THE Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) will be holding its 15th national congress from 14 to 17 September.
It is a workers’ parliament where thousands of workers from our farms to our factories will be raising the many dire challenges that they experience at the workplace and in their communities. Most importantly, it is a chance to debate and craft solutions for the Federation to take beyond congress.
Congress will take place against the backdrop of some of the most intractable challenges facing the working class from a dangerously high 43.8% unemployment rate, to entrenched poverty and inequality, to the rising cost of living, to intolerable crime and corruption.
It occurs at a time when despite the substantial progress in tackling state capture and corruption, loadshedding and other challenges facing the state; many frontline public and municipal services are reeling from years of austerity budget cuts, mismanagement and neglect.
South Africa is facing many brutal headwinds, from the collapse of municipal services in many towns and communities to skyrocketing oil and fuel prices due to the war in the Persian Gulf to the weaponisation of international trade tariffs.
These have real consequences for domestic economic growth, for the very survival of many local companies to the jobs of thousands of South African workers, black and white, and their ability to take care of their families.
Over the past year we have seen furniture, jewellery and other manufacturing companies close in different parts of the Western Cape and South Africa because of the impact of the high tariffs set by the United States upon South African exports to the world’s largest economy.