The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (SAMWU) in the Eastern Cape expresses its deep concern and outrage at the continued victimisation, intimidation and systematic targeting of SAMWU shop stewards by the management of Amatola Water Board.
Since 26 March 2025, workers at Amatola Water Board have effectively been left without elected union representation after all ten SAMWU shop stewards were suspended by the employer on allegations linked to an alleged illegal strike action. This unprecedented action immediately raised serious concerns about the employer’s intentions towards organised labour, workplace democracy and collective bargaining within the institution.
Compounding this situation, the entity has failed to conclude plant-level negotiations for the 2024/25 and 2025/26 financial years, as directed by the Amanzi Bargaining Council. This failure has deprived workers of meaningful engagement on matters affecting their wages, conditions of service and workplace rights.
The matter relating to the alleged illegal strike was subsequently brought before the Labour Court in October 2025, wherein the Court ruled in favour of the affected employees. Despite this outcome, Amatola Water management disregarded both the spirit and implications of the Court’s ruling and proceeded to convert the precautionary suspensions into punitive suspensions without pay. This decision subjected workers and their families to severe financial and emotional hardship.
In March 2026, the disciplinary enquiry against the ten shop stewards was concluded. Five shop stewards, including the SAMWU Regional Chairperson and other Local Office Bearers, were dismissed, while the remaining five were found not guilty. SAMWU views these dismissals as a calculated and deliberate attempt to weaken, destabilise and ultimately destroy the union’s organisational presence within Amatola Water, particularly by targeting its elected leadership structures.
As SAMWU, we exercised our organisational and legal rights by noting appeals against the dismissals of the five affected shop stewards. However, while the union was still studying the outcomes and preparing the appeal process, Amatola Water management, through its Legal Advisory division, took the extraordinary and highly irregular step of lodging what it termed a “cross-appeal” against the findings relating to the five shop stewards who were not dismissed.
This so-called “cross-appeal” raises serious legal, procedural and labour relations concerns. In ordinary labour relations practice, where an employer is dissatisfied with the outcome of a disciplinary process conducted by its own appointed chairperson, such an employer would, where legally permissible and properly justified, pursue a review process through the appropriate legal forums. The attempt to appeal against the findings of its own disciplinary chairperson exposes an alarming determination by Amatola Water management to ensure that all SAMWU shop stewards are dismissed, regardless of the merits of the case.
SAMWU views this conduct for what it is, a deliberate campaign of union bashing, intimidation and de-unionisation. It is deeply troubling that an institution entrusted with public service delivery would dedicate time, energy and public resources towards attacking worker representation instead of fostering labour peace, institutional stability and constructive engagement with organised labour. For us, this is an attempt by management to rule through fear.
The current situation has created a dangerous vacuum in the workplace. Workers at Amatola Water Board presently have no effective elected representation in workplace grievances, wage negotiations, recruitment processes, disciplinary matters and other collective bargaining forums where organised labour participation is both necessary and protected by labour legislation.
The consequences of these actions have been devastating for employees. Workers report feeling demoralised, intimidated and abandoned in the workplace. This climate of fear and uncertainty inevitably affects morale, productivity and, ultimately, the quality of service delivery to the people of the Eastern Cape.
SAMWU wishes to make it unequivocally clear that we will not fold our arms while worker representation is being systematically destroyed at Amatola Water. We will continue to defend the rights, dignity and livelihoods of our members through all available legal, organisational and constitutional avenues.
We call upon the Board of Amatola Water, the Department of Water and Sanitation, the Amanzi Bargaining Council, organised labour formations and all progressive forces to condemn these actions and urgently intervene before labour relations at Amatola Water deteriorate even further.
SAMWU further reiterates that workers have a constitutional right to freedom of association, collective bargaining and union representation without fear of victimisation, intimidation or retaliation. Any attempt to undermine these rights must be rejected with the contempt it deserves.
SAMWU Eastern Cape will continue to stand with the affected shop stewards, their families and all workers at Amatola Water Board.
With the Reserve Bank preparing for its latest interest decision, COSATU has urged the Monetary Policy Committee to avoid any increases.
This is ahead of the announcement of the committee’s decision on Thursday.
The trade union federation argues that the working class is already struggling with the current cost of living, especially with rising global oil prices and their impact.
Further to this, fuel price increases were the biggest contributor to the 0.9% jump in inflation to 4% in April, from 3.1% in March.
“Consumers were dealt a painful fuel price blow in April. The index for fuel rose by 18,2% from March, the steepest monthly increase since the current CPI series began in 2008. Petrol prices were up by 15,2% and diesel by 35,4%… Motorists using diesel felt the most pain. The average price for a litre of diesel jumped from R21,28 in March to R28,80 in April,” read Statistics South Africa’s report on the April inflation figures.
COSATU’s Matthew Parks said working- and middle-class families have had to struggle with this, reflected in increased taxi and bus fares, in addition to electricity tariff hikes.
“Most workers are drowning in debt and borrowing simply to buy food, electricity and transport and service unaffordable debt levels. Those fortunate to have jobs support seven relatives on average. Many workers spend up to 40% of their already meagre wages on transport,” said Parks in a statement.
He said increasing the repo rate would punish South Africans for something out of their control, noting that the rise in inflation “is solely due to the war in the Middle East and not domestic demand”.
“There is nothing that South Africa can do to manage this geo-political crisis of anarchy. Squeezing already struggling workers and consumers would make as much economic sense as decapitating a patient to resolve a migraine.”
He added that an increase to the repo rate would “suffocate” an already struggling economy.
“The economy has been stagnant at 1% for more than a decade. Initial growth projections of an already weak 1.4% have been reduced by the International Monetary Fund to a depressing 1%, far below the 3% plus needed to tackle our single greatest national crisis, our 43.7% unemployment rate.”
At the same time, Parks also called on the Treasury to consider a further extension to the fuel levy relief for the duration of the war. This is as relief to the levy is due to expire in July.
“The Reserve Bank must resist any knee jerk, textbook temptation to raise the repo rate. This would be a devastating blow to workers, consumers, businesses and the economy, when we can least afford it. It must exercise strategic patience, more so as peace negotiations to end the War take place. The Reserve Bank must show solidarity with workers, the poor and the economy by rejecting any increase to the Repo Rate,” said Parks.
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Abahlali baseMjondolo condemns the opportunistic and disrespectful inclusion of our movement in the latest programme for the SACP-hosted ‘Conference of the Left’ without our consent. This blatantly disregards and disrespects our autonomy and democratic processes.
We first saw our name and logo on the poster allegedly released by the SACP. We released a public statement making it clear that the poster was misleading and that we will NOT be participating in the conference.
We have now seen that COSATU has included us in the programme for the conference circulated in advance of their Special Central Executive Committee meeting on 14 May 2026. We did not attend this virtual meeting as we refuse to attend the ‘Conference of the Left’.
We have repeatedly stated that we were not consulted or involved in the planning of this conference. The continued use of our name and logo is a clear attempt to co-opt and undermine our struggle.
We are aware of at least five organisations listed on the latest version of the programme that have taken a clear decision not to participate in this conference but nevertheless continue to have their names included on the programme.
We demand respect for our movement and our right to self-determination. We will not be used to legitimise events that are contrary to our interests, values and political principles.
We are a democratic grassroots organisation in which decisions about important matters are always taken by our members through open public discussions. We will not be silenced, manipulated or disrespected by the organisers of this conference.
We call on all our comrades and allied organisations to reject this opportunism and to stand with us in our insistence on principled forms of unity in our struggle for justice and dignity.
Retailer Pick n Pay has drawn in R4.7 billion through the sale of Boxer shares to help fund its turnaround strategy.
The group announced late on Monday (18 May) that it would launch a bookbuild offering of Boxer shares for R4.7 billion.
On Tuesday (19 May), the group confirmed the sale of around 57.3 million Boxer ordinary shares, representing approximately 12.5% of the total issued ordinary shares of Boxer.
Following the Placement, Pick n Pay will continue to hold approximately 53.1% of Boxer’s total issued ordinary shares, having reduced this from over 65% before.
Pick n Pay said the proceeds of the sale would go into its turnaround.
The retailer has spent the last two years rebuilding its core Pick n Pay brand following years of decline in the sector, losing out to competitors and dropping its failed retail strategy.
The business hit a nadir in 2024 when it was found to be technically insolvent, forcing the group to change tack.
The group put its bets on the return of former chief executive Sean Summers, a changing of chairmanship from the Ackerman family, and a concerted effort to rightsize the business through shedding non-performing stores.
According to Pick n Pay, the group has made significant progress on multiple aspects of this turnaround plan, and the proceeds from the Boxer share sale will boost this.
“The product offering has been meaningfully enhanced, execution of in-store retail principles has been improved, and the quality of the store estate has been upgraded,” it said.
“A new logistics agreement is set to deliver efficiencies over the coming years.”
In combination, these factors have driven improved like-for-like sales growth in Pick n Pay company-owned supermarkets, together with improved gross margin.
These are set to deliver further benefits going forward, it said.
“Building on this progress, the Group remains focused on further strengthening the performance of the Pick n Pay segment’s cashflow generation and returning it to profitability.”
The group said it intends to deploy the net proceeds from the Boxer sale to support the ongoing implementation of this plan and growth strategy, while ensuring maximum financial flexibility in the medium term.
“This will enable the Group to continue executing on its strategic priorities, investing ahead of the plan, with a clear pathway to returning the core Pick n Pay Stores segment to cashflow break-even,” it said.
The group stressed that Boxer remains a vital part of the business, and it intends to retain a controlling stake in the discount retailer.
Boxer worth more than Pick n Pay
An interesting dynamic between Boxer and its parent, Pick n Pay, is that the former has a far higher value than the latter.
Boxer has quickly become one of the most valuable retailers in South Africa with a market cap of R40.5 billion, which is far above Pick n Pay’s R16.6 billion.
Incidentally, much of Pick n Pay’s own value is tied to Boxer.
The group is also worth more than several other major convenience retailers in South Africa, based on market cap, including SPAR (R12 billion), TFG (R19 billion), and Dis-Chem (R31.6 billion), and is sitting close to Woolworths (R41.6 billion).
Shoprite remains the most valuable retailer in the country with a market cap of R172.8 billion, with Pepkor at R81.5 billion.
As a standalone retailer, Boxer is also massively expanding its store base across South Africa, with the group looking to expand its discount offerings.
In its recent financial results for the year ended 1 March, grocery retailer Boxer said that it added 51 net new stores in 2026, bringing its nationwide store count to 576.
The group added 18 new superstores, 31 liquor stores, and 2 new build stores. Liquor stores as a percentage of Superstores rose from 55% to 61%.
According to its financial results, Boxer’s new stores contributed 7.8% total turnover growth, excluding like-for-like sales.
Socialist shack dwellers’ movement Abahlali baseMjondolo has strongly condemned the South African Communist Party (SACP) and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) for “repeatedly and unlawfully” including the movement’s name and logo on the programme for the upcoming ‘Conference of the Left’.
The movement asserts that it has no affiliation with the conference and was never consulted during its planning.
The controversy escalated when Cosatu included Abahlali baseMjondolo on the programme, circulated prior to their Special Central Executive Committee meeting on May 14.
Abahlali leadership boycotted the virtual meeting, citing a refusal to participate in the ‘Conference of the Left’.
This follows a previous incident where the movement noticed its name and logo on a promotional poster allegedly released by the SACP. At that time, Abahlali released a public statement clarifying that the poster was misleading and that it would not be participating.
Abahlali baseMjondolo viewed the inclusion of its name as a “blatant attempt” to co-opt and undermine its ongoing struggle.
It noted that at least five other organisations listed on the latest programme had also decided not to participate yet remain listed by the organisers.
In a statement, the movement said it refuses to be used to “validate events or initiatives that run contrary to its core interests, values, and political principles”.
As a democratic grassroots organisation, Abahlali policies and decisions are determined by its members through open public discussions, not by external forces, it stated.
The movement has called on allied organisations and comrades to reject this “opportunism”.
Boxer worth more than Pick n Pay