South Africa celebrated Heritage Day this month.
One of our hidden strengths is a rich legacy of workers’ struggles, that has laid the foundation for our non-racial constitutional democracy and the building of a more inclusive economy that empowers workers and uplifts working-class communities.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has been an integral part of that movement and South Africa’s rich liberation heritage. It is precisely this DNA that lays the seeds for addressing our still engrained and dire socio-economic challenges and to ensure we put in place an economy that caters for all South Africans.
Many forget about the real damage inflicted upon society and the ability of the economy to grow by 350 years of colonial and apartheid rule and their systemic discrimination and disempowerment of more than 90% of society.
Cosatu’s integral role in providing space for the liberation movement and society’s rejection of apartheid was critical to its demise. Trade union democracy anchored upon accountability to workers was essential to laying the foundations for our constitutional democracy and building its roots amongst society at large, and in particular working-class communities from Gugulethu to Giyani.
Whilst unions have struggled in many countries, in South Africa they remain pivotal because they are anchored upon workplace democracy where workers elect and hold their leaders to accountable.
Whilst many other African countries have been vulnerable to military coups and insurrections, South Africa’s constitutional democracy has been resilient precisely because of generations of workers’ struggles.
Whilst many countries, including the most advanced industrial economies, have recently shown even they are not immune from the whims of power drunk leaders with little regard for the rule of law, South Africa’s robust democracy has shown an unfailing loyalty to the supremacy of the Constitution and its institutions.
These are in no small part due to the rich heritage of struggles that workers helped nourish in South Africa.
Whilst there is much that we must be ashamed of as a nation, we can look with pride to our internationally respected Constitution that affirms the rights of all South Africans and compels the state to uplift our most vulnerable compatriots.
We can be proud of our hard-won labour laws that today affirm the dignity of all workers from the right to work in a safe environment to paid maternity leave. These lay the foundation for decent work and improved working conditions for all workers.
Whilst some have sought to undermine collective bargaining that is the pillar to defending and improving the rights of workers, South Africa has set these in law to ensure they withstand the test of time and the whims of politicians.
The very essence of South Africa’s liberation struggle and the key to its transformation and unlocking inclusive economic growth, is the eloquent call of the Freedom Charter of South Africa that belongs to all who live in it, Black and White.
Cosatu and its predecessors, played an invaluable role in creating that non-racial society, from such liberation heroes as Neil Aggett and Ray Alexander who defied the temptations of White privilege to Nana Abrahams and Oscar Mpetha who spent every waking hour organising workers from the laundromats of Cape Town to the fishing factories of St. Helena.
It was Cosatu and its predecessors who organised workers across the apartheid racial divides. Today our laws from Employment Equity to Skills Development require employers to play their role in building a more inclusive society.
Not long ago, women were consigned to the most menial and poorly paid jobs. Today the law requires equal pay for equal work. Whilst we have done well to transform the public service to reflect society’s diversity, we cannot be comforted by the stark inequalities of the private sector where White males constitute 4% of society yet hold more than 50% of senior management positions.
Nor can we proud when millions of women and girls are subjected to the most horrific forms of gender-based violence and sexual harassment from the matriculant told she must sleep with the boss if she wants a job to the waitress harassed by customers.
These struggles by workers did not end with the casting of a ballot in 1994. In 2019 after years of campaigns, the National Minimum Wage came into effect uplifting the wages of the most vulnerable workers. In its short space of existence, it has raised more than 800 000 domestic, 900 000 farm and over 4 million hospitality, transport, construction, retail, clothing and other workers’ wages by over 100%, 66% and 50% respectively.
This has reduced our still painful levels of poverty and inequality, helped workers take care of their families and injected badly needed stimulus into a fragile economy.
Cosatu has not limited itself to workplace struggles but also championed the need with our Alliance Partners, the African National Congress and the South African Communist Party, to transform the state and ensure it mobilises its resources to boosting workers’ salaries through such interventions as subsidised education, healthcare, transport, housing and social security.
We have worked tirelessly with and to push government and employers at the workplace, in bargaining councils, industrial master plans, at Nedlac and Parliament, to tackle obstacles to economic growth, to put in place measures to protect fragile businesses, and provide relief to the poor and unemployed.
We have not forgotten the international solidarity shown to workers during the darkest days of apartheid. Today we raise the same banner of solidarity to workers across the world from Cuba facing a suffocating economic blockade to the genocide unleashed against the people of Palestine in Gaza.
Whilst we have far to travel as a nation and much that pains us, we can be proud of how far we have come and of the indelible role workers have played in transforming our workplaces, communities and nation.
It is this rich heritage of struggle that lays the foundation to unleash economic growth and build a more inclusive society and a better life for all.
Zingiswa Losi is the president of Cosatu.
**The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Media Group.