by
the increasing frequency severity of attacks on our frontline responders who put their lives on the line daily to serve and protect our communities.
We strongly condemn the brazen attack on one of our emergency responders, which occurred this morning at approximately 06:20 at Embalenhle base in Mpumalanga province.
The incident took place a mere 100 meters from the victim’s residence as he was
proceeding to work. Two assailants brutally assaulted him, inflicting severe injuries
including a deep laceration to the forehead that required four stitches. The fact that
nothing was stolen from the victim suggests that the attacker’s sole intention was to inflict harm or even fatal harm (Murder).
The victim has demonstrated remarkable courage in reporting the incident to the South African Police Services (SAPS) and pursuing justice. We demand that the perpetrators be apprehended and brought to justice without delay.
We condemn in the strongest possible terms the barbaric actions of these community members. What kind of society have we become, where the very people who dedicate their lives to saving ours are met with such cruelty and brutality? Our paramedics put themselves in harmful ways every day to serve and protect their communities and this is the thanks they receive? The sheer audacity of attacking those who come to help is a stark reminder of the depths of humanity’s depravity. It is imperative that we collaborate to create a safe and respectful environment for our emergency responders.
We demand the employer to arrange immediate counselling and support for our
personnel. We are still reiterating our decision for EMS workers to always arm
themselves with their legal firearms to protect themselves because we are on our own.
END
Issued by SAEPU
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POPCRU Limpopo on the tragic loss of life in Mokopane–Mookgopong road accident and the need to review inmate transport protocols
Phuti Mabotja, POPCRU Limpopo Provincial Secretary, on 14 August 2025
The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (POPCRU) in Limpopo is deeply saddened by the tragic accident that took place this morning, Thursday, 14 August 2025, on the R101 between Mokopane and Mookgopong. The accident claimed the life of a dedicated police officer stationed at Naboomspruit Police Station, along with five inmates who were being transported for court appearances.
According to reports, the officer had collected 11 inmates from Mokopane Police Station for court proceedings in Naboomspruit when the incident occurred. Six other inmates sustained injuries and were taken to hospital for urgent medical attention.
We extend our heartfelt condolences to the families, friends, and colleagues of our fallen officer, whose service and dedication to duty will always be remembered, as well as to the families of the deceased inmates. Our thoughts are also with the injured, and we wish them a speedy recovery.
While we mourn this tragic loss, this incident must prompt a serious review of the inmate transport protocols currently in place. The practice of having a single officer responsible for transporting a large number of inmates is not only an occupational hazard, but also poses significant safety and security risks — both on the road and in the event of emergencies. Such operations demand adequate personnel, appropriate vehicles, and safety measures that protect the lives of officers, inmates, and the broader public.
We therefore call upon the South African Police Service, in collaboration with the Department of Transport and Community Safety, to urgently assess and strengthen inmate transportation procedures. This includes ensuring sufficient staffing, clear risk management guidelines, and regular inspections of vehicles used for prisoner transport.
POPCRU will be engaging with SAPS management to ensure that the bereaved families receive the necessary support, and to work towards preventing such tragedies in the future.
May the souls of the departed rest in peace.
Issued by POPCRU Limpopo
POPCRU on DCS Self-Sustainability Programme
Richard Mamabolo, POPCRU National Spokesperson, 15 August 2025
The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (POPCRU) welcomes the Department of Correctional Services’ (DCS) bakery roll-out as part of its long-overdue self-sustainability programme — an initiative we have consistently called for over the years as an alternative to the costly and corruption-prone tenderisation of services. While we recognise this as a positive step in the right direction, much more still needs to be done to address the broader and deep-rooted challenges within our correctional system.
South Africa’s 243 operational correctional centres currently face an overcrowding rate of 48%, housing over 156 000 inmates despite having an approved bed capacity for only 105 474. This dire situation is compounded by a staff complement of approximately 27 000, of which around 11 000 perform administrative duties — leaving an insufficient number of personnel for direct inmate management and rehabilitation.
In 2009, DCS had over 40 000 fully fledged members. However, following the introduction of the 45-hour work week, the post-establishment — which should have grown to at least 65 000 — has instead shrunk drastically, creating a dangerous operational gap.
Rehabilitation outcomes remain deeply concerning, with approximately 85% of inmates re-offending after release. This reflects a system that, as it stands, is not conducive to genuine rehabilitation. Limited access to technical training and life skills means many leave prison unprepared to survive outside, fuelling the cycle of crime. Furthermore, many centres fail to meet World Health Organisation (WHO) health and safety standards, with recurring issues around sanitation, maintenance, and basic infrastructure.
For true transformation, our correctional facilities must be self-sufficient beyond just bread production.
This includes farming for food production, producing offender uniforms, manufacturing furniture, carrying out maintenance and repairs, and ensuring consistent vocational training. These measures will not only cut costs and reduce corruption but will also provide inmates with skills that will serve them beyond incarceration, thus lowering recidivism rates.
We must emphasise that inmates should not be left idle.
Constructive, skills-based work should form a central pillar of daily prison life — benefiting rehabilitation, reducing criminal activities within centres, and enhancing cost efficiency.
While we welcome Minister Pieter Groenewald’s recognition of the savings and opportunities presented by in-house production — with the 13 operational bakeries already producing over 3 800 loaves a day at a third of outsourced costs — this initiative must form part of a clear, comprehensive, and time-bound implementation plan. Such a plan should ensure all facilities are brought into the self-sustainability programme, with measurable targets and regular progress reporting.
Prisons, by their nature, should not be dependent on external suppliers for basic needs such as bread, meat, uniforms, or maintenance. They should have the internal capacity to produce, repair, and sustain themselves. Where Public Works lacks capacity, DCS must step in to maintain its own facilities.
POPCRU will continue to engage the department to ensure that self-sufficiency is expanded, institutionalised, and embedded into a holistic rehabilitation framework that transforms our correctional centres into spaces of genuine reform and societal reintegration.
Issued by POPCRU
International-Solidarity
SACP condemns assassination of journalists in Gaza
Mbulelo Mandlana, SACP Head of Media, Communications and Information, 13 August 2025
The South African Communist Party (SACP) condemns in the strongest terms possible the assassination of Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza by the apartheid Israeli settler regime. On Sunday night, the apartheid regime targeted and murdered 28-year-old correspondent Anas al-Sharif along with three of his colleagues – Mohammed Qreiqeh, Ibrahim Zaher, and Mohammed Noufal – as they sheltered in a journalists’ tent near al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. In total, seven people were killed in the targeted attack.
Since 7 October 2023 when the Israeli settler regime launched its genocidal attack on Gaza, the racist regime has killed about 270 journalists and media workers in its endeavour to cover up its genocide against the Palestinian people. The latest attack forms part of the continuing genocide that has already claimed the lives of over 60,000 Palestinians since 7 October 2023. Among those murdered are patients killed in or while seeking care in hospitals and other healthcare centres, as well as children, the elderly and women.
The apartheid regime’s murder of journalists in Gaza, along with the genocide, occurs with the full support of the United States imperialist regime, which we also condemn for its military, economic and propaganda support, among other forms of support, for the apartheid Israeli regime. The attacks against the Palestinian people have also led to the unprecedented destruction of Palestinian social and economic infrastructure, including hospitals, healthcare centres, schools, learning institutions and places of worship, leading to widespread starvation of the people.
The SACP reiterates its unwavering solidarity with the heroic people of Palestine in their just struggle against genocide, land dispossession, colonial occupation and apartheid and calls for worldwide unity of the working class and all progressive forces in solidarity with the Palestinian people’s liberation struggle.
ISSUED BY THE SOUTH AFRICAN COMMUNIST PARTY,
FOUNDED IN 1921 AS THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF SOUTH AFRICA.
Media, Communications & Information Department | MCID
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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