The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) held its final Central Executive Committee (CEC) meeting on 24 and 25 August, ahead of the 15th National Congress next month.
The CEC took place during the same month we celebrated the 70th anniversary of the 1956 Women’s March to the Union Buildings. It is important to recognise that while we have made great strides since that heroic march by 20 000 women from all backgrounds, the struggle is not over. Many women are still confronted by various challenges, including endemic levels of gender-based violence, sexual harassment and unfair discrimination in the workplace and communities.
Whereas women now occupy 47% of senior management roles in companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, and have a 45% representation in Parliament, their official unemployment rate is higher at 37.5% (Q2, 2026) compared to men at 30.3%. Although women’s participation in the labour market has increased over time, more must be done to eliminate gender disparities.
The CEC reflected on the political, organisational, socio-economic and international conditions confronting workers and the working class, assessed the work undertaken since the 14th National Congress, and finalised key preparations for the 15th National Congress.
The meeting reaffirmed that COSATU remains a class-conscious, militant and revolutionary trade union federation committed to defending the interests of workers, advancing working-class unity and pursuing a socialist future.
The CEC further reaffirmed the central challenge before the Federation is to rebuild the organisational strength of the working class, strengthen trade union organisation and translate the enormous potential of workers into organised collective power.
POLITICAL
The CEC expressed deep concern about the worsening political and socio-economic conditions confronting the working class and broader society.
Workers continue to bear the brunt of unemployment, poverty, inequality, rising living costs and the deterioration of public services. These conditions are compounded by corruption, criminality, the weakening of state capacity and the growing influence of organised criminal networks.
The CEC expressed particular concern about the revelations from the Madlanga Commission regarding corruption and criminality within law enforcement institutions. COSATU believes that the capture and corruption of institutions of the democratic state represent a serious threat to workers, communities and constitutional order.
The Federation will continue to demand a capable, ethical and developmental state that serves the interests of society rather than private interests and criminal networks.
The CEC also reflected on the state of the Tripartite Alliance ahead of the 4 November Local Government Elections (LGE).
COSATU remains concerned about the failure to convene the necessary Alliance Political Council and Alliance Summit despite repeated calls by the Federation. The current challenges confronting the Alliance cannot be wished away or postponed indefinitely.
The Alliance was forged around the strategic interests of the workers and the broader oppressed majority. Its renewal therefore requires honest political engagement, principled debate and a common programme capable of responding to the material conditions of our people.
COSATU will not abandon the struggle to rebuild and strengthen the Alliance. The Federation will continue engaging its Alliance partners and will intensify its efforts to convene the Alliance and develop a common programme before and after the LGE.
The CEC affirmed that COSATU’s political analysis and programme must remain a unifying Federation position. The 15th National Congress must not become a platform for factional political battles. It must provide a political direction capable of uniting workers and rebuilding the confidence of the working class in its own collective power.
The CEC further reiterated the Federation’s commitment to socialism and agreed that the struggle for economic transformation cannot be separated from the struggle against capitalist exploitation.
The working class cannot permanently escape unemployment, poverty and inequality while the economy remains structured around the accumulation of wealth by a minority. COSATU therefore remains committed to building a militant labour movement capable of challenging the capitalist system and advancing an alternative based on working-class interests.
ORGANISATIONAL
The CEC undertook a frank assessment of the organisational state of the Federation.
COSATU has made important interventions since the 14th National Congress, including campaigns to recruit and organise workers, strengthen workplace organisation, advance occupational health and safety, defend collective bargaining and reconnect the Federation with communities. However, the CEC acknowledged that these interventions have not yet produced the organisational renewal required.
The Federation is expected to approach the 15th National Congress with approximately 1.5 million members, below the strategic target of rebuilding COSATU to two million members.
This decline cannot be treated as a statistical problem. It represents a weakening of the organised power of workers at a time when employers are intensifying attacks on collective bargaining, employment security and workers’ rights.
COSATU must therefore return to the workplace and rebuild shop-floor organisation. Recruitment, retention, political education, workplace visibility and militant campaigning must become central to the daily work of every affiliate and structure of the Federation.
The CEC welcomed the successful return of the Communications Workers Union (CWU) to its rightful place within COSATU following its provincial and national congresses. The Federation recognises the work undertaken to defend the union and its organisational integrity.
COSATU will convene its 15th National, under the theme, “Building a militant, revolutionary labour movement and strengthening anti-imperialist working-class unity to defend jobs and advance socialism.”
SOCIO-ECONOMIC
Victories Won for the Working Class
Over the period under review, COSATU and workers have secured significant socio-economic gains through struggles at the workplace and sectoral level, collective bargaining, Nedlac, Parliament and engagement with government and the Alliance.
Among these victories are the R253 billion Eskom debt-relief intervention that contributed towards stabilising the utility and ending loadshedding; the Two-Pot Pension Reforms that have enabled more than four million workers to access over R79 billion of their retirement savings; the adoption of the NHI Act towards universal healthcare; the BELA Act strengthening access and transformation in education; and the Expropriation Act advancing the transformation agenda.
The National Minimum Wage has risen from R20 per hour in 2019 to R30.23 in 2026, with significant gains for domestic and farm workers, while COSATU has continued to defend the SRD Grant and campaign for its evolution into a Basic Income Grant. Important advances were also secured through the Employment Equity, Labour Law reform, and Occupational Injuries and Diseasesreforms, strengthening protection for vulnerable and atypical workers, promoting greater wage transparency and extending occupational injury protection to 1 million domestic workers.
These victories, however, remain accompanied by significant unfinished business. Electricity may be more stable, but its cost remains increasingly unaffordable, municipal debt to Eskom has reached approximately R120 billion, and COSATU remains resolutely opposed to the privatisation of Eskom or any restructuring that threatens jobs, collective bargaining and public ownership.
The Federation continues to demand the full implementation of NHI, the filling of more than 27 000 vacant teaching posts, stronger enforcement of the National Minimum Wage, improved social protection and the expedited recruitment of 10,000 additional labour inspectors. The painful experience of South African Post Office (SAPO), where approximately 6 000 workers were retrenched and half its branches closed, is a reminder of the devastating consequences when strategic public institutions are allowed to deteriorate.
As we head towards the 15th National Congress, our task is therefore not simply to celebrate these victories, but to consolidate them, defend workers against austerity and retrenchments, strengthen public services and public ownership, and intensify the struggle for decent jobs, affordable services and an economy that serves the working class.
INTERNATIONAL
This CEC took place a few days after the Centenary of Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz, an exemplary and towering figure of anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist, and socialist revolutionary of the late 20th and early 21st Century. This commemoration of the Centenary of Comandante Fidel Castro takes place in the context in which Cuba and her people are on the verge of being intentionally collapsed by more than six decades of imperialist blockade and sanctions by the US government.
The Federation remains committed to strengthening the voice of global labour and to building international working-class solidarity. To that end, COSATU has continued to express solidarity with the peoples of Palestine, eSwatini, Western Sahara, Zimbabwe, and in defence of the Cuban people against the US embargo.
The Federation condemned the invasion of Venezuela and the resultant abduction of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. The organisation took part in several protests and called for their release.
Action needs to be taken against the rising crisis of forced and trafficked labour. We have been deeply alarmed by instances of South Africans being trafficked to forced labour in Myanmar and even to the war in Ukraine.
In June 2024, President Losi was elected as a governing body member of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) for the years 2024-2027. The election highlighted COSATU’s commitment to advancing workers’ rights and its role in the global labour movement to influence decisions that shape labour policies worldwide.
After COSATU and the international labour movement with the support of the South African government referred the right to strike to the International Court of Justice, we are pleased with its ruling confirming that the right to strike is protected under the Freedom of Association and protection of the rights to Organise Convention under ILO Convention No 87.
Last year, during South Africa’s G20 presidency, along with sister federations FEDUSA, SAFTU and NACTU, COSATU co-hosted the L20 Summit on the sidelines of the G20 Employment Working Group meeting and Labour and Employment Ministers’ Meeting and brought together trade unionists from around the world to advance a workers’ agenda centred on dignity, decent work and democratic economic transformation. The outcomes of the Summit were fed through to the Employment Working Group.
COSATU and its affiliates continue to play key roles in leading organised labour in various international forums from the ITUC to WFTU and SATUCC.
For the past two years, COSATU has hosted the Just Transition Global South Exchange, bringing together trade unions, civil society and government representatives from the Global South to strengthen cooperation and advance a just and equitable transition to a low carbon economy. Discussions centred around workers’ rights, energy democracy, climate finance, job creation and ensuring the Just Transition remains worker-led and socially inclusive.
The Federation has worked closely with the Presidency and the Departments of Trade, Industry and Competition as well as International Relations and Cooperation to secure the extension of the African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA), providing tariff free access for South African and African exports to the United States, helping to secure and create mining, manufacturing and agricultural jobs.
COSATU’s Central Executive Committee (CEC) meeting on 24 and 25 August called for a programme to explore the conditions of work in SADC countries as a means of understanding the push and pull factors of migration into South Africa.
15th National Congress
The Federation is finalising the remaining tasks for the 15th national congress. We are confident that it will be a vibrant workers’ parliament and emerge with the Federation rejuvenated, united and embark upon a militant programme of action to defend workers and advance working-class struggles across all workplaces and the nation.
Issued by COSATU
Solly Phetoe (COSATU General Secretary)
082 304 4055
Email: solly@cosatu.org.za
Zanele Sabela (COSATU Spokesperson)
Mobile: 079 287 5788 / 077 600 6639
Email: zaneles@cosatu.org.za