‘We did not fight for a democracy that delivers crumbs to workers and the working class’ – COSATU President
MIDDELBURG – The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) is marking its 40th anniversary this year, having been formed in December 1985.
During her keynote address at a national May Day rally held at the Kees Taljaard Stadium in Middelburg on Thursday, COSATU President Zingisa Losi reflected on “40 years of struggle, sacrifice and survival” amidst the continued challenges facing South African workers.
Losi’s speech followed addresses by ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa, SACP General Secretary Solly Mapaila, and SANCO President Richard Hlophe. She emphasised that unemployment remains a national crisis and that labour brokering and casualisation have yet to be eradicated.
She also highlighted the persistence of gender-based violence (GBV), stagnant wages, and the unaffordability of decent housing and education for workers’ children.
“We did not fight for a democracy that delivers crumbs to workers and the working class,” she told the crowd.
Despite these issues, Losi said there were victories worth celebrating, such as,
“Maternity protection, paternity protection, the COVID-19 billions that were released, the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF), the integration of domestic workers into the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act (COIDA), and the fight for a living wage,” she said.
“We must not be naïve, for we know that the victories of yesterday are under attack today.”
Losi also raised concerns about divisions within the trade union movement, which she said was founded to improve workers’ conditions.
“The fragmentation of trade unions in South Africa… COSATU at one point was fragmented. A new federation was formed. Other unions keep being formed because leaders have assumed ownership of trade unions — unions no longer belong to workers,” she said.
She paid tribute to late trade union leaders, including Elijah Barayi, COSATU’s first president; Katishi Masemola, former General Secretary of the Food and Allied Workers Union (FAWU); Membathisi Mdladlana, founding president of the South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU); and Tito Mboweni, the country’s first Minister of Labour.
“We want to honour their legacy — not with silence, but with militant action. As the federation of Elijah Barayi, we walk in the footsteps of giants,” she said.
Losi concluded her address by recalling how the apartheid regime banned May Day out of fear of workers’ power. “It is for this reason that our unity is crucial. When workers are united, the chains of oppression tremble. When workers rise, the ground shakes beneath capital.”
