Taking COSATU Today Forward Special Bulletin, 26 August 2025 #CosatuCC2025
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
26 August 2025
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Contents
- Workers Parliament: Back to Basics!
- SACP invites media to cover Central Committee post-meeting press briefing
- “We cannot afford to have a lawlessness country and do nothing about it as government”-Deputy Minister Jomo Sibiya
- South Africa
- SACP message of heartfelt condolences to family of renowned actress Nandi Nyembe
- International-Workers’ Solidarity!
- Statement on the International Action Day of Trade Unions for Peace
Workers’ Parliament-Back2Basics
SACP invites media to cover Central Committee post-meeting press briefing
Mbulelo Mandlana, Head of Media, Communications and Information, 2 August 2025
The South African Communist Party (SACP) Central Committee will hold its three-day plenary starting at 10AM on Friday morning, 29 August 2025.
During this plenary, the Central Committee will review reports from the SACP Political Bureau and Secretariat, as well as the Alliance, among others, related to the national and international political situation.
The Political Report, to be presented by the Party General Secretary Solly Mapaila, will serve as the pivot of all the reports to chart a way forward given the situation at hand.
The Central Committee plenary will take place at COSATU House: 110 Jorissen Street in Braamfontein, Johannesburg.
SACP Central Committee post-meeting press briefing
The SACP National Office Bearers with the Secretariat as the core will hold a press briefing led by SACP General Secretary Solly Mapaila to communicate the key outcomes of the meeting, as follows:
Date: Sunday, 31 August 2025
Time: 14H00
Venue: Cosatu House, First Floor
110 Jorissen Street
Johannesburg
The SACP invites the media to cover the press briefing.
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“We cannot afford to have a lawlessness country and do nothing about it as government”-Deputy Minister Jomo Sibiya
25 August 2025
On 23 August 2025, the Department of Employment and Labour carried out another successful High Impact Blitz inspection in Thaba Nchu, Free State. Notably, this operation was conducted at night, marking a distinctive approach in enforcement activities.
The inspection was led by Deputy Minister Jomo Sibiya, with support from the South African Police Service (SAPS), the Department of Home Affairs (DHA), and Mangaung law enforcement agencies, including the Metro Police Department.
“We cannot allow lawlessness in our country and do nothing about it as government," said Deputy Minister Jomo Sibiya.
The Department's Inspection and Enforcement Services (IES) branch focused on assessing compliance with key labour legislation, including:
· Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA)
· National Minimum Wage Act (NMWA)
· Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA)
· Unemployment Insurance Act (UIA)
· Unemployment Insurance Contributions Act (UICA)
· Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act (COIDA)
The operation received additional support through the presence of the Department's Inspector General, Ms. Aggy Moiloa, who was in attendance during the inspection. The focus of the inspection was the iron and steel industry, specifically targeting Thunder Steel, a steel manufacturing company owned by Chinese foreign nationals. Inspectors uncovered several serious violations, including underpayment of wages, unsafe working conditions, and the failure to register employees with both the Compensation Fund (CF) and the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF).
Seven (7) Chinese foreign nationals were arrested and taken into custody by immigration officials from the Department of Home Affairs, working in collaboration with SAPS. Inspectors from the Department served the employer with 17 prohibition notices for noncompliance with the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
The violations included unsafe and unhygienic working conditions, lack of personal protective equipment (PPE), poor ventilation, exposed wiring, and failure to produce various certifications. This led to the company being closed until all the contraventions are dealt with. The owner was ordered to pay the employees their monthly salaries until they return to work.
Employees reported that they were subjected to excessively long shifts with little to no remuneration. One worker explained: “We start work at 5 pm and our shift ends the following day at 10 am, and most of us have burns on various parts of our bodies." It was further established that employees were not provided with copies of their employment contracts, did not receive payslips, and were denied statutory benefits. In cases of workplace injuries, the employer would provide loans to the employees to consult a doctor, and these had to be repaid with interest.
In addition, inspectors discovered a tuck shop operating within the factory premises where workers were allowed to purchase food on credit. The monies owed were then deducted from the workers' wages at the end of the month. And more often than not, they would not receive even a cent of their salaries due to being perpetually indebted.
The collaborative efforts of the Department of Employment and Labour, SAPS, DHA, and the Mangaung Metro Police highlighted the government's determination to address exploitation and unsafe working environments in South Africa.
For media enquiries, please contact:
Teboho Thejane
Departmental Spokesperson
082 697 0694/ teboho....@labour.gov.za
-ENDS-
Issued by: Department of Employment and Labour
SACP message of heartfelt condolences to family of renowned actress Nandi Nyembe
Mbulelo Mandlana, Head of Media, Communications and Information, 25 August 2025
The South African Communist Party (SACP) conveys its message of heartfelt condolences to the family of legendary South African actress, Nandi Nyembe. The SACP also sends its message of condolences to the entire arts and culture fraternity for the loss. Nyembe’s work over the years shows an actress who played an important role through her art to conscientise the people of South Africa in the struggle against the apartheid system.
Nandi Nyembe used her acting talent for more than just entertainment and recreation but also sought to educate the people about the conditions they lived in. She defied the apartheid system’s casting of black performers as nothing but domestic workers and sought more impactful roles to empower the black community. During the apartheid era, she joined with other performers to compose and perform protest theatre against racial subjugation. The apartheid regime would often disrupt their performances, and she was often on the run from the apartheid police due to their shows.
Due to her powerful and impactful roles in South African film and theatre, Nandi Nyembe is celebrated as more than an actress but the very soul of South African storytelling who gave dignity to South African stories.
In memory of Nandi Nyembe, the SACP calls for improved focus on the development of the South African arts industry, placing special emphasis on progressive content being made available to the public. The SACP reiterates its stance that South African performers have the right to benefit from all their work. The corrupt, both in the private and public sector, must be punished for the theft of performers’ works and funds.
ISSUED BY THE SOUTH AFRICAN COMMUNIST PARTY,
FOUNDED IN 1921 AS THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF SOUTH AFRICA.
Media, Communications & Information Department | MCID
International-Solidarity
Statement on the International Action Day of Trade Unions for Peace
BY CENTRAL WFTU, 23 AUG 2025
We refuse to work for the war
The World Federation of Trade Unions calls upon all militant, class-oriented trade unions, its affiliates, and friends to organize activities, honoring the established International Action Day of Trade Unions for Peace on September 1st, 2025. The International Action Day for Peace constitutes an annual call for struggle, on the occasion of the dark anniversary of the beginning of the Second World War with the Nazi Germany’s attack on Poland, for the remembrance of millions of victims of Nazi and fascist atrocities and all those affected and suffering by imperialist conflicts and the endless thirst of big capital for profit. Nowadays, with the intensification of new and old military conflicts, such as in Palestine and Ukraine, and in an era where the war economy is the imperialists’ agenda and the military expenses are skyrocketing, and while fascism, racism, and xenophobia rear their heads, the struggle for Peace is a necessity.
The international class-oriented trade union movement stands its ground against war plans and interventions. The WFTU strongly condemns the 2025 NATO summit’s decision to increase the military spending of its members to unprecedented levels, with NATO members being obliged to spend 5% of their GDP on “defense”, which is more than double the previous target of 2%. In addition, military spending is rising across every region, even with double-digit percentage jumps in some regions, namely Europe and the Middle East, while 15 countries spend roughly 75% of global military spending, which is more than $2 trillion, exacerbating confrontation and heightening the risk of a widespread, generalized imperialist war with dire consequences.
At the same time, it cannot go unmentioned the unacceptable and dirty stance of yellow unions and surrendered union leaders, such as the leadership of the ITUC and its regional structures who, either through the positions they express or through the conscious absence of any reaction or protest against these policies, in practice support imperialist militaristic plans, providing them with political backing.
The workers demand all these resources to be channeled for their needs, for a better life, for adequate health care and quality education, for dignified salaries and pensions, for welfare benefits, and not to be “invested” in the wars and bloodshed for the imperialists’ interests and monopolies profitability. We demand an immediate and unconditional end to all imperialist wars and interventions all over the world. We assert the demand for the dissolution of NATO and all military coalitions, and the complete abolition of nuclear weapons. We demand an immediate ceasefire and the end of the war in Ukraine, Yemen, Sudan, and all the war zones, in the wider Middle East and elsewhere. We condemn and denounce with all our might the continuation of the unspeakable crime against the Palestinian people, and we demand the end of the genocide, the ethnic cleansing practices, and the use of famine as a war tactic. We intensify our struggle against the Israeli armed campaigns and aggression against Lebanon, Syria, and Iran, for the end of occupation and settlements in the occupied Arab territories, guarantee the right of return for the refugees, and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.
We demand full respect for the sovereignty, independence, and right of every people to choose their own path, and freely decide for their present and future. We condemn the exclusions, discriminations, embargoes, and sanctions orchestrated by the USA, EU, and their allies against a range of countries, resulting in a direct and detrimental impact on the everyday lives of ordinary people. We oppose with all our strength the war economy strategy, all the bourgeoisie governments that choose and pave this path.
It is clear that both the spending of the war economy and the implications of the economic war negatively impact the standard of living of the popular strata are already burdened by the consequences of economic hardship, including soaring prices, rampant inflation, and the enduring effects of long-standing austerity measures, while the ordinary people pay with their lives for the wars conducted for the increase of multinationals’ profitability.
The WFTU’s firm position is stated clearly and loudly: The workers, the people all over the globe, have nothing to expect and nothing to gain from the inter-capitalist rivalries for geopolitical, economic control, and monopolies’ profitability that resulted in death, poverty, and misery. We relentlessly stand against the war economy and we refuse to work for it. Struggles and initiatives must grow in all countries, with unions and WFTU friends at the forefront. The workers must follow the militant examples of the class-oriented unions and stand against any imperialist war activity, oppose any involvement of their country in wars, to refuse to work for the production, loading and transfer of weapons and military equipment, and to boycott any collaboration or facilitation linked with the Israeli occupation or other active battlefronts.
The WFTU calls upon workers and militant trade unions worldwide to take active part in the International Action Day under the slogan “We refuse to work for the war”, amplifying the voice of internationalism and class struggle in pursuit of lasting peace against imperialist aggression and capitalist barbarity.
The Secretariat
______________________________
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