Taking COSATU Today Forward, 1 July 2026
Norman Mampane
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COSATU TODAY COSATU Call Center Contacts: 010 002 2590 #COSATU wishes #NUM ordinary Central Committee successful deliberations underway at Boksburg… #NationaActionAgainstCostOfLiving #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
1 July 2026
“Build Working Class Unity for Economic Liberation towards Socialism”
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Contents
- Workers Parliament: Back to Basics!
- COSATU General Secretary Solly Phetoe: Message of Support – NUM Central Committee
- SACP Statement on the management-enabled collapse of the Msunduzi Municipality and support of SAMWU
- South Africa
- COSATU welcomes the positive drop in fuel prices
- SADTU congratulates NEHAWU on a successful 13th National Congress
- International-Workers’ Solidarity!
- SACP welcomes the UN independent commission’s confirmation that the apartheid Israeli regime continues to commit genocide and other atrocities by deliberately targeting Palestinian children
- SACP message of condolences on the death of Commander Ramiro Valdes Menendez
Workers’ Parliament-Back2Basics #ClassWar
COSATU General Secretary Solly Phetoe: Message of Support – NUM Central Committee
Solly Phetoe, COSATU General Secretary, June 29, 2026
President Cyril Ramaphosa, founding General Secretary of NUM,
President Vilakazi and General Secretary Phakedi,
Leadership and delegates of our militant NUM,
Leaders of the ALLINCE ,SACP, SANCO, ANC
Ministers and deputy ministers
International guest
I bring you revolutionary greetings on behalf of the CEC and membership of COSATU.
NUM, you are not just a union. You are a movement born in the belly of the beast. You were forged underground, in the heat of the rock face, under the barrel of apartheid’s guns and the boss’s boot. From the 1987 mineworkers’ strike that shook the foundations of capital, to the trenches of Lonmin, to every shaft where a comrade refused to be treated as a disposable commodity — NUM has carried the banner of working-class liberation.
You are the union that taught South Africa that when mineworkers move, the economy moves. When NUM stands up, the bosses tremble. When NUM is united, the working class is defended.
Today, as we meet on 29 June 2026, we do not meet in easy times. We meet at a moment of crisis, but also of possibility. A moment that demands militancy, unity, and struggle.
Comrades, let us speak plainly. The working class is bleeding.
Food is increasingly expensive wages. Electricity bills are choking households. Transport fares eat half a pay cheque. Rent is rising. Clinics and schools are overcrowded. The working class is told to “tighten their belts” while the rich count their dividends.
Unemployment remains a national emergency, with youth unemployment still above 60%. Mining communities in Rustenburg, Emalahleni, Carletonville, and Matjhabeng are being hollowed out by retrenchments, downscaling, and the slow death of shafts. A miner who gave 30 years to the industry is being thrown into poverty with a retrenchment package that will not last 12 months.
This is not an accident. This is the result of neo-liberal austerity, deindustrialisation, and a growth model that serves the boardroom, not the working class.
We say: Enough! The time has come for a mass, national cost-of-living campaign. COSATU and NUM must be at the forefront. We must march in every mining town, shut down the malls, and force government, business, and the energy regulator to act. We demand: a cap on basic food prices, a reduction in the fuel levy, free basic electricity for the poor, and a living wage across all sectors. We cannot allow workers to choose between feeding their children and paying the lights.
Comrades, mining is not a dying sector. It is a strategic sector. Platinum, gold, coal, manganese, chrome — these are the minerals that can power South Africa’s industrialisation and the global energy transition. But investment is being choked by a broken, corrupt, and bureaucratic mining rights application system.
Applications sit for years. Junior miners are locked out. Existing operations cannot expand. And while the paperwork gathers dust, jobs are lost.
NUM and COSATU must launch a joint national programme to smash the bottlenecks in the mining rights system. We demand a transparent, time-bound, one-stop system that prioritises labour-absorbing projects, BEE compliance that delivers real ownership, and environmental obligations that do not become excuses for delay.
Investment must flow. Shafts must reopen. New mines must be sunk. And every job created must be a NUM job, with NUM recognition, NUM wages, and NUM health and safety standards.
Comrades, let us pause and salute NUM. Since 1994, NUM, together with the Department of Mineral Resources and mineworkers themselves, has slashed mining fatalities and injuries by over 90%. From over 500 deaths a year in the 1990s to record lows in the last decade. That did not happen by accident. That happened because NUM fought for the Mine Health and Safety Act, for health and safety reps, for the right to refuse unsafe work, and for inspections.
Whilst some may dismiss social dialogue, it is COSATU and the international labour movement with the support of our government, that forced the ILO to adopt Convention 190 to End Violence and Harassment in the World of Work. Today its principles have been cast into our labour and criminal laws to protect our daughters and sisters as they seek to earn living as waitresses or receptionists, as paramedics or cleaners.
Recently the International Court of Justice ruled in favour of our demand to declare the right to strike an inalienable right of all workers. This is a powerful tool in defence of workers and the labour movement by which all governments can be held accountable.
Some question why COSATU engages in matters of trade from AGOA with the US to the EPA with the EU, to the FTA with China and India yet it is our motor manufacturing, farm and clothing workers whose jobs will be lost if the voice of workers is not heard. It is the tax revenues that the state depends upon to pay the staff of SARS and Home Affairs that will be in danger if we do not ensure that South Africa exports can be sold.
We must not be naïve comrades, the most reactionary forms of right-wing chauvinism are on the rise across the world, from the industrialised west to even here at home. It is during these dark times that the left and the labour movement must be united.
It is during these naked assaults that we must ramp up solidarity, not slogans, to provide support to workers in Cuba, Venezuela, Palestine and eSwatini.
We must be equally clear that we reject all forms of xenophobia, violence, criminality and vigilantism. Our laws must be obeyed at all times, by South Africans and those who chose to come to South Africa. Only the state must enforce our laws.
Government must abandon the austerity budget cuts that have weakened the ability of the state to enforce the rule of law and it must act without fear or favour against criminals.
Equally we reject accusations that South Africa is xenophobic. We expect people, including visitors, to respect our laws, including immigration. We expect our sister African nations’ governments to embrace democracy and human rights and to create jobs and economic opportunities for their people in their countries.
South African cannot carry this burden along, not when we are battling a 43.7% unemployment rate, when our public services are overstretched and our crime levels are unacceptably too high.
Comrades, neo-liberalism has failed. Austerity budgets have crippled Home Affairs, SAPS, Health, Education, and Labour Inspectorates. You cannot fight crime with empty police stations. You cannot inspect mines with two inspectors for a province. You cannot grow an economy by cutting the state.
Government must abandon austerity. Tax the rich. Close loopholes. Stop bailouts for the connected. And fund the frontline services the working class depends on.
Comrades, a union is only as strong as its members and its machinery.
NUM has come through fire. Employers tried to derecognise NUM including at Impala. AMCU tried to intimidate our members. They failed, because NUM members stood firm. Congratulations to every shop steward who held the line.
Now we must go on the offensive. NUM must adopt a decisive recruitment strategy to take
membership above 200,000 by December 2026. Every shaft, every contractor, every new project must be organised. We must service members better. We must train shop stewards. We must defend every hard-won right and every collective agreement.
NUM must remain the pillar of COSATU. COSATU can only be as strong as NUM. And NUM must defend the unity and independence of COSATU, so that COSATU remains the shield of workers and not a ladder for careerists.
Our September 2026 COSATU Congress must be a congress of unity, of struggle, of building the path to socialism. We know we can count on NUM to defend COSATU.
Comrades, our struggle is not in the workplace alone. It is political.
Former President Thabo Mbeki correctly said that “Gloom and despondency have never defeated adversity. Trying times need courage and resilience. Our strength as a people is not tested during the best of times.”
Our alliance with the African National Congress, the leader of the liberation movement, and the South African Communist Party, is not a fair-weather friendship, it is the most effective and only vehicle to secure the total emancipation of the working class. Yes, each Alliance Partner, including ourselves, are faced with serious challenges, and own goals, but to abandon the Alliance which defeated apartheid and set the nation on the path of transformation and ultimately of building socialism would be reckless at best.
The September 2025 COSATU Central Committee mandated the Federation to defend the Alliance and engage each Alliance Partner on the need to unite and to reconfigure the Alliance. We are encouraged that an Alliance Summit to do exactly this is to be convened by the beginning of August.
This is not a matter that we can abandon nor allow workers to be divided over. We need an ANC that is renewed and biased towards the working class. We need an SACP that is
capacitated and on the ground. We need an Alliance that is able to provide clear political direction to government at all levels and to hold it accountable.
We dare not fail when the very gains of the 1994 democratic breakthrough are at stake. The lessons of 2024 require the Alliance to unite and flesh out the modalities of contesting the 2026 local elections. We need our Alliance Partners to work with the Federation to find each other. Now is not the time not to allow our narrow differences to divide us.
NUM must continue to defend the unity of the Alliance. The ANC as the leader of the liberation movement. The SACP as the vanguard of the working class. COSATU as the leader of the trade union movement. Each has a role. None can be diminished.
As mandated by the COSATU Central Committee in September 2025, COSATU will soon convene an Alliance Summit. Its purpose: force government to address the cost of living, jobs, energy, and crime. And to ensure the Alliance enters the November 2026 Local Government Elections united and militant.
We must win those elections overwhelmingly. We must rebuild municipalities. We must ensure every ward has water, lights, sanitation, and safety. Local government is where the working class feels the state. We cannot abandon it to corruption and outsourcing.
We call on government to intensify the fight against labour brokers , subcontractors , we call on government to defend and respect the right of workers
Comrades of NUM, I end where I began: with unity.
Unity among NUM members in every shaft and smelter.
Unity as COSATU, across sectors and provinces.
Unity as the Alliance, marching together.
Unity as the working class, black and white, women and men, young and old.
If we are divided, we will lose. If we are united, we will win.
Thank you, comrades.
Amandla!
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SACP
Statement on the management-enabled collapse of the Msunduzi Municipality and support of SAMWU
Mazwi Ngubane, SACP KwaZulu-Natal, 24 June 2026
We,
the South African Communist Party, in KwaZulu-Natal, expresses deep concern and outrage over the state of governance in Msunduzi Municipality, engineered by management and certain political leaders who are sleeping in their job.
We wish to categorically condemn this intransigent management style, that is diabolically stubborn, refusing to address basic workers’ rights, concerns and demands, all of which are provided for and agreed to in collective bargaining agreements and labour laws.
We are outraged by Msunduzi Municipal management stubbornness, who refuses to compromise, yield or address simple workers’ demands. Their attitude is collapsing the City of Harry Gwala, Moses Mabhida, Anton Mfenendala Xaba and other revolutionaries
This municipality is run by incompetent “absentee tenderpreneurs masquerading as managers” who prioritizes their financial interests, rather than service delivery. There is open power struggles in senior management and there are playing political gimmicks over
productivity required for service delivery. They have no interest of the workers and shop floor issues. They are extremely rigid, not interested to discuss the workers demand, and self-serving. They are actively suppressing the worker’s voice.
Instead of addressing legitimate worker’s issues, and meaningful municipal service delivery issues, they engage in disruptive infighting, using social media and openly protecting corrupt behaviors that erode workplace trust, morale, and performance.
The SACP is fully aware of the systemic management collapse, and we have identified those leaders who refuses to compromise or consider alternative viewpoints, rigidly adhering to their corrupt agendas. We are aware of various meetings that the municipal manager
had held with the leadership of the workers, but continue to treat the workers with disdain, and treat negotiations as zero-sum game where collaboration that has been presented as an alternative, is viewed as a weakness.
Rather than taking the workers’ demands seriously and engage in negotiations, especially on workers legislated rights, to achieve work-place peace, they excel at "disappearance and absence” appearing not interested in addressing their failures.
The "Yes-Men" Culture of Msunduzi Management is entrenched. Legitimate workers demands are viewed as a political challenge. Even those given political authority to prevail over this open fighting in management, have failed to intervene. They blame external
factors, or rivals for their own failures. The political leaders of Msunduzi are not interested in resolving workers issues because they are busy with turf battles & backstabbing each other, at the expense of service delivery. They are busy protecting their
political "fiefdoms", utilizing certain managers, spreading rumors against each other and using certain managers to protect factionalism.
Standby allowances
The SACP fully supports the workers call for the reintroduction of standby allowance. It is a legitimate expectation that management should know collective agreements established through the South African Local Government Bargaining Council (SALGBC) that provides
for this. It is not clear why the municipality has failed to develop and implement clear municipal-specific council policies, during the budgeting period. These binding agreements stipulate the baseline parameters, hourly/monthly tariff scales, and conditions
for standby duties and other conditions of service.
Even the BCEA Basic Conditions of Employment Act does set the legal threshold for general working hours, overtime compensation, and maximum overtime limits that municipalities must respect. Why is this municipality fails to resolve the workers views on this
matter?
Absorbing temporary staff into permanent roles
The SACP is aware of the plan that certain politicians or councilors, as well as ward assistants would be absorbed to vacant positions, and make them permanent. This is being done through a method of destabilizing the Corporate Services Unit, so that the controlling
politicians can achieve their political ends, without following municipal policies on this regard. The SACP reject the manipulation of municipal policies to achieve bad intentions.
We believe that current staff who have been in these positions be placed first, strictly following the municipal policies. We believe that temporary staff must be placed into permanent roles, so that this can yield into tangible benefits for both the employer
and employee.
Legitimate placement of long-term talent, will drastically reduce turnover and recruitment costs, and boosts overall productivity by fostering higher morale and deeper institutional knowledge, all of which does not exist in Msunduzi.
Municipal worker progression
The SACP supports the call for workers progression, because this is the right, enshrined in the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act 32 of 2000. This is heavily supported and regulated by the Local Government: Municipal Staff Regulations, which establish
standardized human resource and career progression criteria across all municipalities.
The framework for municipal worker progression and promotion includes the following key mechanisms:
• Local Government: Municipal Systems Act 32 of 2000: Mandates that municipalities implement transparent human resource development strategies, maintain a Performance Management System (PMS), and uphold a standardized Code of Conduct for staff.
• Local Government: Municipal Staff Regulations: Enacted to professionalize local government, these regulations outline specific criteria for recruitment, probation, competency frameworks, and promotion.
• Municipal Policies: In line with the legislation, individual municipalities, Msundusi Municipality failed to engage workers leaders on localized Promotion, Transfer, and Succession Policies. These are typically negotiated through the South African Local Government
Bargaining Council (SALGBC).
Scarce skills allowances
The SACP support the workers demand for scarce skills allowances since this is primarily enabled by the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act 32 of 2000, and is operationalized through the Local Government: Municipal Staff Regulations, and negotiated via
South African Local Government Bargaining Council (SALGBC) collective agreements.
Msunduzi is compelled to adopt Human Resource framework that address critical vacancies and retain specialized professionals. The SACP believes that there is legislative and policy framework that dictate this, such as Local Government: Municipal Systems Act
32 of 2000, that provides which enables Msunduzi to develop structural capacity and professional human resources systems to perform their duties.
Even Local Government: Municipal Staff Regulations, which were gazetted by the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA), provides for the standardization of employment practices, job evaluations, and skills development across all
municipalities.
In conclusion
The SACP believes that deeply divided and widespread corruption have severely crippled basic service delivery, leading to failing infrastructure, dry taps, and broken roads. This dysfunction stems from weak political oversight, factionalism, and organized networks
of fraud that siphon funds away from public infrastructure.
In addition, we believe that deep management divisions by rival political factions of the ruling party, as well as fractured internal management factional fights for control of the of tenders makes this intransigent management stubborn in dealing with workers’
demands.
The SACP calls for all worker’s formations, unions and civil society groups to unite and face this ongoing situation. Workers must unite against internal divisions and the protection of corrupt networks often enforced through intimidation of whistleblowers
and harassment of workers.
Workers must unite against procurement fraud and collusion between management and private service providers and politicians.
The end
South Africa #ClassSolidarity
COSATU welcomes the positive drop in fuel prices
Matthew Parks (COSATU Parliamentary Coordinator, 30 June 2026
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) welcomes the positive drop in fuel prices of R2.01 and R1.96 per litre for petrol, R3.13 and R3.58 for diesel and R5.23 for paraffin.
These substantial cuts will provide badly needed comfort for millions of struggling commuters and an economy battling to emerge from weak 1% growth. It will help lessen inflationary and cost of living increase pressures that have brought additional pain to an already embattled working class.
Whilst appreciating this relief, oil prices have not yet returned to their pre-Middle East war levels. Fuel prices remain suffocatingly high and may continue for some time given the ongoing tensions in the Middle East, the on off ceasefire and the time it will take for oil and gas supplies to return to full capacity. We urge government to continue fuel levy relief to help cushion commuters and the economy during this volatile period.
Government needs to return to Nedlac to engage labour and business on a comprehensive review of the fuel prices, including the fuel taxes and levy that constitute a third of the prices, on possible options to reduce the price of fuel that has become an albatross around the ability of the working class to take care of their families and an economy that needs to move from jobless 1% growth to the 3% plus necessary to slash unemployment.
Investments in public transport need to be ramped up, including Metro Rail and Transnet, as must efforts to transition towards electric vehicles, as these will help shield commuters and the economy from the inevitable international oil price volatile fluctuations.
COSATU will be requesting urgent engagements on these burning issues for workers and the economy at Nedlac.
Issued by COSATU
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SADTU
congratulates NEHAWU on a successful 13th National Congress
Dr Mugwena Maluleke, SADTU General Secretary, 30 June 2026
The
South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (SADTU) extends its warmest congratulations to our fellow affiliate in the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (NEHAWU), on the successful convening
of its 13th National Congress held from 26 to 29 June 2026.
We particularly commend NEHAWU for making history by electing a woman as President of the union. At a time when many organisations merely pay lip service to women’s empowerment and gender equality, NEHAWU has demonstrated through action its commitment to advancing
women into positions of leadership. We hope this progressive development will inspire other affiliates within the Federation to accelerate the transformation agenda and promote women leadership at all levels.
Congresses are not merely about electing leaders; they are important democratic platforms for reflection, introspection, and renewal. They provide an opportunity for organisations to assess their work, engage with the aspirations of members and chart a way
forward based on a renewed mandate from the membership.
SADTU expresses confidence that the newly elected leadership collective will faithfully implement the resolutions and mandate entrusted to them by their members. We urge the leadership to remain member-centred, strengthen organisational unity and continue prioritising
the interests and welfare of members.
As workers continue to confront socio-economic challenges, inequality and the rising cost of living, strong, united and militant trade union movements remain indispensable in defending workers’ rights and advancing the struggle for social and economic justice.
Once again, SADTU congratulates NEHAWU on a successful Congress and wishes the newly elected leadership strength and wisdom in carrying out the important responsibilities entrusted to them by their members.
ISSUED BY: SADTU Secretariat
International-Solidarity
SACP welcomes the UN independent commission’s confirmation that the apartheid Israeli regime continues to commit genocide and other atrocities by deliberately targeting Palestinian children
Mbulelo Mandlana, SACP Head of Media, Communications and Information, 26 June 2026
The South African Communist Party (SACP) welcomes the latest report by the UN independent commission of inquiry confirming that the apartheid Israeli settler regime continues to commit genocide and other atrocities by deliberately targeting Palestinian children.
These findings must be followed by the swift international isolation of apartheid Israel and the international prosecution of the Israeli regime’s leaders for the crimes.
In its report released on 23 June, which condemns apartheid Israel’s atrocities against Palestinians, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel found that, since 7 October 2023, Israel’s unending bombardment of Palestine has resulted in the death of at least 20,179 and injury of 44,143 children.
The Israeli regime’s murderous rampage since October 2023 has led to the death of over 100,000 Palestinians in Gaza. This factors the direct death of more than 73,039 Palestinians as well as indirect deaths caused by the regime’s bombardments, including missing individuals presumed dead under the rubble and deaths from disease. Over 173,388 have been injured.
The report states, further, that the killing of Palestinian children is not accidental but deliberate, as it is targeted – and Israel has continued to do so post the October 2025 Gaza peace plan. There is also a sharp increase in violence perpetrated by members of Israeli settlers against Palestinian children in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. The regime and its settlers have killed at least 1,103 Palestinians, including 241 children, in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
In addition to the destruction of Palestinian infrastructure, the commission found that Israel’s criminal conduct caused physical and mental injuries, mass trauma, orphanhood, separation, disability, repeated displacements, starvation and the collapse of education and healthcare, thus erasing childhood, and will continue to affect children in Gaza throughout their lives.
The colonial regime, with the support of its principal imperialist ally, the US, has further arrested children and subjected them to torture and other severe forms of mistreatment in Israeli prisons and detention facilities, with no information on their whereabouts. It has also used sexual violence against children as part of the collective shaming and oppression entrenched within a prolonged, ethnic, gendered and intergenerational pattern of occupation and hostilities.
In light of the murderous rampage by the genocidal Israeli regime, the commission made recommendations for the cessation of attacks, reparations, accountability and international enforcement of sanctions aimed at advancing child-responsive justice.
The latest UN report shows that the noose is tightening on the apartheid settler regime. The SACP reiterates its call for the international isolation of Israel as well as the international prosecution of its leaders for the crime of genocide and other heinous international crimes. We also reiterate our support for the people of Palestine in their heroic fight for their liberation and call for global support for the Palestinians in their 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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SACP message of condolences on the death of Commander Ramiro Valdes Menendez
Mbulelo Mandlana, SACP Head of Media, Communications and Information, 30 June 2026
The South African Communist Party (SACP) joins the people of Cuba in mourning the death of Commander Ramiro Valdés Menéndez (28 April 1932 – 21 June 2026), one of the most preeminent leaders of the Cuban Revolution.
As the SACP, we convey our deepest condolences and solidarity to his family, the people of Cuba and the Communist Party of Cuba for the loss.
Born in 1932, Commander Menendez grew to become one of the most outstanding citizens of Cuba and one of the most admired and dedicated leaders of the Cuban Revolution. He was one of the few remaining veterans of the Cuban Revolution, having lived his life in service of the Revolution and the Cuban people. He departs from the land of the living at a time when the Cuban Revolution is facing its most challenging moment in its history.
Commander Ramiro Valdés Menéndez and his generation laid the groundwork for the revolution to be defended from the tyranny of imperialism as led by the US. He distinguished himself as a humble servant of the people and served in the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba for 51 years in the company of some of the most well-known figures of the Cuban Revolution, including Commander Che Guevara and Commander Fidel Castro.
ISSUED BY THE SOUTH AFRICAN COMMUNIST PARTY,
FOUNDED IN 1921 AS THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF SOUTH AFRICA.
Media, Communications & Information Department | MCID
______________________________
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