Taking COSATU Today Forward Special Bulletin, 8 December 2025 #Cosatu40 #HappyBirthdayCosatu #HappyBirthdayDENOSA #HappyBirthdayNUM
Norman Mampane
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COSATU TODAY #Cosatu acknowledges all workers and their families who honoured the invite at Dobsonville Stadium, Soweto #HappyBirthdaDENOSA #HappyBirthdaNUM #HappyBirthdayCOSATU! #Cosatu40 #VioletSeboniBrigade #Cosatu40thAnniversary #Cosatu@40 #Cosatu40thAnniversary #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
8 December 2025
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Contents
- Workers Parliament: Back to Basics!
- NUM urges Ferrochrome Industry to commit to three-month retrenchment moratorium
- COSATU presented its submission on the Special Appropriation Bill to Parliament
- South Africa
- NEHAWU condemns the ANC for its continuous failure to pay workers’ salaries
- SACP statement on the Killing of Madlanga Commission Witness D
- International-Workers’ Solidarity!
- Six months after entry into force, the HKC still is not being implemented
Workers’ Parliament-Back2Basics
NUM urges Ferrochrome Industry to commit to three-month retrenchment moratorium
Mpho Phakedi NUM General Secretary, 08 December 2025
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) is calling on the ferrochrome industry to formally commit to a three-month moratorium on all retrenchments and smelter closures.
This appeal supports a recent government proposal aimed at stabilising the sector while a multi-stakeholder Task Team, which includes government, labour, and industry, urgently addresses the high cost of electricity tariffs.
The ferrochrome industry has voiced serious concerns that the current Eskom tariff of R2.12 per kilowatt-hour is unsustainable, forcing retrenchments. During a meeting last Friday with the Minister of Electricity, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, the government proposed lowering the tariffs to 87.7 cents. The industry requested a competitive energy tariff of 62 cents per kilowatt-hour.
The government has requested three months to consult with stakeholders and consider the industry's 62 cents per kilowatt-hour proposal. The Minister of Electricity, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, still want to meet with the Minister of Finance, Labour, Trade and Industry, and Mineral Resources to discuss the critical importance of the 62 cent KW proposed by the Ferrochrome Industry.
The NUM insists that, in good faith, the ferrochrome industry must provide written commitments to suspend all job cuts for this three-month consultation period.
The NUM will participate in the Multi-Stakeholder Task Team meeting scheduled for tomorrow in Pretoria to help resolve this critical issue and safeguard the livelihoods of its members.
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COSATU presented its submission on the Special Appropriation Bill to Parliament
Matthew Parks, COSATU Parliamentary Coordinator, 08 December 2025
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) presented its submission on the Special Appropriation Bill to Parliament’s Standing Committee on Appropriations.
The Bill provides an additional R754 million to the Department of Health in response to R4 billion in funding cuts from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for HIV/AIDs and other public healthcare programmes.
The United States President’s Emergency Plan for HIV/AIDS (PEPFAR) funding through USAID and the National Institute for Health (NIH) and the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) has played an invaluable role in the African continent and in particular South Africa as an epicentre of the global pandemic of HIV/AIDS. These programmes have helped prolong and save the lives of millions, in particular the poor, across South Africa and Africa over the past 22 years. This has enabled recipients of these healthcare programmes to continue working and leading active lives.
COSATU was extremely distressed by the impact of the sudden cut in funding through USAID to more than 500 000 South Africans living with HIV/AIDS in February this year.
We were equally concerned about the loss of funding for the jobs of 20 000 university, community health and NGO workers.
We had engaged the South African government to cover the funding shortfall equivalent initially to R4 billion dispensed through USAID.
We have been pleased that an equivalent R4 billion funding through the NIH has continued and that the CDC subsequently authorised the release of R2 billion to minimise the impact of the funding cuts on lives for the remainder of this financial year.
Whilst welcoming the R754 million supplementary allocation by the Bill for the Department of Health, we remain disappointed that it does not cover the full funding shortfall and in essence there remains a gap of R1.25 billion. This was largely for university and NGO community health clinics. These losses remain.
We are equally disappointed that it took so long for government to provide additional funding. The consequences are that those university, community and NGO health workers remain unemployed and the invaluable lifesaving work they did, has ended.
It is fundamental that government and Parliament ensure that the 2026/27 Budget and the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework provides the Department of Health the resources it requires to fulfil its constitutional mandate to provide accessible and quality public healthcare for all South Africans and that the journey to rolling out the National Health Insurance as the foundation for universal healthcare is expedited.
Whilst welcoming financial and other support from the US, Europe, China and any other nations, any such resources should be utilised to build clinics and hospitals, invest in infrastructure capacity and purchase ambulances and other physical assets.
This will help minimise disruptions when such funding inevitably comes to an end.
Issued by COSATU
NEHAWU
condemns the ANC for its continuous failure to pay workers’ salaries
Zola
Saphetha, NEHAWU General Secretary, December 08, 2025
The National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union [NEHAWU] strongly condemns the African National Congress [ANC] for its continuous failure to pay workers’ their salaries.
As NEHAWU, we find it totally unacceptable that the ANC has not paid salaries of workers, contributed to provide fund and medical aid for months.
The ANC has made workers scapegoats for the organisations financial mismanagement yet these workers have served the ANC with outmost dedication and loyalty, and as such deserve to be treated with dignity by the organisation.
How does the organisation justify that it has continuously failed to contribute to workers’ Provident Fund and Medical Aid as the employer. The importance of a provident fund can never at any given moment be understated in creating social security for any worker be it upon retirement, incapacity to work and other factors. Seemingly, the ANC does not value the importance of providing financial and social security to these workers.
Indeed, this confirms to us that ANC has lost its moral and ethical compass as an organisation that is supposed to be bias to the poor and working-class. What kind of an organisation would find absolutely nothing wrong with subjecting its employees to economic hardships?
The continuous failure to pay salaries has subjected all workers to a black Christmas by ANC in the last ten years (10) and this must be strongly condemned.
Lastly, as NEHAWU, we call on the ANC to pay workers their salaries, contribute to the Provident Fund and also to contribute to Medical Aids with immediate effect.
END
Issued by NEHAWU Secretariat.
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SACP statement on the Killing of Madlanga Commission Witness D
Mbulelo Mandlana, SACP Head of Media, Communications and Information, 8 December 2025
The South African Communist Party (SACP) conveys its message of deepest condolences on the passing of Mr Marius Van Der Merve, a witness in the Madlanga Commission, and calls for justice for those responsible for the murder. He was tragically gunned down in full view of his family outside their Brakpan home on the evening of Friday, 5 December 2025.
The SACP expresses its deepest condolences to the family, friends and colleagues and wishes them strength as they endure the immeasurable pain and trauma brought about by this brutal and senseless killing.
Mr Marius van der Merwe was a Brakpan-based member of the security industry and former official of the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department. He was known by the code name “Witness D” in the Madlanga Commission (Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Criminality, Political Interference, and Corruption in the Criminal Justice System), wherein he recently provided testimony.
The SACP condemns, in the strongest possible terms, the targeting of individuals who come forward to assist the Commission. This attack is not only a crime against an individual but a direct assault on justice, accountability, and the rule of law.
We reiterate our unwavering support for the Madlanga Commission and call on communities across the country to organise against crime and corruption and refuse to be intimidated by criminal elements determined to obstruct the truth.
The SACP demands justice and closure for the Van der Merwe family. We further call upon the state to strengthen witness protection mechanisms and ensure that the Commission is fully empowered to uncover the truth without fear or favour.
ISSUED BY THE SOUTH AFRICAN COMMUNIST PARTY,
FOUNDED IN 1921 AS THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF SOUTH AFRICA.
Media, Communications & Information Department | MCID
International-Solidarity
Six months after entry into force, the HKC still is not being implemented
8 December, 2025
Shipbreaking has often been described as the most dangerous job in the world and IndustriALL has long campaigned for the ratification of the Hong Kong Convention (HKC) as the most practical first step to clean up the industry. Supported by affiliates, together we maintained pressure on governments, ship owners, financiers and other industry stakeholders to promote the Convention. Despite these efforts and despite formal ratification not one of the major ship recycling nations has fully implemented the Convention in practice.
IndustriALL has been a long-time advocate for safer, cleaner and fair ship recycling, campaigning for years to make the HKC more than a paper exercise. As the HKC came into force in June 2025, IndustriALL highlighted that this represents both a “great test and greatest opportunity” for the shipbreaking sector globally.
India has not yet gazetted its new ship recycling legislation. Without the legislation in place, the country is not able to issue the all-important document of authorization for ship recycling (DASR), to certify that a yard meets HKC requirements. This is a serious issue for ship owners wanting to send their ships to compliant yards.
However, in India the ship recycling process is robust, with most yards meeting HKC standards and yard owners following the correct procedures. There is a strong union, a high level of social dialogue and a significant reduction in the number and severity of accidents.
In Bangladesh, the picture is mixed: the government created a ship recycling board to act as the competent authority and is issuing the DASR, which means ship owners sending ships to the country are complying on paper.
In addition, Bangladesh recently ratified three new ILO Conventions, including C155, which gives workers the right to refuse unsafe work and supports the creation of joint health and safety committees in the workplace.
However, many yard owners are not breaking ships according to the HKC, resulting in 30 accidents, four fatalities and many serious injuries this year. The government seems to lack the capacity or political will to enforce the new regulations.
Pakistan is still very much in development, with the area around the Gadani yards lacking adequate infrastructure. In this years’ budget, the federal government announced an investment of US$42 million, but this has not yet resulted in improvements. In the meantime, the first three upgraded yards have got their green certificates.
“The bottom line is that the HKC has its enemies: people who always said that it is an inadequate instrument for cleaning up ship recycling. It is the responsibility of everyone who championed the HKC to make it work. If it fails to protect workers' lives and the environment, it is no use at all, and we are back to square one. It is in everyone's interest to make it work,”
says Walton Pantland IndustriALL shipbuilding and shipbreaking director.
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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