The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) stands with workers, communities, activists and organisations across South Africa and the world in commemorating Pride Month and the International Day Against against Homophobia (hatred and discrimination directed at lesbian and gay people), Biphobia (prejudice against bisexual people), Intersexism (discrimination against intersex people) and Transphobia (prejudice and violence against transgender people).
This occasion celebrates dignity, courage and the right of all people to live freely and safely. They also remind us that many LGBTQI+ people still face discrimination, violence and exclusion at work, in communities and in society.
As a Federation rooted in working class struggle, COSATU believes that an injury to one is an injury to all. The fight against patriarchy, gender-based violence, racism, xenophobia, class exploitation and all forms of oppression must include the rights of LGBTQI+ workers and communities.
On 17 May 1990, the World Health Organisation removed homosexuality from its list of mental disorders after many years of struggle by LGBTQI+ people, confirming that there is nothing wrong or unnatural about same-sex relationships.
Thirty-six years later, we mark IDAHOBIT as a moment of celebration, but also as a reminder that the struggle continues. For workers in South Africa and across our region, the struggle for dignity, safety and equality is not over. In many places, these rights are under attack.
COSATU affirms clearly: LGBTQI+ workers are workers. Their safety is a labour issue. Their dignity is a labour issue. Their right to work free from harassment, discrimination and violence is a labour issue.
In workplaces across South Africa, LGBTQI+ workers – especially black working-class people, transgender workers, and those in townships and rural areas – continue to face:
• Discrimination in hiring, promotion and dismissal
• Harassment and hostile working environments
• Exclusion from union spaces that should protect them
• Violence and abuse inside and outside the workplace
• Silence and inaction from employers and sometimes even unions themselves
This is not acceptable. The labour movement was built on the principle that an injury to one is an injury to all. That principle does not have exceptions.
As we mark this day, rights are being pushed back in much of our continent and region. That reality demands that the labour movement speak plainly and act with urgency.
In Eswatini, the situation has worsened sharply. Same-sex conduct between men is still criminalised under colonial-era law. In January 2026, the Education Minister said same-sex relationships had no place in schools and that learners involved should be expelled. Six learners were later expelled, publicly shamed and humiliated, before being reinstated. In April 2026, King Mswati said LGBT people would never be welcome in Eswatini while he remains king. These acts show a deepening attack on the dignity, safety and basic rights of LGBTQI+ people in Eswatini. COSATU raised these concerns in our May Day 2026 statement and we repeat them here: the treatment of LGBTQI+ people in Eswatini is a human rights crisis on our doorstep.
In Zimbabwe, 2025 saw law enforcement given an explicit mandate to intensify the targeting, arrest and harassment of sexual and gender minorities. Civil society organisations face new restrictive legislation that threatens their ability to operate. Anti-LGBTQI+ sentiment online and offline is growing.
Across the continent, the trend is stark. Since 2009, Burundi, Chad, Mali and – as recently as September 2025 – Burkina Faso have all newly criminalised same-sex conduct. Countries where homosexuality was previously legal are moving backwards.
This is not coincidence. It is a political pattern — the weaponisation of homophobia and transphobia by authoritarian and conservative forces to consolidate power, distract from economic failure and divide working-class communities.
We also note the contested situation in countries that have seen legal advances. In Namibia, a court victory decriminalising same-sex conduct in June 2024 was rapidly met by parliamentary legislation banning marriage equality and criminalising support for LGBTQI+ rights. In Mozambique, employment discrimination protections that existed since 2007 were repealed in 2024, even as decriminalisation enacted in 2015 remains.
The lesson is clear: rights won in courts must be defended in parliaments, in workplaces and in organised movements.
We reject the claim that homophobia and transphobia are expressions of African culture and tradition, and that LGBTQI+ rights are a Western imposition.
The truth is the opposite. The laws used across Africa to criminalise same-sex relationships were introduced during colonial rule. LGBTQI+ people have always existed in African societies. What was imported was the law that persecutes them.
When political leaders use the language of “African values” to justify persecution, they are not defending tradition. They are using colonial legal instruments while claiming African tradition.
Homophobia is also being encouraged by organised right-wing political forces, including conservative evangelical groups linked to the United States, which are helping spread anti-LGBTQI+ politics across Africa. These forces use division and fear to distract workers and communities from the real crises of unemployment, poverty and inequality.
South Africa’s Constitution remains among the most progressive in the world. Section 9 prohibits unfair discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. The Employment Equity Act and the Labour Relations Act provide ways for workers to challenge discrimination.
But constitutional protections are only as strong as the organised power that defends them. Hate crimes, rape and other forms of sexual violence, workplace discrimination and social exclusion remain widespread – disproportionately affecting black working-class LGBTQI+ people, transgender people, and those in rural and township communities.
We call on all employers to:
• Implement and enforce non-discrimination policies that clearly include sexual orientation and gender identity
• Ensure grievance procedures are accessible and safe for LGBTQI+ workers
• Address homophobic and transphobic harassment as serious workplace misconduct
We call on all COSATU affiliates and provinces to:
• Make LGBTQI+ inclusion a standing part of shop steward education and gender programmes
• Create union environments where LGBTQI+ members can raise grievances without fear
• Integrate equality for LGBTQI+ workers into collective bargaining demands
• COSATU is committed to more than symbolic gestures. This work must be sustained. It must not be reduced to a ribbon on 17 May and silence for the remaining 364 days.
• Homophobia, biphobia and transphobia are tools of division. They are used to shame workers into silence, to exclude people from solidarity, and to maintain hierarchies within the working class. Our task as a labour movement is to dismantle those divisions – through education, organising, policy change, and the ongoing transformation of our own internal culture.
• As we move into Pride Month in June, we reaffirm that pride is a tradition of resistance rooted in the struggles of working-class LGBTQI+ people who refused to be silenced or erased – from the Stonewall Riots of 1969 to the streets of Johannesburg, Lusaka and Mbabane today.
We call on all workers, shop stewards, union officials and provincial structures to:
1. Educate – hold discussions in workplaces and union structures about the rights and experiences of LGBTQI+ workers
2. Organise – ensure LGBTQI+ workers know their rights and have access to union support and protection
3. Advocate – push for non-discrimination policies in every workplace and collective agreement
4. Stand in solidarity – with LGBTQI+ workers and activists across South Africa and the region, including in Eswatini and Zimbabwe
An injury to one is an injury to all. That is not a slogan. It is our commitment.
Issued by COSATU
Kgomotso Makhupola (COSATU Gender National Chairperson)
082 558 5964
Zanele Sabela (COSATU National Spokesperson)
079 287 5788 / 077 600 6639
zaneles@cosatu.org.za