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The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) has recently launched a new call center to provide much-needed assistance to workers facing labour-related challenges. This dedicated resource aims to offer support, information, and guidance to both members of COSATU-affiliated unions and unorganized workers, ensuring that they have a place to turn for help with workplace issues.

COSATU’s welcomes President Cyril Ramaphosa’s call to ensure the Protection of State Information Bill meets full constitutional muster

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) welcomes President Cyril Ramaphosa’s emphatic call to Parliament to ensure that the Protection of State Information Bill meets full constitutional muster.  The President’s referral of the Bill back to the Legislature to address its numerous and constitutionally substantial flaws is heartening.

We are pleased that the President has concurred with COSATU’s long standing concerns that if the Bill was assented to as is, that it would not only fail to meet the progressive standards of the Constitution but have a chilling effect on the media and civil society, and their ability to hold the state at all levels, accountable for their actions.  South Africa has and continues to experience the painful costs of state capture, corruption and the abuse of power, and simply cannot afford for such a fundamentally flawed Bill to become law.

The Federation welcomes the sober response by Parliament to the President’s referral of the Bill back to the legislature, and the need to thoroughly interrogate the correct way forward, including whether the Bill’s flaws can be corrected through targeted amendments, needs to be started from scratch or simply be abandoned.

All states have an obligation to secure certain sensitive information, in particular those whose access by actual criminals or terrorists, would result in the loss of life or limb amongst other serious harm to the public.  This must be balanced with the Constitution’s guarantees of freedom of speech and information, nurturing a governance culture of transparency and public participation, and providing society the ability to hold the state accountable. 

This year has seen a festival of fake news seeking to tarnish the reputation of our young democracy and divide our people.  President Ramaphosa’s insistence that such sensitive legislation must be subjected to the most stringent scrutiny and meet the high standards of the Constitution, is affirmation that despite our many challenges, including shameful own goals, ours is a robust and evolving democracy and is in safe hands.    

COSATU, which played a key role in the parliamentary engagements on this Bill over the past decade, will continue to engage Parliament and government to ensure that ultimately the values of the Constitution prevail, and our hard-won democracy is jealously defended and nurtured.

Issued by COSATU

Matthew Parks (COSATU Parliamentary Coordinator)

Cell: 082 785 0687

Email: matthew@cosatu.org.za