Comrades, Sisters and Brothers,

On behalf of the Central Executive Committee and the 1.7 million members of the Congress of South African Trade Unions, I welcome you to South Africa, the land of struggle and sacrifice, the land of Nelson Mandela, Chris Hani, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, and so many other giants of our people’s movement.

It is a honour for COSATU to welcome you to this Africa Global Union Forum together with UNI and our sister global union federations. We extend our revolutionary greetings to every delegate who has travelled from across our continent and the world. You are most welcome.

This gathering is not an ordinary meeting. It is part of the long chain of worker struggles stretching from the shop floor to the streets, from the mines and the farms to the corridors of global institutions. It is a continuation of our common struggle for dignity, for rights, and for a world free from exploitation.

Comrades, we meet at a time of crisis for working people everywhere.

• The global economy is unstable and unjust. The wealth of billionaires grows, while workers are told to sacrifice.
• The cost of living crisis is strangling households. Families cannot afford food, electricity, transport, or housing.
• Unemployment has become permanent for millions, especially young people and women.
• Austerity measures imposed by governments and financial institutions continue to cut wages, privatise services, and weaken the very social protections workers fought to win.

This is not the result of nature. It is the result of neoliberal policies that put profit above people, markets above society, and private wealth above the public good.

And for Africa, the burden is even heavier. Our continent is rich in minerals, land, and people – yet we remain trapped in poverty and inequality. Debt, illicit financial flows, and unfair global trade rules are robbing us blind. Corporations extract billions, while our schools crumble and our hospitals collapse. This, comrades, is economic injustice.

The Struggles Before Us

First, organising and collective bargaining.
Trade union density is falling. Informality and precarious jobs are rising. Employers are doing everything to divide and weaken unions. Yet the ENGAGE programme shows us that we can rebuild worker power. We must organise the unorganised, fight to defend collective bargaining, and protect the right to strike as the heartbeat of worker democracy.

Second, the socio-economic crisis.
Workers’ wages are stagnant while corporate profits soar. Poverty wages are nothing less than violence against working people. We demand living wages, job creation, and pro-worker economic policies that put employment at the centre of development.

Third, climate change and just transition.
Africa contributes the least to global warming, yet we suffer the most from floods, droughts, and heatwaves. Workers lose their jobs as mines close without alternatives. Farmers lose their harvests. We cannot allow the so-called green transition to become another opportunity for profit while workers pay the price. We demand a just transition – one that protects existing jobs, creates new green industries, and ensures that workers and communities are not abandoned.

Fourth, peace, security, and democracy.
Conflicts from Sudan to the DRC, from Mozambique to the Sahel, are devastating workers’ lives. Wars displace families, destroy livelihoods, and silence democracy. We say: there can be no social justice without peace, and no peace without social justice. Trade unions must be in the front line of the fight for democracy, for peace, and against authoritarianism.

Fifth, global governance and the ILO.
The attacks on the right to strike and the weakening of multilateralism are direct threats to workers everywhere. COSATU stands shoulder to shoulder with ITUC, with the GUFs, and with all progressive forces in defending international labour standards and protecting the ILO from capture by business and right-wing governments.

Sixth, social protection and financing.
Social protection is a right, not a luxury. Yet millions of African workers have no pension, no unemployment insurance, no healthcare. To change this, we must demand progressive taxation, clamp down on illicit financial flows, cancel illegitimate debt, and ensure that Africa’s resources are used for its people – not hidden away in offshore tax havens.

The Role of GUFs and African Unity

This Forum is about strengthening our unity as African workers, and deepening our ties with the global union federations.

Comrades, the challenges we face, climate change, digitalisation, informality, attacks on multilateralism, are global. They cannot be solved by one union or one country. We need coordinated campaigns, united actions, and international solidarity.

Our sub-regional trade union bodies, our GUFs, and our continental federation ITUC-Africa must work together as one family of labour. Not in competition, but in common struggle. We must speak with one voice for workers in Africa and across the world.

A Call to Action

Comrades, let us use the next two days to sharpen our strategies, to unite our voices, and to adopt clear campaigns that workers can take into their workplaces, communities, and countries.

• Let us fight together against austerity and neoliberalism.
• Let us defend the right to strike and collective bargaining everywhere.
• Let us advance climate justice and a truly just transition.
• Let us deepen our solidarity across borders and across sectors.

This forum must not end with speeches only. It must end with commitments, campaigns, and action.

Conclusion

Comrades, history has given us a heavy responsibility, to defend workers in one of the most difficult periods in living memory. But history also teaches us this: when workers unite, when workers organise, when workers fight, we cannot be defeated.

Let us honour the sacrifices of those who came before us, the mineworkers of Marikana, the textile workers of Lesotho, the dockworkers of Durban, the comrades who gave their lives for liberation, by building a future of dignity, peace, and justice for all workers.

COSATU welcomes you once again to South Africa. May our discussions be frank, militant, and solution-driven. And may we emerge from this Forum stronger, more united, and more determined than ever.

Amandla! Viva workers’ solidarity, viva! Viva the African working class, viva