1st Deputy President of the Federation, cde. Mike Madala Shingange,
NOBs of COSATU, Leadership of our tried and tested Affiliates, POBs and Officials,
It is an honour to be with you for this important CEC, more so after one of the most trying periods for the working class and the National Democratic Revolution.
2024 has been a long and difficult year for the liberation movement. In spite of our many challenges we must be proud that we not only survived but emerged strengthened from these.
When the trade union movement across the world and here at home has been under siege, we must be proud that we, the Federation of Elijah Barayi, have remained united, principled and resolute in defence of the working class.
As we navigate these unchartered waters, including those of the Government of National Unity, it is incumbent upon us to remember that our members, their families and the working class, are looking to us gathered here to provide leadership, to inspire hope, and to hold government and employers accountable and push them to do more.
At all times, we must be guided by the material conditions facing the working class, the naked exploitation of workers, the poverty wages paid, the staggering levels of unemployment, the entrenched nature of poverty and inequality, endemic crime and corruption, and public and municipal services weakened by austerity budget cuts.
Our actions must be anchored upon the principles of scientific socialism and lay the foundations for the emancipation of the working class.
On the 27th of April we correctly celebrated the 30th anniversary of our historic democratic breakthrough of 1994, yet we must equally not allow our triple challenges of poverty, inequality and unemployment to be accepted or normalised.
We can be proud that the interventions of this Federation and our Affiliates have seen decisive breakthroughs on many fronts for workers. From the R253 billion Eskom debt relief and maintenance infrastructure programme ending the most devastating period of loadshedding to the stabilisation of Transnet and the reopening of Metro Rail lines.
The nation owes a debt of gratitude to Eskom, municipal and mine workers for defeating loadshedding and our transport workers for rebuilding our railway and ports. It is these efforts that helped stop the rise in unemployment last quarter with its falling by 0.7%. It’s critical we maintain and intensify this progress.
We have seen over R35 billion released to more than 2 million workers since the Two Pot Pension Reforms came into effect on 1 September. We expect these to double as the GEPF and other public sector pension funds roll disperse their payments.
Engagements have commenced with Treasury and Parliament to ease the tax burden upon workers, increase the relief that workers can tap into to settle debt, place caps on fees that funds can charge amongst other key reforms.
We commend the work of our Nedlac team led by the Overall Convenor of Labour, cde. Mkhomazi for ensuring COSATU continues to lead this strategic institution and in particular for halting the unashamed attempts by the Department of Employment and Labour and Business to weaken our labour laws and hard-won rights.
This has not been an easy battle over the past two years. We celebrate important concessions and victories we have won including increasing severance pay to two weeks per annum served, recognising the rights of atypical workers to collective bargaining and workplace insurance, to strengthening the National Minimum Wage and to tackling pension fund non-compliance.
We applaud our efforts to stop attempts to extend labour broking or remove protections for young workers or roll back the Minimum Wage. Whilst we celebrate these achievements, we still have more to do, including defending collective agreements and protections from unfair labour practices. The journey will be long. We must remain vigilant, on the offence and not allow our hard-won rights to be reversed.
As we traverse these difficult times, we must deepen our unity, and unashamedly stand firm in defence of a capacitated developmental state that is biased towards the working class and not the bourgeoisie.
It is no exaggeration to state that the state and the goals of the NDR are under siege as never before from a revived neo-liberal agenda that is bold and determined to roll back the gains of 1994, to dismantle the transformation agenda, and to privatise key public assets to an elite in relentless pursuit of profit.
Just as we are correctly proud of the massive strides, we have made in building a government that is biased towards the poor with 60% of the budget spent on uplifting the working class; we must be equally vigilant in its defence.
Treasury remains defiant in its call to impose neo-liberal austerity cuts across the state with a budget solely focused on reducing expenditure, slashing the wage bill, reducing the head count and abandoning critical SOEs to the market.
As we approach the State of the Nation Address and the Budget in February, we must sharpen our demands and programme of action to roll back the neo-liberal agenda.
We must ensure this leadership gathered here is united. When we are united, we will be victorious. When we are divided, we will be defeated. We must commend the efforts of the leadership of our public service unions to ensure we are one as we negotiate the public service wage negotiations with government.
We applaud the relentless efforts of NEHAWU to compel government to make Community Health Workers permanent, the clarion call of SADTU to defend the BELA Act and the right to dignity of all learners, the call to action of POPCRU and SAEPU in defence of our law enforcement officers and emergency personnel, of DENOSA and SAMATU to action the National Health Insurance Act.
We have seen the fruits of SAMWU with a reduction in the number of municipalities owing workers’ wages from 36 to 13. We must however remain deeply concerned by the rising number of municipalities in financial distress and defaulting on pension payments. Local government is in serious difficulty and without decisive interventions and a sustainable financial model, is in danger of collapse.
Key to ensuring we defend the gains of the NDR and continue to lay the foundations for socialism, is to ensure the Alliance is urgently and radically reconfigured. This matter can no longer continue to be dismissed but must now be actioned.
The Alliance must be the central point for the nation and government’s political and policy discourse. The Alliance must feature in the mandate given to Cabinet, Provincial and Local Government.
The Manifesto of the ANC must remain government’s policy platform. We will never agree to a festival of manifestos, where Ministries can operate as an independent fiefdoms. The centre must hold and it must be guided by the working class.
The vanguard party, the party of Mose Kotane and Ruth First, will be holding its Special National Congress. Let’s redouble our support for the party. Its voice is more important than ever as we battle in defence of the working class and the rural poor.
We will be heading towards our most difficult local elections in 18 months. This requires all of us here, and in the Alliance, to unite, to cease our petty distractions and divisions, to focus on fixing the state, growing the economy and creating decent work.
This is key to ensuring the Alliance emerges victorious in the local elections. Special attention must be paid to the MKP phenomenon and ensure its voters return home to the movement of Albert Luthuli and Moses Mabhida. This is key to enabling the Alliance to return to its natural role as the leader of society.
This requires that all of us support the ANC in these elections. We cannot win elections if we only begin campaigning a month before. We cannot expect to be taken seriously if we continue to remain by-standers during the monthly by-elections.
2024 will go down in history as a turning point in working class solidary. This is the moment when South Africa led by the ANC and the Alliance, ensured the Israeli apartheid regime was charged with genocide by the International Criminal Court and now its murderous leaders, have been issued with warrants of arrest. This in no small part is due to your leadership. Oliver Tambo and Yusuf Dadoo would be proud.
We have continued to defiantly raise the flags of international solidarity and non-alignment in defence of the rights of the Cuban and Venezuelan people to sovereignty, to self-determination for the peoples of Palestine and Western Sahara, to democracy for the masses of Zimbabwe and eSwatini.
We have pushed the ILO to have the right to strike declared an inalienable right by the International Court of Justice. COSATU remains a leader recognised across the world from ITUC to WFTU and SATUCC and OATUU. We continue to play our role in the BRICS Trade Union Forum and are actively leading in preparations for the G20 and L20 to be hosted by South Africa in 2025.
The Federation has without fear placed the cause of workers’ rights and decent work on the agenda of the African Free Trade Continental Area as well as trade agreements with the industrialised economies of Europe and America.
We have asserted at all times that we remain true to the principles of non-alignment, international and socialist solidarity, and the African Agenda. With the resurgence of right wing, jingoistic imperialism from the United States to Europe, as personified by the reelection of Donald Trump and normalization of the most backward forms of racism, sexism, xenophobia and anti-communism; our determination to defend our sovereignty and advance working-class interests remains paramount.
Whilst such difficult geo-political tensions will pose contradictions and challenges to us, we must continue to navigate these and will do so successfully as long as we are guided by the principles of the Federation and the interests of workers.
There are things we cannot control, such as geo-political tensions, the price of oil, the growth of the economy; but they are things that we can and are elected to lead on. These are our organizational machinery.
2025 must be the year when we see all Affiliates meeting the obligations of their Constitutions and that of the Federation. We need to see CWU and CEPPWAWU restored to unions in good standing as well as the efforts of AFADWU and PAWUSA to strengthen their unions. We need to see the challenges facing SASBO resolved. We need all our Affiliates to honour their monthly subscriptions to enable COSATU to fulfill our Congress Resolutions.
We continue to be heartened by the successes of SACTWU and SACCAWU to organise and improve the lives of workers across their sectors during difficult times.
It is only strong unions who can ensure that tragedies of Lily Mine and Sea Harvest are prevented in future, that their families can have closure and receive just compensation and their employers be held accountable. We must work closely with SAMSA and Minister Creecy to ensure all ships are inspected and seaworthy.
We will soon be holding our Central Committee. Let us report to workers that our membership has not declined to 1.4 million but has rather risen to 1.7 million and is on track to return to 2 million by the 2026 Congress. Let us ensure that the Central Committee is a moment of unity not division. That our 2025 Workers’ Day is an occasion when no one could question the health and strength of the Federation of Elijah Barayi and Nana Abrahams.
Before we close, let us ensure COSATU’s 38th anniversary celebrations are a success.
All of you here have made us proud over this most difficult of years. You must rest over the next few weeks at home with your families. You must drive safely as we do not want to be visiting your families, when we should be preparing to meet you in Cape Town in the beginning of the new year in preparation for January 8th in Khayelitsha Stadium. Yes, we will paint the Western Cape Black, Green and Gold, plus Red!
Leadership allow me to thank you on behalf of the NOBs for all that you do, have done and will continue to do. Allow me to thank the Secretariat, the Provinces and the Officials for being the foot soldiers of Chris Dlamini and Ray Alexander. Allow me to thank the NOBs for steering this ship during such turbulent times.
Amandla! Thank you.