Comrade Chairperson, Gwede Mantashe,
Comrade President, Cyril Matamela Ramaphosa,
Leadership of our Alliance Partners, the ANC, SACP and SANCP at all levels,
We bring you fraternal and revolutionary greetings from the Central Executive Committee of COSATU and more than 1,5 million of our members from the length and breath of country. This is a workers Federation that has recently celebrated four decades of existence since its formation on the 1st December 1985 at the height of the struggle against apartheid. These have been four decades of relentless struggles and sacrifices by workers towards the freedom and democracy in our country.
Thank you for inviting COSATU to this important ANC NEC Lekgotla convened under the theme “ 2026 – Year od Decisive Action to Fix Local Government and Transform the Economy.”
The Lekgotla takes a year and a half after the start of a new administration, it is a chance to reflect on the current challenges facing the movement and the nation, to guide the coming NEC and Cabinet Lekgotla, the President’s State of the Nation Address and the 2026/27 Budget.
This Lekgotla carries additional and perhaps is the most critical in recent times, given the 2024 elections results during which the movement for the first time failed to secure an outright victory nationally and as we prepare for the 2026 local government elections.
Equally important is that it takes place in the year of the most to be contested local elections and is the halfway point before the ANC’s next national congress.
It comes at a time of marked Alliance tensions and the failure to reconfigure the Alliance, in part leading to the SACP’s Special National Congress resolution to contest elections.
These pose dire consequences for the Alliance, workers and the trade union movement as well as the National Democratic Revolution. Our 8th Central Committee held in September 2025 cautioned that the NDR is no longer at the point of stagnation but regressing given the loss of support from our main and leading motive forces of our revolution.
Our Central Committee reaffirmed COSATU’s commitment to the revolutionary alliance of the ANC, the party and SANCO historically united through the NDR as our shared programme. The Central Committee also cautioned that the shape and form of the alliance is currently undesirable, out of touch with the evolution of the alliance and therefore called for a firm and urgent commitment by all alliance components towards its reconfiguration.
In the same breath COSATU welcomes the ongoing work within and amongst the alliance partners to discuss the decision of the SACP of independently contest the 2026 LGE. These are discussions that are approached in a manner that is frank and appreciates the independence yet interdependence nature of our revolutionary alliance. As COSATU we are confident that these ongoing discussions shall strengthen the alliance and not fragment nor divide it.
Indeed, if we respond collectively with the decisiveness and political maturity that the material conditions demand, we can ensure that the Alliance continues its path of renewal, the state is recapacitated, the economy grows at the pace needed to address unemployment, that the cancers of corruption and state capture are defeated, and that we ensure this Alliance, the movement of Oliver Tambo, Moses Kotane and Ray Alexander retains its place as the leader of society come the 2026 local government elections.
Leadership as we gather here, it is important that our discussions be grounded upon the realities facing the working class from our 42.4% unemployment to our status as the world’s most unequal society, from rising levels of poverty, crime and corruption.
The democratic state must not allow a situation where the community of Sporong in Randfontein had to leave their homes in fear of criminals and illegal miners. Our democratic state must stamp its authority by deploying the military if needed, to protect our people.
We must agree to a decisive plan of action ensuring the rebuilding and capacitating the state to ensure it can fulfill its developmental mandate, this must include moving away from austerity budget cuts that have crippled the frontline public services that the working class and the economy depend upon to survive.
Bold interventions are badly needed to stablise and rebuild local government. The deteriorating state of our municipalities is alarming, in particular the delivery of municipal services and failures to pay municipal workers and service providers. This cannot be allowed to continue.
Whilst we applaud the many green shoots we have made in dismantling the state capture networks across the state, our levels of crime and corruption remain unacceptably high, in particular in working class communities. Just as we have shown the necessary will and resources to stabilise and rebuild Eskom, Transnet, Metro Rail and SARS, so too must we show the same determination and more importantly the results, in the war against crime and corruption.
Special attention must be given to providing SAPS, SANDF, Home Affairs, the NPA and the courts to ensure that we win this war. We cannot expect to attract the investment needed to grow the economy and create jobs if we are known as a lawless and violent society, neither can we expect society to retain its confidence in us.
There are progressive proposals that will be tabled at this Lekgotla that if implemented can raise economic growth to the 3% necessary to slash unemployment, that can boost localisation across sectors and begin to ease the suffocating burden upon the working and middle classes.
What is needed is to implement, to accept what does not work, and to be bold and progressive when dealing with our many burning fires. It is critical that the progressive decisions that we will adopt over this important Lekgotla will find expression in the Cabinet Lekgotla, the State of the Nation Address and the pending 2026 Budget.
It will be a travesty if we can agree on a bold set of actions here only to find them watered down as government maps out its plans and budget for the year. We are the leadership of society and must never be shy of asserting our role.
We must be deeply alarmed by the geo-political tensions threatening the world, the weaponisation of trade, the undermining of multi-lateralism and the resurgence of white supremacy. These are matters that require sober and strategic leadership, not reckless and emotional adventurism.
They require us to ensure our own house is in order as a nation and to expedite our efforts to expand trade opportunities, in particular in the African continent, as well as to build strategic alliances whilst we navigate these complex and often contradictory times.
We are confident that this Lekgotla can rise above and provide the necessary leadership to the country. It is within our hands. It is up to us to seize the moment and act. We dare not fail and if we do, then history will judge us harshly.
Thank you. Matla!