The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) has called for the government and municipalities to give equal pay to all workers, regardless of their gender, in commemoration of the National Day of Action in Durban on Tuesday, 7 October 2025.
KwaZulu-Natal COSATU provincial secretary Edwin Mkhize read the memorandum, where issues of unequal payment with regards to gender were raised.
“We are also pleading with companies to stop paying workers according to their gender, where if you are a certain gender, you get paid more while another gender gets paid less. We are also asking that there be organisations in workplaces to fix discrepancies on issues of gender,” said Mkhize as he read the memorandum.
COSATU CALLS FOR PRIVATISATION OF JOBS IN THE MUNICIPALITY AND GOVERNMENT TO COME TO AN END
Mkhize further stated that as trade unions, they demand for privatisation of jobs in the government and municipality workplaces to end.
He said that the privatisation in these workplaces leads to the retrenchment of workers.
Mkhize added that there should be prosecution against officials who are found in corruption in both public and private sectors.
He said, “In hospitals and other government institutions, we saw that many workers weren’t being paid by companies that receive tenders from the government. The government should take responsibility against those companies that are given tenders and exploit workers.”
“We are also calling for companies that employ our brothers and sisters who are foreign nationals illegally to be prosecuted, as they pay them peanuts. We demand that the CEO of the company be arrested as they are breaking the law of this country,” added Mkhize.
Nokulunga Mpanza, a South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU) member, mentioned that it is difficult to find a job as a truck driver as they now have to compete with illegal immigrants.
“You know, being a person who is a truck driver is really hard because we hardly get jobs nowadays, as most of them are given to illegal immigrants.”
“The reason why this happens is that most of these companies know that illegal immigrants entered the country illegally, so they can pay them peanuts. They know that we won’t accept low payments,” Mpanza said.
COSATU’S SHINGANGE MENTIONS MOST WORKPLACES ARE UNDERSTAFFED, CALLS FOR UNITY AMONGST TRADE UNIONS
COSATU’s Deputy President, Michael Shingange, mentioned that most government workplaces are understaffed and underpaid.
“Most of the nurses are burnt out. They are understaffed, overworked and unpaid, knowing very well they were never given salary increases.”
“Most of the schools are overflowing, they have got small teachers, and teacher assistants are not being paid, while they are supposed to be paid. We are asking you to dissolve that as the government of the provincial union,” he said.
Shingange also called for the unity of workers in the federation and across the spectrum, irrespective of the affiliate they belong.
“The problems of the workers are one irrespective of the t-shirt you are wearing. The interest of workers in South Africa, Swaziland, Palestine and in the United States of America (USA) is one.”
“One thing you must understand as workers is that we are workers who belong to a working class that is oppressed by a class called capitalism. For as long as that system is alive and it exists, we shall have to continue to fight,” Shingange explained.
