Cost of Living, Water, Electricity, Dignity and Social Justice Campaign

COSATU and Allied Formations Stage Successful Picket, Hand Over Memorandum of Demands to Gert Sibande District Municipality.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) in Mpumalanga, together with its allies in the Cost of Living, Water, Electricity, Dignity and Social Justice Campaign, today staged a resounding and well-attended picket at the Gert Sibande District Municipality, culminating in the handover of a Joint Memorandum of Demands.

Workers, the unemployed, pensioners, youth, women, civic organisations, faith-based organisations and progressive formations turned out in their numbers, sending an unmistakable message that the working class and the poor of the Gert Sibande District can no longer carry the burden of the deepening cost of living crisis, the water and electricity crisis, and the deterioration of municipal services.

The picket forms part of COSATU’s National Action on the Cost-of-Living Campaign, directed by the COSATU Central Executive Committee, mobilising workers and communities across the country against the unbearable rise in the cost of food, fuel, electricity and basic services.

Organisations that formed part of the picket

This united front brought together:

• Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU)
• South African Communist Party (SACP) – Gert Sibande District
• South African National Civic Organisation (SANCO)
• National Association of School Governing Bodies (NASGB)
• Gert Sibande Pastors Fraternal
• Community organisations, civil society organisations and progressive formations of the Gert Sibande District

Handover of the Memorandum

The Joint Memorandum of Demands was received on behalf of the Municipality by the Executive Mayor of the Gert Sibande District Municipality, Honourable Councillor Mngomezulu, who committed to responding to the demands within 14 days, as requested by the Campaign.

Issues raised in the Memorandum

The Memorandum placed the following concerns before the Executive Mayor and the Municipality:

• The unrelenting rise in the cost of living, including food, fuel, electricity, transport and basic services, which workers and the poor can no longer afford.
• Persistent water interruptions, ageing infrastructure, water losses and inadequate maintenance.
• Continuous load shedding and load reduction affecting households, schools, workplaces, businesses and public institutions.
• Escalating electricity tariffs and municipal charges that compound the cost of living crisis.
• Corruption, maladministration, wasteful expenditure and weak accountability that undermine public confidence and divert resources from service delivery.
• Inadequate investment in municipal infrastructure.
• Weak public participation in municipal planning and oversight.
• The increasing burden placed on workers, the unemployed and poor households through rising service costs and stagnant incomes.
• Exclusion of qualifying households from Free Basic Water and Free Basic Electricity due to inadequate awareness, administrative barriers and weak indigent registration systems.

Our demands

The Campaign called on the Executive Mayor and the Municipality to, among others:

• Take urgent and visible steps to ease the cost-of-living burden on workers and the poor.
• Restore reliable and uninterrupted water supply throughout the district.
• Upgrade and maintain ageing water and electricity infrastructure.
• Work with Eskom to end load shedding and load reduction across the Gert Sibande District.
• Protect schools, clinics, hospitals and other essential public institutions from water and electricity interruptions.
• Fully implement the Free Basic Water and Free Basic Electricity policies and simplify indigent registration.
• Publish transparent reports on infrastructure maintenance, municipal finances and service delivery performance.
• Strengthen anti-corruption measures and act decisively against maladministration and wasteful expenditure.
• Establish a permanent stakeholder forum comprising the Municipality, COSATU, SACP, SANCO, NASGB, the Gert Sibande Pastors Fraternal and other civil society organisations to monitor implementation.

COSATU Mpumalanga’s message

COSATU Mpumalanga commends the discipline, unity and overwhelming turnout of workers and communities who joined the picket. This action demonstrates the resolve of the working class and the poor of the Gert Sibande District to defend their constitutional rights to clean water, reliable electricity, quality education, healthcare and affordable basic services.

We welcome the commitment by Executive Mayor Councillor Mngomezulu to respond within 14 days and will hold the Municipality to this undertaking. We reiterate our call for a follow-up engagement to assess progress on the implementation of these demands, and we remain ready for constructive dialogue in pursuit of affordable living, reliable public services and accountable governance.

We will not relent until every household in the Gert Sibande District enjoys dignity, justice and access to the basic services they are constitutionally entitled to.

Forward to Affordable Living for Workers and the Poor!

Forward to Reliable Water!

Forward to an End to Load Shedding and Load Reduction!

Forward to Affordable Electricity!

Forward to Decent Public Services!

Forward to People’s Power, Dignity and Social Justice!

Issued by COSATU Mpumalanga

Thabo Mokoena (Provincial Secretary)

Mobile: 073 750 2041