The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) in Mpumalanga fully supports the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) programme of action led by the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (NEHAWU) across the province. We congratulate NEHAWU for keeping alive the tradition of international working-class solidarity, and for turning that solidarity into action in defence of public healthcare.
As part of the program, NEHAWU will hand over memoranda at the following venues:
Region Date Time Venue
Ehlanzeni 02 October 2026 10h00 MÁfrica Clinics
Gert Sibande 02 October 2026 10h00 Mkhondo Hospital
Nkangala 02 October 2026 10h00 KwaMhlanga Government Complex
Bohlabela 09 October 2026 10h00 Matibidi Hospital
A call to all COSATU affiliates
COSATU Mpumalanga calls on all its affiliates, their shop stewards, office bearers and members to join NEHAWU at these memorandum handovers and to swell the numbers in every region. The struggle for a functional public health system is not the struggle of health workers alone. Every worker and every worker’s family depends on public healthcare. When one union raises its voice, the Federation must stand behind it. An injury to one is an injury to all.
Our demands
COSATU Mpumalanga fully endorses the demands to be presented to the Mpumalanga Department of Health which include:
1. Quality, affordable and accessible healthcare for all.
Healthcare is a constitutional right, not a privilege for those who can afford it. Working-class and poor communities, especially in rural and peri-urban areas, still travel long distances to clinics that lack medicine, equipment and basic services. We demand a well-resourced public health system that is free at the point of care, and the properly funded implementation of National Health Insurance to close the gap between public and private care.
2. Safety and security in all our health institutions.
Health workers must be able to work without fear. Nurses, doctors, cleaners, porters and support staff face violence, theft and intimidation, while patients are left vulnerable in poorly secured facilities. We demand adequate security personnel, functioning access control and safe infrastructure at every hospital and clinic in the province.
3. Adequate staffing and provision of tools of trade.
Overworked and understaffed workers cannot deliver the care our people deserve. The Department must urgently fill critical vacant posts, end its over-reliance on overtime and short-term contracts, and ensure that every health worker has the equipment, medicines, protective gear and working infrastructure needed to do the job with dignity.
4. An end to illicit practices, corruption, financial mismanagement and maladministration.
Every rand lost to corruption is a rand stolen from a patient. Irregular tenders and appointments, wasteful expenditure, unpaid service providers and weak financial controls have crippled service delivery in our health institutions. We demand transparent procurement, strong internal controls, consequence management, and the full might of the law against those who have looted public health resources, so that funds reach the frontline where they belong.
Our message to the Department
COSATU Mpumalanga expects the Department of Health to receive these memoranda in good faith, to respond within a reasonable period, and to engage organised labour seriously on the implementation of these demands. Workers will not be silenced while the health system deteriorates.
We urge all affiliates and members to attend in their numbers, dressed in their organisational colours, and to conduct themselves with discipline and dignity.
Health is a right, not a privilege!
An injury to one is an injury to all!
Issued by COSATU Mpumalanga Provincial Office
Thabo Mokoena (Provincial Secretary)
Cell: 073 750 2041
Email: thabo@cosatu.org.za