The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) in the North West has just emerged from its 7th Provincial Congress which was held at the Rustenburg Local Municipality’s Civic Centre from 21-22 February.
The Congress was very clear on the changes that workers want to witness in the province. To that end, it mandated the newly elected provincial leadership of the provincial executive committee to inter alia, drive a program that will clearly communicate to the provincial government what their expectations are from it. Hence, we are looking forward to the State of the Province Address (SOPA) by Premier Lazarus Mokgosi on Thursday, 27 February.
We note the provincial government’s Accelerated Service Delivery Programme, popularly known as Thuntsha Lerole Reloaded, a program that gives expression to the District Development Model as it involves government departments, district and local municipalities including state-owned entities. This is a programme led by the Premier of the province and provides a multitude of public services to our communities throughout the length and breath of the North West province.
Having noted these developments by the provincial government we are equally alive to the immense challenges confronting our province, in particular, challenges facing workers and the working-class communities. To combat these challenges as COSATU in the North West province we call for bold, decisive and progressive interventions that will change the state of our province.
We equally deem it highly important that the SOPA must provide a sense of accountability to the people of the North West. To that end, we expect the Premier to report back on how far the provincial government has moved in implementing what it had committed to doing during the last SOPA and such a report back must include both the successes and setbacks including how they responded to the setbacks.
We are a province rich in minerals and agricultural produce yet our leading economic sectors as a province are finance, insurance, real estate, business services, wholesale and retail trade, catering and accommodation, community and social services. In contrast, our official unemployment statistics for Quarter 4 of 2024 sit at 41.3% with the expanded unemployment rate for the same period sitting at 52.8%. This picture only serves to entrench poverty and inequality, deep rooted crime and corruption with struggling public and municipal services and an economy that is near stagnation.
In this regard, we expect SOPA to focus, amongst other important aspects, on the following interventions to respond to the challenges confronting the province:
§ Do away with ALL EPWP programs and create permanent employment opportunities.
§ Mandate the Provincial Skills Development Forum (PSDF) to focus on skills development of workers, working-class communities, progressive and patriotic non-governmental organisations and non-profit organisations working together with TVET colleges and other reputable training institutions.
§ Intervene to ensure that children of the working class from the province benefit from the first mining school and health faculty of the North West University.
§ Ensure that the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development develops progressive empowerment programs with the blacks and working-class people of this province as the primary beneficiaries of such programmes.
§ Identify land to be given to workers in the missing middle to build houses. Equally, make available grazing and arable land to the formerly marginalised working-class communities to enable them to participate in the economy of the province.
§ Reopen the closed industries in the province.
§ Address issues related to illegal mining (Zama-zamas) and construction mafia.
§ Legalise and promote small scale mining
§ Develop regulations for the health industries including doctors in the public service.
As much as we applaud the historic achievements by our provincial government including advancing the transformation agenda, we equally call on the provincial government led by our capable ally, the African National Congress, not to rest whilst millions in our province are out of work and cannot find work, afford a decent home or fully care for the children.
Issued by COSATU North West
For more information, please contact the COSATU North-West Provincial Secretary, Kabelo Kgoro on 067 410 4696.