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Book 1 COSATU 13 th National Congress “Deepen the Back to Basic Campaign, Consolidate the Struggle for the NDR and Advance the Struggle for Socialism”. 1 | Page

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Page 1: Minutes of the 12th National Congress - mediadon.co.zamediadon.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Book-1-towards-the-13th...  · Web viewFreeman and slave, patrician and plebeian,

Book 1

COSATU 13th National Congress

“Deepen the Back to Basic Campaign, Consolidate the Struggle for the NDR and Advance the Struggle for Socialism”.

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Contents

1. Minutes of the 12th National Congress..............................................................................................7

1.1. House Rules- Annexure A...........................................................................................................35

1.2. Opening Address by COSATU President – Annexure B.................................................36

1.3. Address by President Jacob Zuma – Annexure C.............................................................47

1.4. Address by the SACP General Secretary comrade Blade Nzimande – Annexure D................................................................................................................................................................ 53

1.5. Address by the minister of labour , comrade Midlred Oliphant – Annexure E...63

2. 12th National Congress Resolutions................................................................................................71

3. 12th National Congress Special Declaration on the National Minimum Wage...........161

4. 12th National Congress Declaration..............................................................................................166

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1. Minutes of the 12th National Congress

THE MINUTES OF THE COSATU 12 TH NATIONAL CONGRESS HELD ON

23 -26 NOVEMBER 2015 AT GALLAGHER ESTATES,MIDRAND JOHANNESBURG

Day One: 23 November 2015

The day one of the congress was chaired by the 1st Deputy President Cde Tyotyo James

1. Opening

The First Deputy President comrade Tyotyo James officially opened the National Congress at 12h22, he invited SACTWU choir on stage to lead the congress with the singing of Nkosi Sikelel’ i Afrika and Solidarity Forever.

2. Moment of silence of all leaders who passed on since 2012-1015

The First Deputy President requested delegates to observe a moment of silent in honour of comrades who passed on in the period under review.

The First Deputy President apologised to the congress in relation to accreditation processes where delegates were supposed to receive access cards with participants photos.

He reminded the delegates that the aim of the gathering is to unite workers and focus on building this glorious federation.

He further reminded delegates that in all the congress deliberations, the delegates as mandated by their members should not forget to put members first and ensure unity of all COSATU affiliates.

He then invited the Acting General Secretary Comrade Bheki Ntshalintshali to the podium to present credentials.

3. Credentials

The Acting General Secretary after presenting credentials stated that all affiliates were in good standing except for SAFPU.

After the presentation of credentials FAWU requested that the credentials be amended with the inclusion of NOB’s being part of the credentials as stipulated by the constitution of the federation clause 3.2 1. The congress agreed unanimously on the motion and NOB’s credentials were presented as 4 workers and 1 official present. The credentials were then adopted by the national congress with the inclusion of the National Office Bearers as follows:

Affiliate Membership

Expected delegates

Present

Workers

Official Females Males

CEPPWAWU 84 279 112 112 94 18 38 74

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CWU 21 243 28 28 22 06 06 22

DENOSA 80 642 108 104 93 11 58 46

FAWU 126 995 169 160 139 21 39 121

LIMUSA 7 771 10 10 06 04 01 09

NEHAWU 277 317 370 361 329 32 166 195

NUM 250 256 334 303 271 32 75 228

PAWUSA 12 619 17 16 10 06 04 12

POPCRU 156 505 209 202 191 11 82 120

SACCAWU 120 352 160 160 133 27 55 105

SACTWU 85 204 114 114 97 17 60 54

SADTU 248 969 332 332 300 32 152 180

SAFPU 592 01 01 01 - 01 -

SAMA 7 821 10 08 07 01 02 06

SAMWU 150 923 201 201 189 12 70 131

SASAWU 7 162 10 - - - - -

SASBO 66 767 88 78 68 10 22 46

SATAWU 218 014 291 291 272 19 115 176

NOBs - 5 5 4 1 2 3

TOTAL 1 923 431 2 569 2 486 2 226 260 948 1 528

Moved by SATAWU Seconded by DENOSA, SADTU and NEHAWU.

After the adoption of the credentials by the National Congress the chair of the session declared formally that the National Congress forms a quorum and officially opened the congress.

FAWU raised another objection in relation to credentials on the status of the 2nd Deputy President Cde Zingiswa Losi citing that she is not eligible to form part of the National Office Bearers as she is no longer a shop steward and a worker of the union which nominated her to the current position.

POPCRU confirmed in the congress that Cde Losi is their member and a shop steward in good standing. The national congress deliberated on the matter for more than 3 hours and the debate was concluded with two motions which were both seconded. The congress then agreed to vote on the two motions by show of hands.

1st Motion: -

SADTU’s motion:- the congress to continue with the adopted credentials that includes all NOBs present as 4 workers and one official , the motion was seconded by SATAWU, NEHAWU and DENOSA.

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2nd Motion:-

FAWU‘s motion:- the congress not to continue with the adopted credentials that includes all NOBs present as 4 workers and one official , the motion was seconded by SACCAWU.

NUM moved that both unions who sponsored the two motions should give their motivation on the matter and they were seconded by NEHAWU.

After the motivation by two unions and the long engagement and discussions on the matter by the congress, the chairperson of the session ruled that the congress should proceed with voting and IEC was called in to run the voting on the above two motions.

The IEC outlined the voting processes that it will happen by show of hand with tags as agreed by the national congress.

The total numbers of the voting delegates for credentials were confirmed as 2 480 and voting was by show of hands with tags, the outcome of the voting process on the adoption of credentials was as follows:

YES votes in favour of the 1st motion = 1962

NO votes in favour of the 2nd motion = 331

Abstention = 187

Total 2 480

4. Adoption of the Proposed Agenda

The Acting General Secretary presented the agenda to the congress and it was adopted with a room to be flexible and allow the president of the ANC to address the congress on his arrival. Moved by SADTU and seconded by SATAWU, DENOSA and SAMWU

5. House Rules

The house rules were adopted by the congress as tabled by the Acting General Secretary.

See Annexure “A”

Moved by SASBO seconded by NUM and NEHAWU

The National Congress then adjourned for lunch break at 15h25 till 16h30.

The Congress reconvened at 16h40 and the 1st Deputy President reminded the congress about the house rules adopted before lunch break and requested the delegates to strive to debate constructively.

6. Minutes of the 11th National Congress

The following corrections were effected:

NEHAWU corrected its credentials from 384 to 385

The exclusion of congress resolution from minutes was noted.

The Congress adopted the minutes with corrections. NEHAWU moved SAMWU seconded

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7. Minutes of the Special Congress

The Acting General Secretary apologised to the National Congress for the omission of the Special National Congress minutes and the president‘s speech which did not form part of the congress package due to an error made by the printers. He then proposed to the congress to allow the process of printing and distribution of minutes to all affiliate delegates to be completed before the presentation and adoption of minutes could happen, and appealed to the congress to uses that time by allowing the president of the federation to present his opening address.

The proposal by the Acting General Secretary was moved by SADTU and Seconded by SATAWU, POPCRU and SACTWU.

8. Acknowledgement of guest

The Acting General Secretary was requested to acknowledge all the guests present from the following organisations:-

National Civil Societies

International Guest

International Organisations operating in South Africa

Alliance Partners and its Leagues

Students formations

Youth Formations

Women and Gender Formations

Institutions supporting and promoting trade union and human rights

Members of parliaments

Former COSATU NOB’s and members

Other federations

Government departments

Ambassadors from different embassies

Faith Based Organisations

9. Opening address by the president of COSATU

The President Cde S’dumo Dlamini in his opening Address alluded to the following.

FEDUSA and NACTU were given a special gratitude by the President of COSATU for supporting the federation in time of needs and for refusing to work against COSATU.

Thanked Faith Based Organisation – for their prayers which kept the federation going.

Acknowledged the support of all the organisations, national and international that stood with COSATU during difficult times.

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Thanked 1, 9 million members of the federation and its unions for refusing to form another federation but resolved to achieve UNITY IN COSATU and stand together to defend the glorious movement of workers.

Condemned those who were pumping money from outside countries to destroy the workers’ organisation and thank those who did not fall in the trap and not give in for money.

Urged workers not to buy books written about COSATU without COSATU which were published on the eve of the 12th National Congress and pleaded with the workers to continuously not support those who are out in arms to destroy the federation.

Condemned media for feeding wrong information about thousands of congress delegates rejecting the credentials to the public which was not true.

The Mining Industry workers being in danger of retrenchments and on the need to stand together and defend the workers.

The 3500 workers at Nyamazane who were on strike for three weeks fighting for the recognition of union and urged workers to stand together as trade unions and fight with them.

Thanked the current government for assisting in the textile industry which was suppose to retrench thousands of workers, he sighted that the assistance is not enough but highly appreciated the effort.

That Government Interventions should be done as well at Dunlop which recently closed down and that global economic crisis impact negatively on the workers.

He warned the ANC government on behalf of the congress and CEC not to interfere with Workers Provident and Retirement Funds without consulting the workers noting that it is workers money that they have worked for very hard. COSATU will apply for Section 77 if government does not listen on this matter.

That there is an Urgent need for Comprehensive Social Security Plan in South Africa and that workers are aware of the draft document that has been lying in the shelves for past years collecting dust instant of it being used to help and protect those workers who are no longer active in the economy.

He then pleaded with workers to Free Themselves and Save Themselves from being used and bought by money.

That there is no COSATU without COSATU unions and emphasised on the importance of strengthening COSATU campaigns.

He proposed to the congress to amend the constitution to empower NOBs of COSATU to intervene when there are challenges in the affiliates and allow them to speak to members of affiliates direct.

Thanked the unions for making sure that congress took place and for donating resources including t-shirts.

Thanked NOBs for the solid two terms that they have served in the federation.

The president then duly opened the National Congress after his deliberation. See annexure “B” for a detailed speech.7 | P a g e

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After the opening address, the 1st Deputy President allowed IEC to take through the Congress on processes of National Office Bearers Elections.

10. Process to elect the new COSATU NOBs by the IEC

The IEC explained to the congress that nominations for the election of National Office Bearers were opened on 1 November – 16 November 2015

Nominated candidates:

President - Sidumo Dlamini

1st Deputy President - Tyotyo James

2nd Deputy President - Zingiswa Losi

General Secretary - Bheki Ntshalintshali

Treasurer - Freda Oosthuysen

Contestation:-

Deputy General Secretary Solly Phetoe

Oscar Phaka

After presentation from IEC the president allowed the congress to deliberate on the matter.

NUM proposed closure on nominations Seconded by SATAWU

SACTWU proposed closure on nominations to allow affiliates to find each other on the vacant position.

SAMWU proposed to close the nominations where there are no contestations and concentrate on the vacant position seconded by NEHAWU, SASBO and POPCRU seconded with addition that the nominations be opened for DGS position till 10h00 the next day.

SADTU proposed that DGS position should remain open for two hours after the debate.

CEPPWAWU agreed to close nominations on other positions, but extend time till 10h00 on the 24/11/2015 on the DGS position.

FAWU seconded by SACCAWU proposed the reopening of the nominations for all positions and close them at 10h00 on day two of the National Congress.

FAWU proposed that if there are two motions, delegates have to vote and cannot allow the table to make a final decision.

SATAWU, SADTU, NUM, NEHAWU and SASBO agreed to vote on the matter to protect the federation legally from any disputes which might arise after the National Congress.

After a lengthy debate on the constitution, the National Congress finally agreed to vote by show of hands in line with clause 5.6.2 of the constitution.

Moved by POPCRU Seconded by LIMUSA

The National Congress agreed to halt the debate and processes of voting and allow the ANC President to speak to the delegates.

11. Key note address by the ANC President

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The President of COSATU welcomed the ANC President Cde Jacob Zuma on stage to deliver his key note address to the National Congress delegates.

ANC President in his speech alluded to the following:

- Apologised that he is not going to be long as he is supposed to go to another country Angola.

- The Congress is convened under the most appropriate theme stating that the unity of COSATU is imperative.

- Delegates to put interest of the federation and workers first.

- Emphasised on the importance of the unity of the Alliance and on the July 2015 Alliance summit.

- That the Alliance emerged out of the struggles that it can have difficulties but should protect the alliance which is very unique globally.

- Working Class is situated within a system of capitalism.

- That the end of class division in the country depends on COSATU.

- Unions have a right to differ on issues but they should remain united and be able to identify the real friends of COSATU.

- COSATU is not and has never been a political party but a trade union federation to defend the rights of workers.

- He made mention of three things that makes a country strong Political power, Economic power and Security power.

- This congress should be able to put behind its differences and emerge out of it very strong.

- That the ANC mandate is not to get rid of classes but creates a system to strike a balance between classes.

- That the ANC is for National Democratic Revolution and not Socialism.

After the address by the ANC President, the President of COSATU extended vote of thanks and presented the President of the ANC with a gift on behalf of the congress. See Annexure “C” for a detailed speech. The National Congress proceeded with the debate on leadership elections.

The chairperson cautioned the congress that it could not reopen nominations on all positions that have been declared unopposed and further ruled that the delegates shall vote by show of hands on the two motions pertaining to nominations.

The IEC outlined the two motions that delegates needed to vote on which were:

1st Motion: All positions to be reopened for nominations till 10h00 on 24/11/2015

2nd Motion: To open nominations only for the position of the Deputy General Secretary till 10h00 on 24/11/2015

The chairperson invited the National Congress delegates to formally adopt the two motions.

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SATAWU moved for the 2nd motion that says “ only open nominations for the position of the Deputy General Secretary up until 10h00 on 24/11/2015” seconded by POPCRU/SAMWU/SASBO/NUM/NEHAWU/LIMUSA/SADTU/DENOSA.

FAWU moved for the “reopening of all positions for nominations” but could not be seconded by any affiliate.

The IEC presiding officer was then invited to conduct voting on the two motions

The IEC presiding officer requested all participants that are in favour of opening nominations for the position of the Deputy General Secretary only to SIT DOWN and those in favour of opening all nominations for all positions to STAND UP.

None of the delegates stood up therefore the decision was to open nominations up until 10h00 a.m on 24/11/2015 for the position of the Deputy General Secretary only.

The National Congress adjourned at 20h45 on the first day.

Day Two of the congress - 24/11/2015

The National Congress reconvened on the second day at 10h00, chaired by the 2nd Deputy President comrade Zingiswa Losi.

12. Secretariat report:

The 2nd Deputy President invited the Acting General Secretary to the podium to present his report. Before he could present the report, SACCAWU reminded the congress of the Special National Congress Minutes which were not finalised. The congress agreed to deal with the adoption of the Special National Congress minutes after its perusal by all affiliates.

The Acting General Secretary was then allowed by the congress to proceed with his presentation. He then acknowledged SAFPU who joined the congress on the 2nd day.

On the Reports:-

The Acting General Secretary presented the report to the national congress and further reminded the congress that it was long circulated to affiliates to enable thorough discussions in their union structures. Amongst other issues covered by the report, the following were raised:

That there is a need for introspection as the organisation of why the resolution on Young Workers has not been implemented, and why the federation has not yet managed to commit on student movement campaign.

That we should be able to assess the political dynamics and precisely define our posture in the government elections.

To engage thoroughly on the issue of corruption and on how to combat it in our movement, political parties, government and private sector.

To strive for Africa Free of poverty , unemployment and inequalities.

He then proposed that the congress focus much on the recommendations of the report and that it should discuss them simultaneously with the resolutions.

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After the presentation of the AGS the congress agreed to pause on the discussions of the report and allow SANCO and SACP to give their messages of support, thereafter allow IEC to outline the election process.

NUM moved and seconded by NEHAWU.

NB: The 2nd Deputy President requested the congress delegates to respect each other when interacting on issues she then requested SACCAWU to withdraw its statement on “voting cows” and SADTU on “pop stars and idols” both unions withdrew their statements unreservedly in the spirit of building unity and respect moving forward.

13. Address by SANCO

The General Secretary of SANCO cde Skhumbuzo Mpanza tendered an apology from SANCO’s President who could not make it to this important National Congress of the workers and further alluded to the following:

Reminded congress of the wise words from the two presidencies (ANC/COSATU).

Condemned media for spreading lies to the world about the collapsing of the congress.

That the enemy is all out to destroy the alliance and the need to defend it.

Warned delegates not to buy newspapers that are reporting lies about this glorious movement; he then wished the congress all the best and successful deliberations.

He then wished the congress all the success.

14. IEC on processes of nominations

The IEC announced to the congress that nominations will close on the 24/11/2015 at 10h00 and that there were only two nominations for the position of the Deputy General Secretary as:

- Solly Phetoe

- Oscar Phaka

He further announced that elections were to be conducted on the 25/11/2015.

15. Address by SACP

The General Secretary of the SACP Cde Blade Nzimande was welcomed on stage by the chair of the session and in his speech he made emphasis on the following:

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Greeted the congress delegates on behalf of 249 000 SACP members and encouraged delegates to continue to join the party.

Urged workers to be worried about rumours suggesting that the SACP and COSATU no longer add value to the alliance.

That challenges facing our country requires unity in the alliance.

That the agenda to derail the NDR is not going to succeed.

Reminded the congress that history of existing society is the history of class struggle.

On challenges of financing higher education and the need to have joint campaign as the alliance to force business to finance higher education of this country.

That 21 year of our democracy must reflect our experiences and experiences of other liberation movements.

On our failure to transform the state and the colonial economy.

That ANC biggest victory was to unite the African people.

That COSATU and SACP relationship is not just a relationship in the boardroom but a struggle for socialism.

On the importance of COSATU joining campaign against evictions of workers from their houses.

That SACP and COSATU should have joint campaign against outsourcing of workers in the universities and congratulated NEHAWU for taking that struggle forward.

He wished the congress all the success.

See annexure marked “D” for a detailed speech

The President of COSATU thanked SACP and SANCO General Secretaries for delivering powerful, encouraging and unifying messages to the delegates and all workers of South Africa. He then presented the two speakers with COSATU Blankets as a token of appreciation.

16. Discussions on Secretariat report and Recommendations

After lengthy discussions on recommendations from the secretariat report, the national congress agreed on the following programme of action:

On Domestic and International balance of forces:

- To strengthen relationships with federations in BRICS countries

- To strengthen South to South relations with federations

- BRICS countries to call for a trade union Summit

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- To support the detailed analysis of the socio-economic and political development and the role of China and its Communist Party as captured in the General Secretary’s political report.

- To develop a program on influx of refugees that will assist refugees noting they are coming from the working class.

- Border Management Agency to be located within the public service and not outside the public service.

- To enhance a program of action on Swaziland campaigns with the ANC as a political party to take a lead and not as government.

- BRICS :-

a. Should be seen as an alternative hegemonic bloc which strengthen South – South relations. This must not mean lowering our guard to fight and push to secure working class interest even in the context of what may appear as being progressive and revolutionary.

b. SACP should develop relations with other communist parties in BRICS countries

c. We need to study the subjective weaknesses existing in each of the BRICS countries.

d. We must build relations with trade union movements and communist parties in BRICS countries.

e. Trade patterns and what they mean for the working class solidarity towards a just and fair world trade system.

f. Development of alternative sources of Development Finance- workers perspective on the BRICS Development Bank.

g. On the position and role of BRICS trade unions to shape the agenda in the interest of social justice and ensure that it is a people’s cantered development.

On China:

- The National Congress noted the emergence of China as a second largest global economy under the leadership of the communist party.

Developments in Cuba:

- To undertake a study tour to understand current developments in Cuba.

- To welcome the improvement of the diplomatic relations between USA and Cuba.

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- This remains meaningless in the context of the continuing economic blockade by the USA. We call on the USA to stop this inhuman act against Cuban people.

On Alliance the National Congress reaffirmed that:

- Alliance is still relevant and remains a strategic terrain which COSATU must contest.

- It must function at all levels on a daily basis and not merely for election purposes.

- Alliance Summit resolutions must be implemented, monitored and evaluated at all times.

- Alliance partners should not just be told on the policy but should form part in the development of the policy.

- The congress noted the role of Alliance components and that the main mandate of COSATU is to organise the unorganised workers therefore political affiliation should not be a pre- requisite for workers.

- To have joint alliance campaigns on issues such as E-Tolls and the ANC should not be selective on these campaigns.

- Alliance must be a strategic political centre.

- Congress supported the detailed recommendations on how to strengthen and build the Alliance as recommended in the Secretariat’s political report.

- To urgently convene an economic alliance summit which will on among others address the issues raised by COSATU and the SACP in the NDP, to have a focused discussion on what should be the content of radical economic transformation.

- Strengthening the Alliance through back to basic campaign; dynamic link between state power and mass power; practise mass line; forcing accountability of deployees on the implementation of progressive policies; through keeping dynamic contact with COSATU deployees.

On the SACP, the NDR and the struggle for Socialism:

- Congress acknowledged the unifying speech by the General Secretary of the SACP.

- Congress noted that the main mandate of the ANC is to deliver NDR and it has executed its responsibility very well therefore the SACP should lead the working class to the Socialist Society.

- One view says that the NDR is itself a class contested process in which the working class must assert its leadership through practical struggles on the ground.

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- The other view on the NDR and Socialism is captured in page 7 to page 14 of the secretariat report which emphasises that on the SACP and state power, congress reaffirms the 9th Congress Resolution and shall be guided by the SACP ‘s Special National Congress Resolution in this regard.

- SACP is under attack by capital and other opponents and COSATU should defend the SACP and its leadership.

On the ANC 2017 Congress:

- COSATU and entire alliance should not prematurely engage on the 2017 debate and should rather focus on the program of action.

- Reaffirm the Polokwane resolution and traditions that, ANC Presidents are succeeded by the Deputy Presidents.

- This issue must be further engaged upon by the CEC as needed.

On Local Government Elections:

- The congress adopted the resolution on 2016 local government elections as outlined in the discussion document pg 14.

- COSATU to ensure ANC victory, set aside resources, develop a program of action and Leaders of Affiliates/federation to lead the program.

On struggle for free education:

- National Congress applauded SASCO for taking a lead during the #feesmustfall campaign and supporting NEHAWU outsourcing campaign.

- To have joint campaigns with Progressive Youth Alliance [PYA] to intensify the struggle for free education and link these struggles to change the neo-liberal policy paradigm which is the cause of our failure to translate the dream of free education into reality.

- To convene an urgent education summit to address issues relating to the realisation of free education, transformation of the curriculum and availability of resources.

On Basic Education:

- To revisit our resolution on people’s education for peoples power

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- The national congress supports the resolution of SADTU against Annual National Assessment (ANA).

- To have a radical program that will revolutionalize education.

On Skills Development:

- Government must intervene to ensure that the SETAs deliver upon their mandates and spend their budgets to ensure that workers receive the necessary training to help find decent employment.

- SETAs programs must be geared towards meeting the skills gap and supporting the industrialisation of the economy.

On Economic Development:

- Policies not benefiting the growth of the economy should be revisited.

On E-Tolls:

- Access to public roads must not be privatised again.

- Reject the incorporation of the licensing of cars.

- Relook on packaging the campaign on Etoll, COSATU to do lots of noise as government intervention is not assisting.

On Corruption:

- There must be a COSATU anti-corruption platform which is controlled under the leadership of structures of COSATU.

On Youth Wage Subsidy:

- Noting that majority of Youth Wage Subsidy funds have gone to labour brokers. COSATU must file a section 77 at NEDLAC declaring its opposition to the youth wage subsidy and calling for its end.

- We need a radical campaign against privatization which goes beyond section77 based protests but a revolutionary protest similar to #feesmustfall campaign.

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On Job Losses:

- Government must intervene to stop the large numbers of job losses in the mining sector and where necessary to cancel the mining licenses of mining companies retrenching workers.

Public Service Bargaining Agreements:

- Government departments must stop undermining collective bargaining agreements reached with unions.

State Owned Enterprises:

- SOEs must stop outsourcing, labour broking, retrenchments and other unfair labour practises.

- Government must intervene to end such abuses at SOEs.

- Treasury must ensure that the SOEs are properly funded to fulfil their developmental and decent work agenda.

Police Killings:

- Government must tighten the Criminal Procedures Act and SAPS Act to further defend SAPS members. Bail conditions and sentences of persons who attack and kill SAPS members must be significantly tightened.

- The Fire Arms Act must be stringently tightened to reduce the amount of fire arms in South Africa. Government must crack down on illegal fire arms. Government must act to massively reduce the amount of fire arms in South Africa.

Transformation of the Criminal Justice:

- The campaign must focus on the entire value chain of the criminal value chain in the criminal justice system. Which include investigation, prosecution; conviction, correctional services.

- The system remains littered with personnel from the Apartheid era.

- Address issues of capacity in the system.

On Liberation movement:

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- To draw lesson on what happens to the relationship between trade unions /working class and the liberation movement post independence.

- To relate these experiences on the current challenges confronting the alliance and the liberation movement as a whole.

- Existing lessons can be drawn from Zambia under the leadership of Chiluba, the toppling and assassination of Sankara, Limumba etc.

- Other lessons must also include weaknesses of communist parties particularly with regard to how they have tended to be more inward looking as against building strategic alliances in society.

On Political education:

- Political education which is linked to campaigns on the ground.

17. Awards Ceremony

Elijah Barayi Awards were given to the following organisations and comrades:

CUBAN 5

The CUBAN 5 were not present to receive the award and it was received by an Ambassador of Cuba in South Africa on behalf of the CUBAN 5.

The congress lead by POPCRU choir rendered a song to honour the CUBAN 5 as they were receiving their Award after being released from being sentenced to life.

The Ambassador thanked COSATU and its affiliates for acknowledging the CUBAN 5 with an important award for fighting for peace and against injustice. He further emphasised that the CUBAN 5 and people of CUBA were quite aware of the important role played by the people of South Africa in ensuring that the Cuban 5 are released.

The Ambassador of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela received an award on behalf of the people of Venezuela in honour of the Bolivarian President comrade Chavas for his excellent role in supporting the other countries in their struggles

Long serving Staff Member in the Federation with 35years was comrade Bonolo Maseko.

Long serving shop stewards - 40years as a shop steward was Sibongile Buthelezi.18 | P a g e

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Long serving staff members of COSATU with 20years and more were:

Libuseng Pakose

Jabulile Tshehla

Nhlanhla Ngwenya

COSATU staff members who served the federation for 10 years and more:

Hepworth Moyikwa

Alfred Mafuleka

Progress Hlungwane

Johanna Tshabalala

Baldwin Nelwamondo

Daniel Mosito

Mike Louw

Bongani Masuku

Zakhele Cele

There was no nomination for the longest serving Office Bearer, only the General Secretary of SACCAWU who received his award during the 11th National Congress.

18. Address by the Minister of Economic Development Ebrahim Patel:

The minister of Economic Development alluded to the following:

- Reminded the congress delegates about 30years ago, Sunday in 1985 when a powerful organisation was born and that the 2nd biggest affiliate was SACCAWU

- That COSATU resolved then that RDP should be the 1st program to be implemented by the ANC government

- On the role played by COSATU in relation to the Constitution of the RSA

- That 3yrs ago COSATU supported the infrastructure and Industrialisation policy

He then made his power point presentation on Economic Development. In his input he showed that both progress and challenges in implementing the New Growth Path, infrastructural development program.

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The congress adjourned at 20h10 on the second day.

DAY 3 25/11/ 2015:

Chaired by the President of COSATU

Congress reconvened at 9h50 on the third day.

The President reminded the congress that the 25th November marks the beginning of the campaign adopted by the country and the whole world on the 16 th Days of Activism against Gender Based Violence, the campaign that should be running for 365 day, noting that women abuse rate is still high in our country.

Employers choose not to recognise that women constitute more than 60 % of the country’s population and COSATU should continue to protect children and women from all forms of violence and discrimination and all members of the society who live with disabilities.

The congress raised a concern on food served by the service provider which caused stomach bugs and some comrades were even taken to hospital for further examination. Administration was assigned to raise the matter with the manager.

19. Address by Minister of Labour

The President of COSATU welcomed the Minister of Labour to address the workers; in her speech she highlighted the following issues:

- Labour law amendments.

- 70 % unorganised workers with 185 registered trade unions.

- Commercialization of trade unions in our country.

- Encouraged workers to use CCMA trainings.

- COSATU to refer to the manifesto of ANC 2009 in relation to the labour brokers.

- Some affiliates in their collective bargaining agreements agreed that labour brokers must continue and pay skills levy for the shop stewards training.

- That some unions have investments on E-Tolls and Eskom.

- Organisers should protect workers at all cost and use institutions that have been established.

See more detailed speech in annexure marked “E”

20. Messages of Support:

The national congress also received messages of support from the following organisations:

20.1. WFTU

- Representative conveyed greetings to the congress from the 92 million members, 196 countries and from the delegation of Indian workers with 80million members.

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20.2. President of PUDEMO Cde Mario Masuku who was detained and now released on bail.

He appreciated the support and solidarity from COSATU, all workers of South Africa and other International organisations which enabled him to be part of the congress

Informed the congress that his bail conditions do not allow him to address the public and he’s not allowed to leave Swaziland, he was allowed to leave for medical consultation purposes.

Appreciated the Award given by Mpumalanga COSATU province to one of their leaders.

Appreciated solidarity extended by the Tripartite Alliance of South Africa and believes that one day Swaziland shall be free from Mswati’s regime.

Thanked the late former 1st Deputy President of COSATU comrade Chris Dlamini for the role that he played towards Swazi people.

That Swazis will continue with their struggles for the unconditional release of all political prisoners, Swazi Communist party, return of all the exiles of Swaziland and the unbanning of TUCOSWA.

He then wished the congress well.

20.3. OATUU-Comrade Alex Bonney conveyed greetings from his organisation and:

Thanked COSATU for the invitation.

Appreciated our country for producing a global icon the late Nelson Mandela.

Reminded the congress that the basic organising principles of the labour movement are to build cohesion labour groups to minimise fragmentation.

That the enhanced unity and cohesion in COSATU will lead to effective mobilisation of workers and public in general.

That unity is a necessity for the success of the common cause of struggle for the liberation of common people.

That OATUU will constantly support COSATU in its struggles for positive change and bright future for all South Africans.

21. IEC

The presiding officer announced on the processes of voting after the messages of support.

- The congress agreed that each affiliate should send one observer.

- 18 affiliates with a total of 2553 delegates were expected to vote.

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22. Congress Resolutions:

SACTWU General Secretary reported to the congress that Deputy General Secretaries of affiliates met on evening of the 24th /11/2015 to discuss processes of dealing with resolutions to save time, however the congress agreed not to reduce the congress discussions to the few leaders of affiliates but open it up to the congress.

22.1. A New Vision and Long Term Plan for the Federation:

The congress adopted the resolution on a new vision and long term plan and further agreed that the CEC should evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the 2015 plan as adopted by the 8th National Congress and develop a plan that will take the federation forward.

22.2. Democratic accountability in COSATU:

The resolution was formally withdrawn by SASBO.

22.3. Expulsion of the former COSATU General Secretary:

The congress agreed to discuss the resolution under item of Appeals.

22.4. The establishment of the COSATU Youth Forum:

The congress adopted this resolution in principle and also agreed on the following processes:-

- To establish youth Forum.

- Constitutional implications be deferred to CEC for further discussions.

- Its implementation to be guided by organisational principles.

- COSATU to take the issue of young workers seriously and have clear resolutions that gives hope to the young workers.

- COSATU young workers to start to mobilise young people in high schools , universities and institutions of higher learning to facilitate the relationship that will help them when they are employed to understand the world of work.

22.5. Wage Subsidy

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- The resolution was rejected and the congress agreed that it needs to be reworked and it should have more emphasis on skills development.

22.6. Discussion document on young workers

- The document was noted by the congress and the congress acknowledged that it needs to be strengthened; to include young workers campaigning areas and challenges such as Youth Unemployment, Youth Wage subsidy etc, for tabling in the first CEC.

22.7. Youth Employment Accord

- The congress agreed that CEC must conduct an urgent audit on the Youth employment Accord.

22.8. Youth Subsidy

- The congress acknowledged that Youth Subsidy has not succeeded and agreed on an Urgent need for COSATU to intensify the campaign.

22.9. Macro / Micro Economic issues and the NDP

- The congress resolved on the need for the development of the simplified document on the COSATU Growth Path to enable members to engage with confidence on economic matters in all spheres and fight against retrenchment.

22.10. Wealth Tax and IPAP 2

- The congress resolved on a strong campaign on Wealth Tax and Industrial Policy Action Plan2 (IPAP2) to include all sectors and manufacturing should be prioritised.

22.11. State Own Enterprise/ Parastatals

To ensure that Parastatals do not appoint people who are not capable and that transformation should be key in this area.

22.12. Local Procurement

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The congress resolved on an urgent need to ensure that South Africa use local supplied goods more than exported one from other countries.

22.13. Equal Pay for Work of Equal Value

The resolution was sponsored by NUM and seconded by SACTWU.

22.14. Women Development Fund

The congress agreed that lessons need to be learned from the Youth Development fund, this resolution was supported with amendments that: COSATU should revive Progressive Women Movement of South Africa (PWMSA); Ensure that this resolution find expression and lobbying in the ANCWL for inclusion at this level; To enable women to participate in the history of the economy across the board, which seek to empower women in the 2nd phase of transition with the special emphasis and focus on rural women. Sponsored by NUM seconded SACTWU/SAMWU/FAWU.

22.15. Banning of Labour Brokers

- The congress emphasised that there is no confusion between Ban and Regulate.

- Congress reaffirms the standing resolution on Banning of labour brokers.

- COSATU to resuscitate the struggle against labour brokers.

- Audit on the impact of labour brokers in COSATU affiliated unions should be done urgently.

22.16. Taxi Violence

- DOL must enforce Sectoral Determination and LRA provisions in taxi industry.

- SAPS must crack down on criminal elements in taxi sector.

- COSATU to have a campaign directed on violence in the taxi industry, as people and workers are dying.

- A need for transformation in taxi industry, requirement for local procurement of taxis made in S.A and the integration of public transport system on all roads was emphasised by the congress.

22.17. Employment advisory board

A need to review the policy on appointment of advisory boards was identified by the congress.

22.18. HIV and AIDS

- The resolution was adopted with amendment to include TB as part of the disease that need to be given priority.

- COSATU to partner with ILO on HIV and AIDS, VCT and leaders of our unions should take a leading role in this campaign.

22.19. Strengthen Health Care

The resolution was adopted with the following amendments:

- The heading to read “strengthening the free health care.”

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- Government to absorb home based care workers who are qualified and registered with the nursing council.

- COSATU to strengthen its campaign on primary health care.

- To fight for the opening of more nursing colleges, bursaries to be made available and the colleges to remain under the Department of Health.

- To have universal standards on nursing education.

- Hospitals to be effective and professional managed.

- COSATU to fight for an urgent release of the white paper on NHI.

22.20. Immigration control

- Border Management Agency Bill – to be amended and Border Management Agencies should form part of the departments in the public service.

- Workers should enjoy full labour and bargaining rights as provided for by the LRA.

- Department of Health should be capacitated to deal with migration issues.

- No outsourcing of border management services.

- Borders and ports corruption to be dealt with immediately.

- No private security must be allowed to manage borders and ports.

- Not to allow flooding of cheap imports to kill local industries and manufacturing.

- A need on improvement of Infrastructure to be able to deal with safety issues is urgent.

- To deal with corrupt employers and Immigration officials who exploit undocumented migrant workers.

The congress adjourned at 21h40 on 25/11/2015

Day Four 26/11/2015:

The fourth day was chaired by the 1st Deputy President and the congress continued with the resolutions.

22.21. Post Office and Telkom

- The congress noted that there is no political will from the ANC led government on this matter and that workers have been casualised for the past 31years.

- COSATU to call for 100% utilisation of post office by government.

- ANC to implement its resolution of Mangaung that the Post Office should be a Post Bank.

22.22. Maternity Protection Position paper

- To have continuous discussions on Maternity Protection at NEDLAC.

- To note that other countries are now talking about 12months maternity leave.

- The paper should emphasise on 10 days paternity leave.

- COSATU to strengthen the campaign of ratification of maternity protection.

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- To embark on a campaign on young women entering the workplace on “Know your right.” The position paper was adopted, moved by SACCAWU seconded by SASBO/NUM.

22.23. Sexual Harassment and Reviewed Gender Policy

SACCAWU proposed for the adoption of the two policies seconded by NUM.

22.24. Constitutional Amendments

- The congress acknowledged that the constitution has been tested and that there is an urgent need for reform.

- SACCAWU was applauded and appreciated by the congress for the work they have done on the constitutional amendments however the congress felt that the interpretation of the constitution need legal advisers and expects.

The congress resolves on the following process:

- Constitutional Amendments be referred to the first CEC after the congress.

- CEC to appoint a political commission that will deal with all constitutional amendments and reform.

- The adoption and additions submitted by SACCAWU on gender structures be included in the constitution and seconded by SAMWU.

22.25. Unity and Cohesion

- COSATU to continue to practicalise the slogan of “An Injury to one is an Injury to all.”

- Continue to pledge solidarity amongst and across affiliates.

- Not to use numbers to dominate the structures of COSATU.

- Guard against leaders who want to be bigger than the people who elected them.

- Learn to give support to leaders elected.

The congress then agreed to defer all outstanding resolutions to the 1st CEC after congress.

Moved by SADTU, SATAWU, NEHAWU and SACTWU Seconded by NUM

Detailed adopted congress resolutions are marked as annexure “F”

23. APPEALS

23.1. NUMSA’s Appeal

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The Acting General Secretary outlined all the processes and what transpired in the CEC in relation to NUMSA. The congress noted the following:

- That the Special National Congress was preceded by the CEC decision to expel NUMSA.

- That the expulsion of NUMSA was informed by NUMSA contradicting provisions of the constitution.

- That NUMSA was expelled by the CEC for failure to abide by the founding principles of the federation.

- That the CEC did all in its power to deal with the matter amicably.

- That NUMSA was given a right to appeal but did not exercise that right.

After lengthy discussions, the congress confirmed the expulsion of NUMSA.

Moved by POPCRU Seconder: SADTU, SAMWU, SASBO, NUM, SATAWU, CEPPWAWU, NEHAWU & PAWUSA

FAWU propose to the congress that NUMSA be reinstated but was not seconded by any affiliate.

SACCAWU wanted the congress to place on record that expelling NUMSA from the federation was an incorrect decision but did not second FAWU on its motion.

The congress agreed to vote by show of hands on the decision of the congress to avoid future legal battles despite the fact that there was only one motion noting that FAWU’s proposal was not seconded.

The congress voted on two motions:

1) To confirm the expulsion of NUMSA from COSATU.

2) To reinstate NUMSA to COSATU.

Results:

In favour of motion 1(confirming the expulsion of NUMSA) was requested to stand and they equalled to – 904.

In favour of motion 2 ( to reinstate NUMSA) were requested to sit down and not fold arms and they equalled to – 67.

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23.2. Former General Secretary’s Appeal

The Acting General Secretary outlined all what transpired and the processes which led to the expulsion of the former General Secretary Cde Zwelinzima Vavi to the congress.

The congress noted the following:

-That there was an intention from the former GS to appeal but later he decided not to.

-That the former GS did not exercise his right to appeal to the congress.

-That the congress must differentiate between employees and members of the federation.

-That the former General Secretary failed to appeal and therefore has subjected himself to the expulsion.

Given the above mentioned facts, the congress confirmed the expulsion of the former General Secretary.

Mover: NEHAWU

Seconder: SADTU, CEPPWAWU, SATAWU and NUM

FAWU urged the congress not rush in confirming the dismissal but to go deeper into discussing the underlying factors.

SACCAWU seconded FAWU citing that this matter should be dealt with as a political issue.

Given the fact that there were two motions, the congress agreed to vote on the expulsion of the former General Secretary.

Voting results:

Delegates who voted in favour of the expulsion of the former General Secretary equalled to - 1183

Delegates not in favour of the expulsion of the former General Secretary equalled to - 87

Delegates who abstained equalled to - 27

Total voters = 1297

24. Minutes of the special national congress:

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Noting that the minutes of the Special National Congress were not adopted, the congress agreed to defer them to the next 1st CEC after the congress.

Mover: SACCAWU and seconded by CEPPWAWU & FAWU

NB:-SACCAWU appealed to the National Congress to desist from songs which promote gender imbalances and degrade individuals.

The President emphasised the point made by SACCAWU and that the practice is foreign to COSATU.

25. FINANCE REPORT:

The National Treasurer Cde Freda Oosthuysen tabled the finance report to the congress.

23.1. The congress raised the following issues:-

- Condemned the tendency of unions not paying dues as expected.

- That lack of payment by some affiliates contributes negatively to the federation and the continuity of its programmes

- Congress pleaded with affiliate treasurers who do not attend FINCOM to start doing so.

- The congress sought clarity on the disclaimer of opinions

SADTU clarified the congress that auditors always provide the standard practice on issues that they are unable to audit like donations as they only depend on what is provided by the unions/federation hence the disclaimer.

The National Treasurer further explained that auditors audit the stable income and expenditure of the federation and donations are a once off payment pending on the activities of the federation.

DENOSA sought further clarity in relation to failure to meet the requirements as per International Audit Standards [IAS] 27.

SADTU clarified the congress that COSATU is required to audit all its entities, including buildings and board of directors involved. This matter need to be addressed urgently by CEC.

After thorough discussions and answers given on the financial statement, the national congress adopted the finance report.

Mover: NUM

Seconder: SADTU, NEHAWU & DENOSA

26. CONGRESS DECLARATION:

The Acting General Secretary read the declaration; the congress adopted the draft and mandated the CEC to adopt the final draft with amendments.

Congress Declaration is attached as annexure marked “G”

27. NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE DECLARATION:

The congress appreciated the draft and agreed with the Acting General Secretary’s proposal to defer it to the 1st CEC to clean the resolve part of the declaration.

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Mover : DENOSA

Seconder: SASBO

National Minimum Wage Declaration is attached as annexure marked “H”

28. ELECTION ANNOUNCEMENTS

Observers from all affiliates confirmed to the congress that the voting process was free and fair.

The IEC announced the new National office Bearers as follows:

President Sidumo Mbongeni Dlamini [uncontested]

1st Deputy President Tyotyo Gilbert James [uncontested]

2nd Deputy President Zingiswa Phylis Losi [uncontested]

General Secretary Bheki Ntshalintshali [uncontested]

Treasurer Freda Veleminah Oosthuysen [uncontested]

Deputy General Secretary:

2484 voting delegates participated which is 95% of the voting delegates and the results were as follows:

Solly Phetoe received 1679 Votes

Oscar Phaka received 677 Votes

14 Spoilt

1 Abstained

No Cancellations

29. CLOSING ADDRESS BY THE NEW PRESIDENT OF COSATU

Cde Sidumo Dlamini the newly elected President of COSATU:-

-Thanked all delegates, guest, alliance partners, staff members and affiliates for contributing in the success of the congress.

-Urged delegates to go back to basics, building on the firm foundation of the 12th

National Congress.

-To be visible on the ground ,to organise, service and defend workers.

-Welcomed Cde Solly Phetoe to the NOBs collective.

-Thanked delegates for achieving unity and cohesion of COSATU in the congress.

-Reminded the delegates that media was not chased out of the congress for 4 days to afford them an opportunity to report factually to the public but they have disappointed as usual.

-Reaffirmed that not a single union of COSATU Investment Arm is guilty of investing on labour brokering.

-Promised the congress that he will make follow ups with the Minister of Labour to give the federation facts in relation to her statement on investments.

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-He then wished everyone the best and that we should continue to build unity on the ground and declared the National Congress officially closed at 17h51 on 26/11/2015.

Amandla!!!

1.1. House Rules- Annexure A

ANNEXTURE “A”

COSATU HOUSE RULES - As Adopted by the Congress 2015

All delegates shall be punctual and disciplined , and it is the responsibility of the Affiliates to ensure that this is the case ;

Only delegates with name-tags will be allowed inside the congress hall;

Cell-phones should be switched off during congress proceedings;

No disruptions during congress proceedings will be tolerated;

No firearms or traditional weapon shall be allowed into the congress venue and any object that may harm will not be allowed;

No alcohol, cigarette or drugs shall be allowed into the congress hall and no smoking of illegal substance for the duration of the congress will be tolerated;

Queries regarding logistical arrangements or other related issues to be done during breaks;

Singing against any leader of the Federation is divisive and will not be allowed;

No showing of signs that seeks to open the debate on leadership of the Federation will be allowed;

No displaying of any posters , wearing of t-shirts, or circulation of material in support of any candidate in the COSATU election will be allowed;

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No subject may be debated for longer than one hour;

Debate and discussions shall be guided by the standing orders and rules of producer at Federation meetings in terms of clause 11 of the constitution

1.2. Opening Address by COSATU President – Annexure B

ANNEXURE “B”

Opening Address by COSATU President Comrade Sidumo Dlamini at the 12th National Congress, held from the 23rd - 26th November 2015

23 November, Ghallager Estate, Midrand, Gauteng

Members of the Central Executive Committee,The delegation of the ANC led by President Jacob ZumaThe delegation of the SACP led by the General Secretary comrade Blade Nzimande,The delegation of SANCO led by its President comrade Richard MdakaneThe delegation of the ANC Women`s League led by its President Bathabile DlaminiThe delegation of the ANCYL led by its President comrade Collen MaineThe National Secretary of the Young Communist League, comrade Mluleki Dlelanga and your delegationThe President of SASCO comrade Ntuthuko Makhombothi and your delegation;The General Secretary of COSAS comrade Mondli Skosana and your delegation;The President of FEDUSA Koos Bezuidenhout and your delegation;The President of NACTU Joseph Maqhekeni and your delegation;The General Secretary of ITUC comrade Sharon Burrow and your delegationThe General Secretary of the WFTU comrade George Mavrikos and your delegation;Our distinguished International guests;

Please accept revolutionary greetings on behalf of the millions of COSATU members

We give special greetings to the delegates drawn from all COSATU unions coming from all the economic sites of our country where they are organised and waging relentless struggles against employers and our class enemies. You come here representing the common aspirations of millions of workers organised within and outside of COSATU.

We want to thank all our members all over the country for remaining firm and for keeping the flag of COSATU flying high. Even during the most difficult times in our organisation you were never shaken, you stood firm occupying the front ranks in defence of your federation.

When they were recruiting you to form new unions outside of COSATU, you said no we know our home!

When they called for the formation of a new federation you told them that we currently have 180 registered trade unions in South Africa, and that there are currently 23 registered trade union federations in the country. This means enough divisions which weakens workers unity. Forming yet another federation when we are supposed to unite the existing federations is absurd

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Those who are forming a new federation are nothing else but power mongers who want to remain leaders perpetually. They think that trade unions are milk cows which must be used to advance personal business interests.

Just yesterday, these divisive characters stood in platforms presenting themselves as being principled super revolutionaries and talked about unity of workers condemning those who were forming new unions and new federations.

We are refusing to believe that FEDUSA and NACTU are part of the nefarious plans to form a new federation aimed at destroying COSATU.

If this is true, we want to communicate a single and simple message to all of you, you will fail as those who came before you also failed spectacularly. Don`t stand on our way we will crush you!

Comrades, COSATU is emerging from a dark period of manufactured organisational challenges into a period of bright sunshine characterised by robustness, organisational unity and cohesion.

We come from a period where we had to choose between a union with big numbers but which had taken a decision to undermine and destroy COSATU. We were patient, we tried to reason, we sent comrades to talk sense to the leadership of this union, we had alliance partners talking to them and it was all in vein. Finally we chose COSATU!

We come from a period where we had to choose between the cult of personality which has been allowed to grow over many years and the organisation which had been built trough the sweat of workers over many years. Again we were patient and tolerated open defiance and ill discipline over a long time. We spent monies of the organisation, which could have been used for other programmes and paid facilitators and it was all in vein. Finally we chose COSATU!

We had to use worker`s money to defend the federation in the courts of law because people wanted to impose their minority views over the majority using the courts. As if this was not enough, the organisation had to live with the burden of servicing costly contracts, which had nothing to do with the core business of COSATU.

Those who signed these contracts are going around shouting that COSATU is in a crisis and are not explaining how it got there, because they were leading it at the time.

We said that one day the real truth about the essence of the challenges we have been going through will come out. They called us conspiracy theorists, when we said they were sponsored from outside to steal COSATU and use it for their narrow political projects. Today the country knows the real truth; the real plan which we refused to have executed in the name of our federation is out in the open.

We now know that USA was approached to provide VIP security to this very same former leader. We now know that a trip was taken to the USA to raise funds of forming a new federation against COSATU and a new political organisation to challenge the liberation movement.

We now know that many of our union leaders have been taken to the USA to undertake various trainings. We have raised these concerns directly in our meeting with the USA embassy.

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We now know that books have been funded and various articles written to deliberately spread misinformation against COSATU and paint a picture of an ongoing crisis in COSATU .

This is done by people who during the day stand in various platforms and proclaim to be revolutionaries that are anti-USA when in reality during the night away from the TV cameras and away from addressing rented mass meetings they are the agents of the Americans.

If we were to answer as to what the real crisis in COSATU has been, we will answer without any ambiguity that the real crisis in COSATU has been the existence of an illegitimate political agenda which was planned and driven from outside but was being imposed to coexist with the legitimate COSATU policies planned and driven from inside COSATU`s constitutional structures.

The two could not co-exit, the other one had to give way for the other and in this struggle COSATU won!

The glaring evidence of COSATU`s victory was seen in the Special National Congress, it was seen in the protests actions organised by the federation post the Special National Congress as it will be seen in this 12th National Congress.

This is a sign showing that even though we may not have reached our peak but we are definitely not weak!

No single individual must ever claim victory which has led us to the relative stability we see in COSATU today but the members of COSATU!

I still have vivid images of the historic Special National Congress held from the 13th-14th July this year, where workers stood up and said "we want to unequivocally declare that we want unity of COSATU.

They said, this federation remains a home of all workers and workers will be better organised under the leadership of COSATU.

They demanded discipline within the federation and in affiliates. They said, they want a COSATU that is based on its constitution and founding principles of one Country - One Federation, One Union - One Industry, Paid Up Membership, Worker Control, worker Solidarity, non-racialism and Unity.

Comrades we can report that all the unions who had decided to boycott the CEC have come back full force and were participating actively in preparations towards this 12th National Congress.

The two unions who have not yet attended the CEC tendered their apologies. We are still waiting for them to come to a meeting to deal with whatever concerns they have including the challenges in their structures.

Comrades we come to this 12th National Congress having travelled an odious path of our struggle. We carry scars, we had to endure insults, and we had to take political punches for deciding to stand in defence of COSATU. We had to accept new enemies in our lives rather than to make false friends whose hidden mission was to destroy COSATU.

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This National Congress must continue on the directives of the Special National Congress to re-affirm the character of COSATU as a militant and radical federation of trade unions, which is class oriented and that COSATU is not a political party.

We have come here to continue with the work of building a federation that must remain occupied with broad social and political issues, as well as the immediate concerns of its members. A federation which continuously strive to remain a social force for transformation.

We have to continue on the tasks given by the Special National Congress to continue building a COSATU whose influence on society remains based on its organised power, its capacity to mobilise, its socio-economic programme and policies and its participation in political and social alliances.

This Congress must take forward the instructions given by the Special National Congress to build a COSATU that remain committed to worker control and democracy, and to maintaining its independence being conscious of the dangers of being co-opted by employers and politicians.

This Congress must take forward the instructions of the Special National Congress to build a COSATU that must remain conscious about striking a balance between the immediate concerns of its members to the need for `stability` and `national development` without subordinating each to the other.

The Special National Congress said in keeping with the true traditions of our federation, we will now initiate a process of introspection; we will study how affiliates and COSATU structures operate in practice. This must be with the view to subsequently elaborating and enriching the content of our Back to Basics perspective, as discussed by the 11th Congress and the 2013 Organising and Bargaining conference.

We can say without fear of contradiction that we come here today to mark the 30th anniversary of COSATU with our heads up. Despite all the challenges we were going through but our unions remain having a deadly fighting capacity. Many of our unions could still rely on strikes as a weapon against employers.

The Department of Labour`s Report on Industrial Action in 2014 shows that over the period 2009 to 2014 there has been a constant increase in the number of reported strikes. In 2012 alone, there were 99 strikes; in 2013 there were 114 strikes. In 2013 alone, almost two thirds of all working days lost to industrial action were due to action taken by COSATU affiliates.

This year we saw public sector unions mounting one of the biggest march, which was followed by a resounding national day of action on the 7th October 2015 this year which left our enemies wondering if indeed it was true that COSATU is weak!

Comrades we must give a standing ovation to ourselves for the fact that we stood firm with COSATU members and defended this federation of Vuyisile Mini, of ;Lesley Masina, of Elijah Barayi, of Violet Seboni, of Allinah Rantsolase, Pretty Shuping ; of Ray Alexander, of Elizabeth Nanna Abrahams, of Elizabeth Mafikeng, of Ruth first and many others to whom we owe the very existence of this federation!

We stand here today on the 30th Anniversary Congress of our giant federation proud to tell you the members and owners of COSATU, that here is your organisation, here is

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your COSATU, we hand it over back to you still intact . We must continue to build it into strong organisation that is ready to mount a deadly offensive against our class enemies.

For us as workers, organisation is everything, without organisation we are dead. It is the only weapon we have at our disposal to confront our class enemies. We therefore need to always proceed from an understanding that building COSATU remains our first priority before everything else. There is no battle we can win without a strong organisation whose presence is visible and felt on the ground.

Comrades since 1994 our country has made enormous strides. We have a legislative framework which has allowed for more protection of workers` rights. In the recent past there had been the strengthening of the legislation to protect the rights of workers in the vulnerable sectors such as Domestic Workers; Hospitality sector; Contract cleaning ; Civil engineering sector ; Private security sector ;Taxi sector ; Wholesale and retail sector Farm Workers

Since 1994, access to health care has been improved with more than 1500 health facility infrastructure completed and thus making it possible for communities to access health care within a 5km radius of where they lived.

Government continues to support the automotive sector and the clothing and textile sector.

The number of social assistance beneficiaries has increased from 2.7 million people in 1994 to 16 million people in 2013.

Between 134 and 106 buses for Johannesburg and Cape Town Metros to be manufactured locally (minimum local content is 80%); Clothing, leather and footwear have been designated for 100% local procurement by government; 70% of capsules and tablets tender sourced locally;

But despite this progress our country continues to be engulfed by a variety of challenges. One of the greatest challenges that we are facing include violence against women and children. The year 2015 marks the 24th years of the Global campaign on the 16th days of activism against gender based violence. Whilst violence against women and children goes across racial and class divide but it is clear that it is rifer against women and children from the working class background.Poverty, inequality and unemployment are conditions under which violence thrives.

We have recently received painful reports that in Cape Town a young African lady was subjected to abhorrent dehumanisation, indecent assault and rape by two South African white men when she responded to the advert for employment. This is a province where the DA once referred to our people as refugees and given such racial statements, incidences like these were bound to happen.

We must eradicate conditions which give rise to these inhuman acts against our women and children. People who do this must not be allowed to live in our communities. They must face the might of the law.

We are also disturbed and angry at the growing rate regarding the killing of our law enforcement officers. This also includes the killing and attacks directed against health practioners including educators. This congress must commit to a relentless struggle against Gender based violence and the killing of the law enforcement officers, the health practioners and educators.

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Anyone found guilty of these horrendous crimes must be given a mandatory sentence of a life sentence. Our society has to choose. It is either we become a nation which accommodates criminals or a nation which embraces the law. Police cannot and should not die with guns in their hands!

Our country`s development continues to be constrained. For an example in the past three years the South African economy had continued to grow at a slower pace compared to other economies of a similar size. Now the indications are that the economy might be heading for a recession.

These constraints in our economy are amongst others caused by the fact that our country`s economy continues to be based on the exporting of raw materials and importing value added products.

The global economic crisis has impacted negatively on the entire South African economy; this has been vivid on our steel and the mining sector amongst others where we saw thousands of workers loosing their jobs. Worse could have happened, lets commend the NUM for moving swiftly to secure an agreement which saved thousands of jobs. Part of the problem has been that for many years the steel industry has been using Import Parity Pricing (IPP) which raised the price of this critical input. We have long made calls on government to abandon Import Parity Pricing and this fell on deaf ears.

We are still demanding that any support to the industry should be accompanied by a clear commitment from the steel industry that it will abandon import parity pricing and that it will not revert to it when the economic conditions have improved.

The real reason which constitutes the essence of the challenges confronting our economy is that our economic policy trajectory continues to be based on the Neo liberal paradigm. This paradigm is based on a belief that growth must occur first, and then employment will follow.

It argues that once employment increases, the distribution of income will improve. This is reflected in the persistent setting of growth targets as the primary focus, rather than targets for employment and income distribution.

This fails to address the apartheid economic fault-lines that resulted in the white monopoly capital taking charge and ownership of the economic levers of powers while the black majority was labouring for slave wages.

Unfortunately this neoliberal ideology by capital has captured some elements within the state and the democratic movement, who though aware of the harsh but failed medicine of neoliberals went ahead to impose it on society.

Neo-liberalism survives and thrives under conditions of low-intensity democracy and insulates political leaders from popular pressure so that they can drive unpopular economic policies.

It is against this background that the movement has over the years abandoned the people driven and people centred approach to development. This explains why the structures of the movement remains in disarray and only focuses its energy on narrow electoral campaign and gets revived only during general elections.

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It is within this context that the concerns raised by COSATU and the SACP including some within the ANC regarding certain sections of the National Development Plan particularly sections dealing with economic policy and labour market could not be addressed .

This neo-liberal policy paradigm continues to thrive in the context where the contradiction between imperialism and the oppressed people of the world is currently the dominant contradiction. It festers in a fertile ground created by the deepening capitalist crisis which expresses itself through the centralization and concentration of capital and wealth; the financialisation of the economy; the systematic attack on the social functions of the State achieved through struggle of the workers and peoples; the commercialization of all spheres of social life in a logic of privatizing all that can bring higher returns to capital; the attacks on international law and sovereignty of the States; the centralization of political power and its submission to economic power and to the strategies of militarization of international relations, all these are features of capitalist policies that dominate most countries all over the world today .

This neo-liberal policy paradigm has been legitimised by the institutionalisation of policies by governments all over the world which increases the rate of exploitation of working men and women marked by a denial of rights and the abuse of workforce in return of increasingly lower wages.

The central axis of this offensive includes cuts in real wages; Intensification of work periods; deregulation and increase in working hours; deregulation of labour relations; widespread casual labour, particularly among the women and young workers; overexploitation of migrant workers. Appropriation of labour productivity gains by capital; Increase in the retirement age; cuts in pensions and retirement benefits; Increase in unemployment rates; regression of social and labour rights; the denial of the right to bargain collectively and to strike.

This open and heightening offensive against the working class also seen in our country is a painful reminder of the words in the Communist Manifesto that "the history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles. Freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and serf, guild-master and journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed, stood in constant opposition to one another, carried on an uninterrupted, now hidden, now open fight, a fight that each time ended, either in a revolutionary reconstitution of society at large, or in the common ruin of the contending classes".

This international offensive which intersect with the neo-liberal, anti-majoritirean offensive in our country is rough comrades. It has set us against each other whilst allowing the right wing offensive to gain confidence. It has made our comrades to stop being guided by the policy of the movement and decisions of our organisations. We cannot predict how this battle will end but one thing is certain and that is, we will not take it lying down.

In our country the offensive has taken the form of the failed DA attempts to take away our right to strike. It expresses itself in the form of the Free Market Foundation`s attempts to take our right to collective bargaining. It comes in the form of Employment Incentive Act which was forced to us even without having gone through NEDLAC processes. When we call for the reviewal of the employment incentive act / the youth wage subsidy no one wants to listen!

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When we make a call for a ban on labour brokers, no one listens instead labour brokers are given a life line of three months to exploit workers.

We go to the Alliance Summit and raise a concern about the specific sections of the national Development Plan but no one cares to listen to our concerns instead we get subjected to a process which from the onset is intended to yield no results.

When we ask to be given a Comprehensive Social Security and Retirement reform discussion paper, which government has failed to deliver for more than ten years we get given Taxation Laws Amendment Act. When we take this process to NEDLAC government represented by the National Treasury abandon these engagements to pursue its planned retirement reforms unilaterally.

We want to reiterate that this arrogant act of provocation by the Treasury and the entire government will get an appropriate and equal response from the workers. Workers will fight any attempts to impose compulsory preservation of our hard earned deferred wages.

We want to say here and now that there will be no compulsory preservation or any other imposed reforms for us and about us but without us, on our watch. We will spare no effort to stop this tyranny and ill placed overconfidence by the neo liberal hard liners in government concentrated in the National Treasury.

No government has a right to unilaterally decide for workers, as to how and when they should spend their retirement savings. These savings are part of worker`s hard-earned salaries and should be accessible to the workers, as and when they need them in particular in the absence of Comprehensive Social Security.

We demand that government should postpone the implementation of this law until Comprehensive Social Security and Retirement Reform Discussion Paper is tabled at NEDLAC for discussions and an agreement on it is reached by social partners. We want to remind government and anyone who cares to listen that the 1973 Durban Strikes were on amongst others caused by a threat to workers pension funds.

The neo-liberal policy paradigm has made it difficult for government to address challenges of food security. For example, the Marketing Agricultural Product Act of 1996 diminished the role of the state in setting prices in the sector. It also led to government dismantling the marketing boards, and their assets were privatized . This has resulted in exorbitant food prices charged by the food industry.

The neo liberal policy paradigm has resulted to unjust concentrated patterns of ownership in the entire agricultural value-chain. For an example manufacturing and agro-processing is dominated by few large entities (Tiger Brands, Premier Foods, Foodcorp etc), which were found guilty of price fixing by the Competition Commission in 2010. The retail sector is also controlled by five major retailers; with a joint market share of 90%.

We have recently witnessed student`s struggles throughout the country on a demand for free education in universities. At the centre of the struggle for Free Education in South Africa was not the Minister of Higher Education who is wrongly accused of having failed to implement a resolution on Free Education. As COSATU we have been in every ANC Lekgotla and we know the truth about what caused the non implementation of such resolutions as Free Education.

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The fact of the matter is that our country`s policy trajectory is still encored on the neo-liberal policy paradigm which has rendered our democratic government to remain cheer leaders to monopoly capital as it keeps the economic power of the colonial rule intact.

The neo liberal policies had a direct impact on derailing the attainment not only of Free Education in South Africa but also the implementation of many other progressive policies such as the National Health insurance, the comprehensive social security including with regard to addressing food security and hunger etc.

The struggles for Free Education have brought to the fore and exposed the impact of neo liberal policies particularly with regard to the impact of the limited role of the state and Fiscal Austerity measures and this is what is at the centre of the struggles for Free Education.

It is the same thing as the fact that we go to conferences of the movement and decisions gets taken about the implementation of NHI but until today we have not even seen a white paper on the implementation of NHI.

Mangaung agreed on the establishment of a state bank but none of that is happening.

Both the Polokwane Conference and Mangaung agreed on a need for qualitative shift in our macroeconomic policy. Polokwane said "the skewed patterns of ownership and production, the spatial legacies of our apartheid past and the tendencies of the economy towards inequality, dualism and marginalisation will not recede automatically as economic growth accelerates.

Therefore, decisive action is required to thoroughly and urgently transform the economic patterns of the present in order to realise our vision for the future. This includes addressing the monopoly domination".

But our economy remains highly monopolised and foreign owned. The financial sector (banking and insurance) is a monopoly industry: Dominated by 4 large privately owned banks (ABSA, Nedbank, FNB and Standard Bank), two of which have significant foreign ownership.

The wholesale and retail trade sector is a monopoly industry, dominated by two firms: Shoprite and Pick `n Pay, which constitute 66% of the market share. The state does not play any role in this sector.

Manufacturing sector is dominated by two sectors, within which there are monopolies: petro-chemicals and basic iron and steel, which are dominated by Sasol and Arcelor-Mittal. Sasol is about 30% foreign-owned and Arcelor-Mittal is 65% foreign owned. The cement sector is also dominated by 4 players (PPC, Alpha, Lafarge and Natal Portland), in which each player has significant pricing power. Actually Mangaung said SASOL and Accellor Mittal must be nationalised but no one is even talking about it let alone having it appear in any report.

The construction sector is also monopolised, dominated by four players: Murray & Roberts, WBHO, Aveng and Group 5.

The machinery and equipment sector is dominated by foreign companies primarily through the major import fronting company in South Africa, Barloworld. The major equipment players are Caterpillar, John Deere/Bell, Komatsu, Manitou SA and Thyssen-

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Krupp. All these are foreign owned companies that play a strategic role in the country`s capital equipment supply.

The pharmaceuticals sector is a jungle that is ruled by foreign companies: Aspen, Adcock-Ingram, Sanofi, Pfizer, and Norvatis, etc.They all have a significant foreign-ownership

Polokwane also said "a South African developmental state, whilst learning from the experiences of others, must be built on the solid foundation of South African realities. Whilst engaging private capital strategically, our government must be rooted amongst the people and buttressed by a mass-based democratic liberation movement.

Whilst determining a clear and consistent path forward, it must also seek to build consensus on a democratic basis that builds national unity. Whilst acting effectively to promote growth, efficiency and productivity, it must be equally effective in addressing the social conditions of the masses of our people and realising economic progress for the poor".

Instead of this happening organisational mass power is not used for purposes of asserting a people driven and a people centred development but is used to fight internal factional battles to get people elected to positions of power which allows for access to resources. Organisational mass power is not seen as a strategic element to drive the NDR but it get reduced to be used for patronage.

In this regard, the most immediate task to undertake is to consolidate the Unity of COSATU through a Back to Basics Campaign: There is no short cut to asserting our hegemony. We must build COSATU on the ground based on the Back to Basics articulated in our 11th National Congress, the 2013 Organising and Campaigns Conference and as articulated by the Special National Congress.

We must avoid being overwhelmed by the scale of the problem but cut our cloth according to our size. This means accepting first that we are currently not at our maximum and yet our existence and relevance is based on our numbers. This means that our response should prioritise winning the confidence of workers to join our unions.

This will include ensuring that every union has a clear work place programme which will include getting COSATU at all levels to have workplace visits aimed at listening to workers issues.

We must put our weight in working with the SACP to occupy all centres of power in society and to be found where people are as part of the immediate task to deepen and radicalise the National Democratic Revolution in line with the people`s demands.

We must invest in building the unity of the alliance as a vehicle which drives the revolution.

Our anger and frustrations about the challenges in the Alliance must not blind us to see and understand that the functionality and non functionality of the Alliance is based on the struggle we wage on the ground.

Anger alone without a practical and revolutionary plan is not enough! Anger Alone without preparedness to sweat and work to change the balance of forces on the ground is not enough!

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Let us heed comrade Mandela`s call when he said "The struggle that will free us is a long, hard job. Do not be deceived by men who talk big with no thought for tomorrow. Freedom is not just a matter of strong words. Neither is it simply brave men and heroic deeds. Impatience, which makes men lose their heads, will not bring freedom".

We must stop demanding a reconfigured alliance in every meeting but fight for a reconfigured alliance through asserting our mass presence on the ground through driving programmes and campaigns which addresses the needs of our members and our communities. Let us be present where people are found .Let`s continue to be present in the struggles of the working class.

We must reconfigure the alliance through mass activities which must define the balance of power inside the alliance. There is no short cut to this task.

Whilst we must accept that we have an interest on who become leaders of the ANC and in government but we must firstly avoid getting into the 2017 succession debates prematurely. More importantly we must stand by our policy that the ANC must be allowed to independently decide on its leaders without any interference from any of the alliance partners or anyone outside the ANC. But COSATU members who are also members of the ANC have every right to participate in the leadership debates inside the ANC guided by the policy and discipline of the ANC.

We must invest our energies and time more on building and strengthening the SACP to ensure that it has the necessary confidence and capacity to drive the struggle for Socialism.

We must stop asking the ANC about the content of radical economic transformation but we must wage campaigns which should force it to emerge organically from the ground as recently seen in the free education campaign. Whilst it is important that we should derive lessons from international experience but we must be careful of importing these experiences as if they emerged under similar conditions as in our country.

This Congress must agree that the struggle and vision we pursue cannot be likened to Brazilian situation to a point of being referred to as creating our Lula Moment. Our struggle is based on the concrete conditions obtaining in our country and is based on our understanding of the fundamental contradictions which our revolution seeks to resolve in our own country.

We must revive our section 77 notice on our socio-economic demands and mobilise workers and our people around these demands. It is these struggles which will define the content of a second more radical phase of our transition.

We have got to keep pace with the masses and any honest observation will come to a conclusion that the people are increasing the tempo and pace of the struggle for economic transformation. If we are not careful we will continuously react to their struggles and not provide any strategic leadership.

In our deliberations we must be guided by the words of a German Physicist Albert Einstein who once said "insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results".

This 12th National Congress in now officially opened!

Amandla!

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1.3. Address by President Jacob Zuma – Annexure C

ANNEXURE “C”

Address by President Jacob Zuma at the 12th COSATU National Congress

22 November 2015, Gallagher Estates, Midrand

President of COSATU, Cde Sdumo DlaminiActing General Secretary, Cde Bheki NtshalintshaliAll National Office BearersMembers of the COSATU Central Executive CommitteeLeadership of all affiliate unionsGeneral Secretary of the SACP, Cde Blade NzimandeLeadership of the ANC present hereLeadership of SANCODistinguished GuestsComrades Delegates

Receive revolutionary greetings on behalf of the entire membership and leadership of our glorious movement, the African National Congress.

This National Congress is convened under the theme "unity and cohesion of COSATU to advance the National Democratic Revolution".

The theme is most appropriate because the unity of COSATU is imperative so that the federation can play its role as the spear that fights for workers and which protects and advances their interests.

COSATU must emerge from this congress stronger than it is now at the beginning of congress. That is the challenge that all delegates face today.

This means delegates must put the interests of the federation and workers first in deliberations and in the focus of the congress. In this way, COSATU and workers will emerge as winners at the end of the congress.

The correctness of this theme is also grounded on the fact that the advancement of the National Democratic Revolution in South Africa requires the unity and cohesion of the Alliance and all its individual components.

Let me re-emphasise the importance of unity.

In July this year we held an extra-ordinary Alliance summit which took place over five full days and which was convened specifically to deal with the unity of our enduring alliance and all its individual components.

We convened that summit because we believed that there had been various worrying political developments, some of which relate directly to what we think each other's individual organizational role must be in this Alliance.

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We felt the need to deeply reflect on the strategic relevance and importance of this Alliance in our society and also think of ways to reassert its leadership role in our country.

We need to continuously reflect on the concrete material conditions that necessitated the formation of the separate components of the Alliance.

Indeed it is important to stress the point that ours are separate organizations that entered into an Alliance because of historic conditions.

We must ask ourselves whether those conditions still prevail today.

If they do not, then we must define the new conditions and determine the basis and place of our organizations and alliance.

This exercise is important because we can never achieve the genuine unity of the Alliance if we do not fully comprehend where it comes from, and worse, if we doubt its relevance in present day South Africa.

When we do this exercise, we must bear in mind the instructive words of our late President OR Tambo when observing the sixtieth anniversary of the SACP in 1981, he said:

"Ours is not merely a paper Alliance, created at conference tables and formalized through the signing of documents and representing only an agreement of leaders.

"Our Alliance is a living organism that has grown out of struggle. We have built it out of our separate and common experiences."

In order to appreciate the value of our Alliance, these words of Comrade OR Tambo must be read together with the equally powerful words of his predecessor, President Chief Albert Luthuli who said when referring to COSATU's forerunner that:

"SACTU is the spear, and ANC the shield."

All these point to the fact that the alliance partners need each other and that the relationship is a symbiotic one. Our view as the leader of the Alliance is therefore that the Alliance remains as relevant to present day South Africa as it was before 1994, if not even more now.

Our organizations must play different but complementary roles towards the achievement of our common objectives.

These common objectives and shared dreams are derived from the basic policy document upon which the Alliance is based, the Freedom Charter which was adopted sixty years ago by the congress of the people in Kliptown.

As we said recently at the National General Council of the ANC, it is important to always remember that the ANC is a multi-class National Liberation Movement advancing the National Democratic Revolution, the primary objective of which is the establishment of the National Democratic Society which is mainly defined by non-racialism, non-sexism, democracy and prosperity.

It is also important to reaffirm that the ANC remains biased to the working class and therefore a disciplined force of the left. The fact that it is a multi-class movement does not contradict this latter point.

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The SACP on the other hand is the vanguard party of the working class advancing a socialist revolution aimed at creating a society characterized by the dictatorship of the proletariat.

A socialist society is still a class divided society. The SACP must thus deal with class divisions and eradicate them to create a classless society, communism.

From each according to his ability to each according to work performed as we are told in terms of socialism.

One of the key questions for the party is how do we deal with the dictatorship of the capitalist class? They dictate everything every day. Who decides the price of bread? It is dictated to by the capitalist class.

There is no meeting to discuss the price of bread. They will say 20c today and tomorrow it will be 25c. When the price of oil goes up they decide to raise the price of petrol. Whether you like it or not, you must buy the bread and petrol. These decisions are taken to promote class interest, somebody must make a profit somebody must decide.

Once the classes no longer exist you have reached the communist stage. That is what the SACP is fighting for.

COSATU is a progressive trade union federation fighting for and defending the rights of workers and aiming to protect workers from the super-exploitation by the capitalist class. It continues to fight for the rights of the workers. It is situated within the capitalist and its job is to fight for the workers all the time. The workers are important for COSATU. But how far do you go with the workers?

What is our view on the unemployed who are part of the working class. Can we put them aside and say they are not important? The task of the unions is more complex today because computerization, IT and mechanization have complicated the lives of the unskilled workers. They no longer go to the factory and say I am looking for a job.

You have a mass of workers who are not only unemployed workers but are unemployable. We tend to focus only on the employed working class and ignore the unemployed. We do that because we are located within the capitalist class.

Lastly, we have SANCO which is a civic movement and a critical component of civil society which mobilizes and organizes communities behind their bread and butter issues.

Comrades,I am outlining these roles because we ought to pay sufficient attention to this question of the separate but complementary roles each Alliance partner must play in accelerating the pace towards the creation of a society truly based on the Freedom Charter.

This is important because we will never be truly united unless there is absolute clarity among us on who must perform what task and why.

For example, COSATU is not and has never been a political party. It is a trade union federation that has got a clear responsibility to advance workers' interests and defend their rights. This does not mean COSATU must pursue a narrow workerist agenda that is totally devoid of any appreciation of the broader political context and economic systems.

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But workers at this point in history, especially given the economic climate domestically and globally, where inclusive economic growth and new jobs remain elusive while existing jobs are threatened in some sectors, workers clearly need a strong, united and focused COSATU.

COSATU is the real home of the workers in our country.

It is in this context that we must emphasize that COSATU must rise above the challenges it is confronted with today, and remain strong and united in the interests of the thousands of workers who see in it as the indispensable defender of their hard won rights.

We call on all affiliate unions of COSATU to do everything possible to build and defend the unity of COSATU and make it the fighting force that it has been since its establishment in 1985.

Delegates must ensure that COSATU emerges from this congress more united and stronger than ever before.

Comrades,

Last week we met as former liberation movements of Southern Africa in Maputo, Mozambique. We reflected on serious challenges facing the former liberation movements in the continent.

The Summit reminded us that unity is paramount given the balance of forces that are stacked against the liberation movement in the continent.

The progressive forces in SADC resolved to work closely together and to also promote unity within the various movements in the continent so that the forces that seek to divide are unable to achieve their goals.

This means that petty squabbles within the mass democratic movement must not be entertained. Political maturity is critical.

Within our own country, we have a mission and that is to achieve full economic emancipation, building on the political freedom we gained in 1994.

There are three things that countries stronger and through states are built. The first is political power. You must know how to use it otherwise you will surrender to other people and they will use it against you.

The second is economic power. The majority of our people still do not have economic power.

The third is security power. With these three pillars in place you have a strong state.

We must debate economic power. What do we mean by it and how do we want to achieve, that is what the Alliance must discuss as its imperative that we achieve it.

We have to achieve a truly united, democratic, nonracial, nonsexist and prosperous South Africa. We must promote inclusive growth and create decent work for our people through the manner in which we manage the economy.

And we must keep focused on these goals that will take us to a better life without poverty, unemployment and inequality.

We do not want to be diverted from these goals and should not be diverted.

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We don't want to be diverted from our unity.

Let us not allow those who don't like us to divert us and to divide us.

We will be together for a long time as the struggle continues.

For as long as there are poor people in our country, the struggle continues.

For as long there are bad working conditions, the struggle continues.

As the Alliance we are the political force in this country that can contribute immensely to deal with these challenges.

But if one component of the Alliance is limping it will not work.

We need to be focused, we need to work hard.

If as a federation we have lost unions, work hard to gain more and to conscientise those who left correctly. It's the job you must do.

Unity is the key.

One of the old men we know most, used to say that this national liberation movement was founded on unity which is the rock.

Don't fight with your comrade.

There is a bigger fight to fight with the enemy.

Don't waste your energy.

We wish you all the best and a successful congress.

It is the wish of the ANC that this congress must put the problems that have affected COSATU behind and emerge as a stronger federation.

We will support you in every corner and in every step you take .I thank you. Amandla!

1.4. Address by the SACP General Secretary comrade Blade Nzimande – Annexure D

ANNEXURE “D”

SACP General Secretary Cde Blade Nzimande Speaker’s Notes address to COSATU National Congress

24 November 2015

“Unite the working class, our communities and our movement: Build a militant COSATU”

Comrade President and delegates,

I bring fraternal and revolutionary greetings from the leadership and membership of the SACP. The Party’s membership has been continuously increasing and is now just under 240, 000.

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This year as an alliance we merged from a useful alliance summit prior to our successful Special National Congress as the SACP.

At your 11th National Congress the message of the SACP emphasized the fact that it is important for the working class to take responsibility for the national democratic revolution. Indeed that was at the time when the offensive against the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) had reared its ugly head. It was an offensive, as we insisted and warned at the time – that was intended and directed at the COSATU itself and ultimately the ANC-led alliance as a whole.

But it is clear now that the same offensive that was directed at the COSATU aimed at the left inside our Alliance, as we now see the intensified attacks on the SACP. That is why your theme for this congress is absolutely important, that of uniting the federation to play its proper role in the national democratic revolution.

Why and what is the context of these developments?

This Congress takes place in a matter of months after our Alliance Summit. It is important to remind ourselves of what that alliance said, emerging out of that summit. In its declaration the alliance said:

“Discussions in the Summit focused considerably on a range of internal weaknesses, difficulties and challenges found across all our formations. These include: A growing social distance between leadership and our mass constituency, including disconnect between the focus of branch activities and the social and economic realities of communities, including crass displays of wealth and arrogance.

“These problems reinforce and are connected to the deliberate manipulation and subversion of internal democratic processes through the manipulation of membership through gatekeeping and the use of money to advance individual ambitions and factions based on patronage and nepotism. This behaviour is also the entry-point for corporate capture and private business interests outside of our formations to undermine organizational processes.

“The Summit resolved that these deviations must be dealt with firmly and without fear or favour. Those guilty of funding factions and those guilty of accepting money for these purposes must be exposed.”

Perhaps the problem of circulation of money in our conferences and the dangers of corporate capture reflect a deeper problem – an intensification of class struggles in society, parts of which aim to replace our Alliance. Our Alliance is principally based on the working class as its anchor. But there is now a new attempt to replace this alliance with a new alliance between sections of our own movement and the capitalist class, where the capitalist class will be a new anchor.

For instance when some of our comrades begin to say the SACP and COSATU add no value to our alliance they are in fact beginning to say the working class is of no value to the political direction they are pursuing.

The question then becomes, if the working class, according to them is of no value any more, then which class is now of value to them?

The problem and threat of corporate capture faces not only the ANC or those in government, but all our formations, and not least the trade union movement. We know

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that for a long time, the capitalist financial sector has been targeting the trade union movement for its debit orders for insurance, funeral and other financial products. It has been this heatrei of financial capital that has been the foundation of business unionism that we have been talking about. For instance the SACP hopes that this congress will discuss and face these challenges head-on in the trade union movement.

We are asking these searching questions as the Communist Party because it is absolutely essential to always contextualize our struggles against the background of what the Communist Manifesto says, that: the history of all hitherto existing society is a history of class struggle.

Also as the SACP we feel very strongly that it is time that just over twenty years into a democratic South Africa there are some serious reflections we need to make. We must reflect on some of the problems and challenges that have faced many other liberation movements after ascendancy into power. This is a debate and a reflection that is important if we are to avoid some of the mistakes made in many other revolutions, a matter we shall return to.

But what is the broader – class – context within which all this is taking place?

Since the decisive advance that we all welcomed way back in 2007, that advance has partly been frustrated by the global capitalist crisis. On the eve of the 2009 elections, when the leadership elected in Polokwane took the formal reins of government, the world went into a global capitalist crisis starting in the preceding year. The crisis has since become an albatross on the economic objectives and goals of Fourth Administration, led by Comrade President Jacob Zuma.

Our document ‘Going to the root’ explains these challenges comprehensively and argues for an economic trajectory that is based on a partial de-linking from the main centres of imperialist economic power. A partial de-linking to buttress South Africa’s ability to chart its own sovereign development path, including the following:

the cancellation of neo-colonial bilateral agreements, for instance, with EU and other countries;

local beneficiation of our mineral resources;

leveraging state procurement to ensure greater localization, as part of broader state-led industrial policy action plans;

infrastructure development that begins to partially de-link our productive economy from a neo-colonial pit-to-port pattern;

the active use of trade and tariff measures to ensure greater protection of local jobs and productive activity;

a shift away from BEE policies and codes that over-emphasize leveraged (indebted) share-holding for a few individuals who are therefore liable to be STRUCTURALLY compradorist (i.e. neo-colonial) towards a focus on nurturing (black) industrialists (i.e. a productive strata involved in local ownership and management),

using anti-competition legislation and agencies to weaken the collusive heatrei of transnational monopoly capital;

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addressing a range of financial sector challenges – including tax base erosion, transfer pricing, illegal capital flight, and implementing prescribed asset legislation on local and multi-national capital, etc.

In short, partial delinking is about advancing the capacity for democratic NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY as a critical dimension of the NDR.

Significant shifts underway in global economic (and political and even military – see Ukraine and Syria/Iraq) power since the dramatic setback of 1989/1990 with the collapse of the Soviet bloc, are also now creating some conditions for greater multi-polarity and therefore space for the advancing of progressive, democratic national sovereignty based on majority-rule in countries like South Africa. The BRICS formation, with its own internal contradictions but also many possibilities, needs to be appreciated in this context.

Over the past year and indeed even in the past weeks there have been important geo-political developments that underline that, while the United States (US) undoubtedly remains the dominant global hegemon, its ability (along with its allies) to unilaterally achieve its strategic objectives has suffered significant decline. The importance of the re-opening of diplomatic relations between the US and Cuba should, of course, not be unduly exaggerated – the US will continue to attempt to erode Cuban socialism and sovereignty now much more through “soft” power (i.e. economic leverage and consumerist ideological power). Nonetheless, the re-opening of diplomatic relations marks a strategic defeat and reversal of four-and-half decades of US imperialist policy directed against Cuba and indeed the Latin America region.

In the course of 2015, US/NATO politico-military strategic agendas in the Ukraine and now in Syria have also suffered humiliating set-backs. In the past weeks, the Russian air campaign against ISIS and other terrorist groups has caught the US and its allies off-balance in the region, with Russia succeeding in forging a strategic alliance not just with the Syrian government, but also the Iranian government, along with operational collaboration with Hezbollah and Kurdish forces. There is also now intelligence sharing between Russia and the Iraqi government (installed originally by US intervention!). The Russians have also succeeded in achieving a major diplomatic victory in the Vienna declaration in which the US and its allies were forced (at least in words) to abandon the strategy of territorial fragmentation (along “ethnic/religious” lines) of Syria and the removal of Assad as a pre-condition for a political settlement, as opposed to the Russian line which has been consistent in saying the future of Syria must be determined by the Syrian people themselves.

All of these developments – political, military and diplomatic – have caused a substantial setback to US imperialist geo-political regime-change strategies that were honed in Yugoslavia in the 1990s, and repeated in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya.

The recent events in Paris have been widely condemned in the Western media (as opposed to the somewhat lukewarm concern about the ISIS bombing of a Russian civilian plane, or the ISIS slaughter of thousands of Azidis in Northern Iraq, or ISIS bombs in Beirut, or the ISIS-aligned Boko Haram in Nigeria and neighbouring countries. Western public outrage has forced Western governments to work more closely with Russia and its allies to counter the ISIS threat. This past week there has even been cooperation in the Mediterranean between the French and Russian naval fleets.

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Domestically we are faced with the persisting realities of unemployment, poverty and inequality. Whilst the SACP welcomes the very impressive government R1 trillion investment into infrastructure, this has served largely to cushion us from what could have been the worst situation given the continuing impact of the global capitalist crises this time occasioned by the 2008 global economic meltdown.

It was also against these realities that coming out of the Alliance Summit we had promised to unite ourselves as a movement.

National liberation movements, trade unions and their allied communist parties after independence

It is also important that we revert and seek to engage, through political education and through our internal publications, the literature of the 1960s-1980s on the challenges facing liberation movements in, or after ascending to, power. Such literature will also help us to (re)debate this matter thoroughly inside our movement, as part of our own reflection on our own experiences. The question will have to be posed and answered as to what our two decades in power has done to all our formations and the movement as a whole, both positive and negative.

What we have sometimes appropriately referred to as the ‘sins of incumbency’ is relevant here. We must admit that these sins of incumbency have not only affected the ANC as the governing party. Most of our formations, albeit unevenly, have suffered from this, especially also in the trade union movement and in the mass democratic movement.

Of course we must distinguish doing such an exercise from attempts by the anti-majoritarian (neo)liberal offensive to try and charge our movement as inherently corrupt. This is no different from the racist narrative of colonialism and apartheid that says look what happens when they take over.

It is under these circumstances that a reflection on the experiences of liberation movements including trade union movements and communist parties after independence or ascendance to state power is absolutely necessary. A survey of the progressive (academic) literature of the 1960s to the 1980s of liberation movements in power in our African continent highlight four key challenges, whatever advances are made, facing these movements:

Failure to transform the (post-colonial) state – Scholars like Fanon, Mahmood Mamdani, Ibbo Mandaza highlight the fact that liberation movements after ascendancy to power tend to be absorbed by the (untransformed) post-colonial state, where the only change is the colour of those who occupy senior political and bureaucratic positions but without any fundamental change to the state as an instrument of imperialist or former colonial bourgeoisie. Mandaza particularly bemoans the lack of an emergence of truly independent national bourgeoisie that is able to make its imprint on the state outside of the patronage of the national liberation movement. He makes an example of the Zimbabwean state that the vast majority of ZANU PF elites will not survive after Mugabe, or that their very means of continued accumulation and preservation is directly dependent on continued control of the state by ZANU PF.

Inability to address the national question – For all national liberation movements addressing the national question is often at the heart of the national liberation struggles or the national democratic revolution. Mamdani in particular points to what he refers to 51 | P a g e

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as a bi-furcated state, where the urban centres reflect the colonial past and the ‘grazing land’ of the new national domestic bourgeoisie, whilst the rural population remains under the iron grip of traditional leaders. Sometimes the political elites in post-colonial states regress back to tribalism in their fight to retain both political and economic power.

Failure to transform the colonial and imperialist-based domestic economy- Guy Mhone, the late leftist economist originally from Zambia who passed away in March 2005, developed the concept of an enclave economy to describe both the colonial and post-colonial economies in the continent, with a particular focus on the SADC region. Mhone was pre-occupied with how neo-liberalism in sub-Saharan Africa reproduced dual economies, one modernized urban and the other underdeveloped survivalist in the hinterland. Mhone criticized the inability of the post-liberation state in the SADC region to eradicate what he calls the enclave nature of the economy, a dual economy characterized by a modernized and advanced formal economy in the city and a survivalist economy at the fringes of the urban economy and in the rural hinterland. It is interesting to note how the 1996 class project characterization of the first and second economies was in some ways reproducing the idea of an enclave economy without understanding how the systemic features of the so-called “first economy” were, precisely the engine that was driving chronic underdevelopment (poverty, inequality, unemployment) that the 1996 class project conveniently labelled as a separate “second economy”. This led the 1996 class project to advocate one-off measures (BEE, micro-loans, taxi-recap, EPWP “work opportunities”) to “graduate” those in the “second economy” into what was portrayed as a fundamentally “good” (i.e. neo-liberal capitalist) “first economy”. Mhone characterized the formal economy as an enclave because it is exclusive, only accessible to the colonial and post-colonial elites, while the majority of the people struggled on the periphery. But while there are clearly enclaves in South Africa is Mhone right to imagine that these are just about exclusion of the majority? The majority of South Africans WERE/ARE proletarianised and were/are therefore NOT excluded from the formal economy – the periphery (reserves and later the peri-urban townships and informal settlements) were/are the zones of social reproduction of an active and reserve army of labour. These forms of marginalisation in South Africa are not only about exclusion, but also about INFERIOR (racially, gendered, and spatially determined) inclusion within the circuits of a relative modern capitalist accumulation process. Our own South African economy still reflects these realities of colonialism of a special type.

In many instances the post-colonial state becomes a site for looting, not because Africans are thieves, but given the political economy of many post-colonial states in the continent. A number of factors contribute to this. In developing countries where there are few opportunities for capital accumulation due to a small private sector. The neo-liberalization of the state – where the state increasingly becomes dependent (and hostage) to the private sector for delivery of many of its services, it becomes a tendering state. A tendering state is further weakened by lack of adequate capacity to effectively monitor these tenders, thus increasing chances of corruption, as weak states are more vulnerable to corruption. From both the 1996 global financial meltdown to the current global capitalist crisis it is clear that during such crises opportunities for private capitalist accumulation become fewer, thus making the state an even bigger target for a quick buck.

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Betrayal of the principal motive forces of the national liberation struggle – A lot of the critique of liberation movements after independence are about how, in the light of all the weaknesses just highlighted, the leadership of these movements finally betray the principal motive forces of the national liberation movement, the working class, the peasantry, as well as the urban and rural poor. As these motive forces begin to rise or protest against the elites in power, these former liberation movements begin to turn against them. Fundamentally the challenge becomes that of being a mass based movement that is simultaneously leading the government!

Often underpinning these is the emergence of what has often been referred to as a parasitic bourgeoisie that is highly dependent on the control of the state for purposes of capital accumulation.

However it is also important to reflect on how in a number of instances the trade union movement has been mobilized to become a platform for regime change agendas against former liberation movements in power. One classical example closer to home is that of Zambia where the trade union movement was used to dislodge Kaunda, but only to quickly embrace the worst of neo-liberal policies and presided over a government that ultimately turned against the trade union movement in that country. And indeed you will agree with us that the trade union movement in Zambia has never recovered from that disastrous experience.

These aberrations in many post-colonial states are not inherent in the nature of such political dispensations but are a product of the location of developing states in the broader political economy of the global capitalist economy, as well as class and other related struggles in such countries.

It is however important that in our case, we also reflect on experiences of communist parties and trade union movements that have been or are part of the national liberation movements after ascendancy to power by such movements. There is no space and time to do this in this today but it is something that we will have to do at some stage.

Part of the difficulty of doing an analysis as just outlined is that in the current period there are very few communist parties (or even trade union movements), if any, that are in a similar position to that of the SACP (and COSATU) today. Frankly, there are hardly any examples we can fully learn from, other than an open and frank examination and critical self-reflection on our own experiences over the past 94 years as the SACP in particular, but especially since 1994. This is an analysis and exercise we have committed to undertake as part of our own discussions on the SACP’s relationship to state power.

The relationship between the SACP and COSATU: The socialist axis of our Alliance

Allow us to turn to the important relationship and tasks facing our two working class formations. We are very pleased to observe that COSATU is getting out of one of its most serious challenges since it was formed. We would like to use this opportunity to also salute you as you approach your 30th anniversary next month.

Driving a second, more radical phase of our transition requires a strong working class, and especially a strong, larger but quality SACP. This task also requires a strong, independent and militant COSATU. We do not want a COSATU that is an extension of the

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ANC or government. Also as the SACP we do not want a COSATU that is our extension. Given the challenges we have just outlined, South Africa needs a militant COSATU just as our dry weather now needs rain.

The principal task of our two formations is that of intensify the struggle to place the working class as the principal motive force in driving the second, more radical phase, of our revolution and intensifying the struggle for socialism . At the centre of such a struggle must be the struggle against corruption in the whole of society, the public and the private sectors.

Between now and our 14th Congress in 2017 we need to build a larger SACP and an even much larger COSATU! As the SACP we are inviting you to come and swell the ranks of the SACP. Our primary focus is to build a larger SACP through the recruitment of workers, especially those workers organized in the trade union movement, with members of COSATU affiliates being a priority focus. Recruiting more workers from the organized trade union movement will also serve to deepen and strengthen the relationship and historical ties between our two working class formations.

In uniting ourselves we must also wage a relentless struggle against factionalism, and seek to always focus on the programmatic priorities that we are facing.

But forging a closer relationship between our two formations must not just be a formalistic exercise. We must intensify mass activism and campaigning on a whole range of fronts, with the most immediate task being that of deepening our financial sector campaign, strengthening mobilization in campuses, township and village struggles for socio-economic development. COSATU campaigns on transformation of the workplace, the living wage campaign and progressive trade unionism to improve service to workers are crucial in thus struggle and very much part and parcel of it.

We wish to urge COSATU to once more join the SACP as we intensify our financial sector campaign. Through the financial sector campaign we are pushing for a new financial architecture in our country – a financial sector whose resources must increasingly be invested to support our productive economy.

We are pushing for an end to private monopoly domination of the banking sector. We are also calling for diversity and a greater enabling environment for the development of workers’ and people’s co-operative banks. In fact we are also calling upon COSATU affiliates to consider heatreing some of their financial resources into building workers’ co-operatives and co-operative banks. We are also calling for the Post Bank to be to transformed and supported to become a state bank serving a developmental agenda.

Through our financial sector campaign we are also fighting against the alarmingly high levels of housing evictions and bank repossessions of workers’ houses. From our campaigning on this front we have found that there is a lot of corruption and collusion between some bank officials and some officials in the court system.

Free education for working class and poor students

From our Central Committee this weekend we saluted the widespread, radical mobilization of students over the past several weeks. We fully associate ourselves with the demand to advance towards free access to higher education for the working class and poor. No qualifying student should be excluded from post-school education and training on financial grounds.

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In the course of the student mobilization the liberal smugness of many university administrations has been exposed. At Stellenbosch and the University of North West student mobilization with academic support has exposed language policies that have been used to perpetuate exclusion and frustrate transformation. In many cases, the student mobilization has also achieved important non-racial unity. The student mobilization has also added fresh impetus to the long-standing struggle of the SACP and the union movement against outsourcing of campus workers. These are important advances that must be consolidated and strengthened as part of the wider national democratic struggle.

It now becomes imperative that we build on the energies, aspirations and concerns of students, many of whom have become politically active for the first time. To take this momentum forward we need to expose a small minority of externally-funded, anarchistic forces who are seeking to use the legitimate demands of students for entirely other agendas. Indeed, over the past weeks in particular, these forces have exposed themselves. The destruction of university property, and criminal actions are not the work of those who genuinely seek to transform the higher education and training terrain. On the UWC campus, 300 odd, misguided anarchists associated with reactionary groupings have tried to disrupt examinations, holding the majority of students at hostage.

What is the way forward? The ANC-led alliance and particularly the Progressive Youth Alliance (PYA) formations, NEHAWU and SADTU have a critical responsibility in this situation. We must speak with one voice, and we must listen patiently to the many issues confronting students. We must provide concrete leadership on the ground, campus by campus, addressing the specific issues in different localities. We must not provide leadership arrogantly or by proclamation, but on the basis of a common radical programme for the transformation of the entire post-school education and training system.

In the immediate short-term, resources must be found to meet the commitment to a zero fee increase for 2016, as well as to address the debt crisis confronting returning students in the new-year.

As we move forward, a comprehensive review must be undertaken to ensure that the government’s budgetary processes are aligned with the key strategic priorities of our country, including how to achieve the appropriate balance in funding universities, on the one hand, and vocational technical training, on the other. While upholding the constitutional principle of academic freedom, the modalities of university autonomy when the evocation of autonomy blocks progressive transformation must be addressed. In an extremely unequal society, simply implementing free university education for all will actually reproduce class, racial, gendered and geographical inequalities. As long as South Africa remains grossly unequal, there needs to be a graduated, means-tested application of fees. Those who can pay, must pay.

The funding of post-school education and training needs also to be integrated into a more general struggle for the transformation of the financial sector. Consideration should be given to an income tax add-on dedicated to post-school education and training. The SACP’s campaign to enhance community re-investment obligations on the financial sector needs also to be included in the funding challenges. Monopoly capital is

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the principal beneficiary of the public funding that goes into post-school education and training, greater mobilized pressure must be directed there.

We also pledge to support COSATU improving service to workers and in the struggles against outsourcing, casualization and labour broking.

We also wish once more to dismiss the claims that the SACP is trying to divide and weaken COSATU. No political party in this country has a similar record to the SACP in building and defending the trade union movement in the entire 94 years of its existence. This claim is an attempt to drive a wedge between our Party and trade union organization. Similarly we have no negative attitude towards any of the COSATU affiliates. Instead we are not only calling for unity in COSATU – we have been working towards that and side by side with COSATU in the trenches, real heatre of struggle.

For instance those who say we have a negative attitude towards for instance SACCAWU or FAWU and completely out in opposition to concrete reality. We would like to engage with you comrades in the same way as we engage with all other COSATU affiliates. The SACP is calling on all COSATU affiliates to close ranks and unite from this congress onwards. Let us invert and turn the inward focus into a united offensive against the bosses. Let us concentrate the battle in the enemy camp, not in our own camp.

Let us not lose sight of the fact that ours is a struggle for socialism, and we have to pay close attention and seek to deepen our relationship. No other class will pursue the interests of the working class other than the working class itself!

We wish you a successful Congress!

Thank you all, dear comrades!

1.5. Address by the minister of labour , comrade Midlred Oliphant – Annexure E

ANNEXURE “E”

Address by the Minister of Labour, Mildred Oliphant, on the occasion of the 12th Cosatu National Congress held on 23-26 November 2015 at Gallagher Estate in Midrand, Gauteng

Viva ANC Viva!!! Viva SACP Viva!!! Viva SANCO Viva!!! Long live COSATU Long Live!!! AMANDLA!!!

Comrade ChairpersonPresident of Cosatu; Comrade Sidumo DlaminiActing General Secretary: Comrade Bheki NtshalintshaliThe National Office Bearers of Cosatu and its AffiliatesLeadership of our Revolutionary Alliance Ministers and Deputy Ministers, here presentFormer National Office Bearers Esteemed Delegates to this CongressDistinguished Guests

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Members of the MediaComrades and Friends

It is important to note that 2015 is the 30th Anniversary of the Congress of South African Trade Unions. During this period Cosatu has gone through remarkable evolution, fought many battles in its wake, recorded countless achievements in its journey and continues to be a notable player in shaping the transformation discourse in South Africa.

The challenges of today can't be solved by the tactics and remedies of years gone by. The twenty first century challenges need 21st century solutions.

Comrade President; I submit that this congress presents an excellent opportunity to take stock of how much progress has been made since the 11th National Congress in 2012. It also gives all of us the opportunity to identify weaknesses and opportunities going forward so that we can tool and retool for the road ahead. In my experience, the working class has never been afraid to engage and advance their views on political and policy matters and in most cases it succeeds.

It can be argued that the most significant and highly contested amendments to the labour laws came in the period 2013 - 2014 when all the key labour laws went through significant re-alignment. The quest for social justice finds expression in recent amendments, inter alia:

The Labour Relations Act No. 6 of 2014

The Basic Conditions of Employment Amendment Act, No 20 of 2013

Employment Equity Act No. 47 of 2014

Employment Services Act No. 4 of 2014

These laws provide the much needed space for workers to organise themselves into strong trade unions. There are only about two Freedom Charter demands that I can think of which have not been met to the fullest. Achieving a forty hour week and setting a National minimum wage are but the two.

Outside of these two, our labour laws are a true expression of the Freedom Charter. Judging from the noises we hear about our labour laws as being too protective of the workers in general and vulnerable workers in particular, suggests that we are doing exactly what our constitution and the electorate that voted the ANC into power not once, but five times in a row, demanded of us. Therefore we should celebrate and defend these revolutionary gains and take full advantage of the space that they provide.

Comrades and Friends; the recent labour law amendments introduced the new paradigm in advancing the quest for social justice. We revisited every single aspect of the labour law that unwittingly constraints our constitutional obligation to foster social justice.

Let me now turn to some of the key highlights of the Labour Law Amendments which include, but not limited to;

ONE; UNDER ORGANISATIONAL RIGHTS, The LRA makes it much easier for unions to obtain rights within the organisation. Commissioners can now give majority rights to

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sufficiently represented unions who do not necessarily have majority representation in the bargaining unit. In the past you had to have 50% + 1 union representivity to qualify for majority rights such as the right to union representatives and access to information; today even in cases where a union does not command a 50% +1 representivity, a Commissioner may award majority rights to a union that is considered to be sufficiently representative, as long as no other union in that workplace already has majority rights.

TWO; UNDER THE EXTENSION OF A COLLECTIVE AGREEMENT; A Commissioner may now extend a collective agreement to a 3rd party. That is; a Commissioner can enforce Collective agreement between a TES and his employees, on the client, and vice versa.

THREE; The Definition of DISMISSAL has also changed: In terms of Section 186, a dismissal is no longer just limited to the termination of a contract of employment by an employer, but termination of any employment.

This means that, where an employee is stationed with the client of a Temporary Employment Service, and the client decides to terminate his employment, the employee can refer the client to the CCMA irrespective of the contract with the Temporary Employment Service, due to the fact that the employment relationship is between the employee and the client.

Failure to offer permanent employment once a fixed term contract has lapsed can be seen as unfair dismissal, where the employer cannot justify why no such permanent appointment can be made.

Any dismissals will be automatically "unfair" if the reason for the dismissal is that the employee refused to accept a demand in respect of any matter of mutual interest between them and their employer - e.g. pay cut, longer hours. Such changes are now left solely to the ambit of collective bargaining.

Where an employee is not required to work their notice period and the employer ops to pay out the notice period, the date of dismissal is the day when the notice expires or day employee receives final payment, whichever comes first.

FOUR; UNDER FIXED TERM CONTRACTS, An employee may not be employed by a TES on terms and conditions not permitted by the LRA, or any employment law, sectoral determination or collective agreement applicable to the employees of the client to whom the TES employee renders services.

This is important Comrades because it deals with the argument that workers will be subject to unfair labour practices in the first three months of their employment if employed by a Temporary Employment Service. The law is explicit that protection against unfair labour practices kicks in immediately.

Fixed-term employees, employed for a period in excess of three months and earning below the BCEA earnings threshold, will be deemed to be employed indefinitely unless the employer can demonstrate a justifiable reason for employing such an employee on a fixed-term basis. The law cites the following as possible justifiable reasons;

If the employee replaces a permanent employee of an employer that is temporarily absent;

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If there is a temporary increase in the volume of work of an employer, provided the contract is then not for a period of more than 12 (twelve) months;

If the employee is a student or recent graduate being trained for a profession;

If the employee is exclusively employed on a specific project that has a limited or defined duration;

If the employee is not a citizen and the employment is linked to the period of the employee's work permit

If the employee performs of "seasonal work"

If the employee is engaged in an official public works scheme or public job creation scheme

Where the position the employee occupies is funded by an external source for a limited period

If the employee has reached normal or agreed retirement age

Fixed term contract that exceeds 3 months without justifiable reason would result in that employee automatically becoming a permanent employee.

Fixed term employees working for longer than 3 months must work under and receive the same benefits as all other permanent employees - unless a justifiable reason to differentiate in terms and conditions exists, such as length of service, seniority, etc.

Fixed-term employees, employed for a period in excess of 24 months must, upon the expiry of their contract period, receive a severance payment equivalent to at least one week's remuneration for every completed year of service, unless the employer offers the employee permanent employment or procures employment for the employee with another employer on similar terms and conditions.

FIVE; UNDER TRADE UNIONS; The law states that Trade unions representing the employees of a Temporary Employment Service are now in a position to exercise their organisational rights not only at the workplace of the Temporary Employment Service, but also at the client's workplace; despite the employees not being employees of the client.

SIX; UNDER PICKETING; Employees participating in protected strike action may be permitted to picket not only at their employer's premises, but also at premises owned or controlled by other parties. This change in the law will, for example, entitle the employees of a Temporary Employment Service to picket at the client's premises. It also means that SACCAWU members who for many years have not been able to picket at shopping Malls because such premises are not owned by retailers that the union may have a dispute with, can now do so.

In the past Retailers would obtain Court Interdicts restricting striking SACCAWU members to 100 metres away from the premises of the employer, today this no longer the case with the new amendments.?

SEVEN; THE REVIEW OF ARBITRATION AWARDS

Review proceedings brought by employers in respect of arbitration awards handed down by, for example, the CCMA, will no longer suspend the enforcement of those arbitration awards;59 | P a g e

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Unless the employer furnishes security to the Labour Court or can demonstrate that it is in the interests of justice that security should not be tendered.

Security, in the case of a reinstatement or re-employment order, must be equivalent to two years' remuneration for the employee in question.

In the case of awards for compensation, the security tendered must be equal to the compensation awarded.

The applicant to a review application must apply for a date for the matter to be heard by the Labour Court within six months of the application having been filed at the Labour Court.

This will bring to an end the tendency of some employers who take CCMA awards on review just to frustrate a worker.

EIGHT: THE INTRODUCTION OF THE PRINCIPLE OF EQUAL PAY FOR WORK OF EQUAL VALUE IS INDEED A MILESTONE;

The Act deals explicitly with unfair discrimination by an employer in respect of the terms and conditions of employment of employees doing the same or similar work or work of equal value. Differentiation may amount to unfair discrimination unless the employer can show that differences in wages or other conditions of employment are in fact based on fair criteria such as experience, skill, responsibility etc.

NINE; EMPLOYMENT SERVICES ACT (NO 4 OF 2014)

It is important to take note that the Private employment agencies are prohibited from charging work seekers any fees for services rendered.

NOTWITHSTANDING THESE MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS, THERE EXIST ENORMOUS CHALLENGES COMRADES;

1. The unique feature of our labour Relations institutional arrangements is that their governance is tripartite in its construct. For example Labour, Business and Government serve on all the advisory boards and governing bodies that are prescribed in the various labour laws, yet we have endless challenges in the manner in which some of them function.

It could be the function of who we deploy in those boards, or the inability of the federation to enforce accountability.

2. Not a day goes by without receiving a call and/or a text message from a worker who is unhappy about one thing or the other. My cell-phone has become a call centre of some sort, where I deal with queries from workers even those that are members of the affiliates in this congress. Whilst on the one hand this could be attributed to the fact that not all our labour centres and institutions are functioning optimally, the bulk of the complaints stem from the lack of service to members and the fact that over 70% of workers are not unionised.

3. The proliferation of bogus unions has also increased in the recent past. Some of the new unions that file applications for registration are splinters from the very affiliates of this federation. When I checked recently there were 185 registered trade unions and 23 Labour Federation on our books, far too many if you ask me.

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4. In some cases trade unionism is being commercialised through consultant who register bogus unions solely as a means to represent desperate workers who have no-one to turn to in times of stress.

Some workers take a chance to represent themselves at CCMA and other dispute resolution platforms, and because they have no idea of how these processes work, end up losing strong cases where, if they had proper representation, they would have won without breaking a sweat.

5. Our labour law was built on the foundation of strong trade unions. Quite frankly this foundation has of late, become very shaky with the proliferation of small and fragmented unions that are mushrooming all over the place.

This is also not helped by the continuous trade union rivalry in various sectors.

6. A sizeable number of trade unions are falling short in terms of compliance with the Labour Relations Act. As you know that the LRA has introduced a new mechanism as a step before an outright de-registration could kick in. We need a high level conversation to discuss the state of compliance of the unions and to work out a plan on how to ensure full compliance. We have taken a view that in fostering compliance, we will place more emphasis in assisting unions to comply rather than resorting to punitive measures.

7. I think we should all be very concerned about;

The low levels of trade union density in the private sector; the emergence of rival unions which are often set up by union officials who once were leaders of the same union they seek to destabilise.

Unions that are quick to call workers out on strikes even in cases where a strike has no real potential of producing different results.

Strikes which tend to be protracted yet workers are often no better off than they would have been if the strike was some-what shorter.

The painful disconnect between a long strike and the value of the final settlement. Why go out on strike for several weeks or months if the final settlement is a mere half a percent or even less in some cases?

Strikes that last longer than is necessary yet you hear union leaders bragging about how long they were able to sustain a strike with zero recognition of the post-traumatic stress that often visit members after the strike.

Special attention needs to be given to the new phenomenon of workers engaging their employers directly without the involvement of their trade union. A recipe for anarchy.

It does not seem like the cost and benefit analysis informs the union leadership when deciding to call workers out on strike and at which point does it need to be called off.

One gets the impression that strikes are no longer considered as the last resort after everything else has failed. Well, others are saying strikes have become a fashion statement and are often used as something to prove a point among rival unions, rather than a tool to get what members want.

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Comrades I am raising these challenges as a concerned Cadre of our movement and with the hope that you will reflect on some of them during your deliberations and give guidance going forward.

The Department of Labour needs you as a partner in ensuring that the full benefits of our labour laws accrue to ordinary workers.

Ditsela needs to be seized with tooling and retooling workers with the expertise on how to extract maximum benefit from the recent labour law amendments.

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE FUND - AMENDMENT BILL > BEFORE PARLIAMENT: NOW BEFORE PEOPLE

Extend the period to withdraw benefits from 6 to 12 months ( to cushion the impact of joblessness)

Extend the scope to cover government employees and workers undergoing training/learnerships

Increase the levels of benefits from 38% to 66%

To include mothers who had miscarriage or bears a still born to full maternity benefits.

Inclusion of domestic workers on maternity benefits

PARTICIPATION ON INTERNATIONAL FORUMS (INTERNATIONAL TRADE UNION AFFILIATION)

Attendance in those conferences

Constitution/Formation of those trade unions

Resolutions taken and the implementation thereof whether they are in line with our own Constitution/Labour Market Policies of South Africa

LABOUR BROKERS: BE HONEST

Government must ban labour brokers - what will be the role of COSATU and its affiliates

Bargaining agreement - where you have agreed that labour brokers must continue to do work in your organised industries

Where you even say labour brokers must pay or contribute skills levies directly to you as affiliates

Where you have also partnered with the very same companies using them or labour brokers themselves. ( You do that as individuals/Investments on behalf of the workers)

INVESTMENTS BY TRADE UNIONS

Causes divisions within the leadership of the unions while claiming to be doing investments on behalf of workers. When do workers get these benefits?

At the same time using your own companies/names/family members when doing those investments. e.g ESKOM, ETOLLS

Indirect employers

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DEPLOYMENT TO THE VARIOUS ADVISORY BOARDS/GOVERNING BODY

CCMA - Who deals with the employment process, governing body - which you are part of.

MONITORING OF COMPLIANCE INTERMS OF LABOUR MARKET POLICIES

Leaders in the work place are shop-stewards

Inspection and your participation (sometimes you do but in most cases you don't)

In tackling the challenges in our labour relations environment as you do on a daily basis, and by seeking to help mobilise our society in pursuit of Labour market stability, we need all of us to push and pull in the same direction. There is evidence that with unity of purpose, there exist the magic of surfacing incredible levels of innovation and creativity of any nation.

The former President of the South Africa, the late Nelson Mandela once wrote to Adelaide Tambo back in 1977, about the importance of planning and the execution thereof. It went something like this; and I quote, "Significant progress is always possible if we, ourselves, plan every detail and allow intervention of fate only on our own terms. Preparing a master plan and applying it are two different things." close quote.

Whilst we fully understand that sectors that are covered by Sectoral determinations are often the most difficult to organise, but we must also accept that relying on sectoral determinations will not necessarily lift these workers out of poverty as you know these merely set the floor. (4.6 Million)

National Minimum wage: is an ANC Manifesto

The only hope of lifting these workers out of poverty is by organising them into strong unions so that they can use collective bargaining as a means towards a living wage.

As you deliberate on the issues on the agenda of this congress, please bear in mind Amilcar Cabral, a fighter and a revolutionary, who together with others, was instrumental in promoting the fight for the independence of the then Portuguese Colonies, who once said, and I quote,

"Always bear in mind that the people are not fighting for ideas, for the things in anyone's head.

They are fighting to win material benefits, to live better and in peace, to see their lives go forward, to guarantee the future of their children . . ." Close quote.

I believe that unless our debates in this congress gravitates in the direction that Amilcar captured so well back then, we may all lose relevance and our reason for being.

"Building Unity and cohesion of Cosatu to advance the National Democratic Revolution" is not far-fetched as it may sound, it is doable Comrades.

All the best in your deliberations. Let unity win the day.

I thank you

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2. 12th National Congress Resolutions – Annexure F

ANNEXURE “F”

Resolutions

23rd – 26th November 2015, COSATU, 12th National Congress

Contents

1. POLITICAL RESOLUTIONS.......................................................................................................................................... 4

1.1. The National Democratic Revolution and the Struggle for Socialism.............................................4

1.2. Freedom of the Press......................................................................................................................................... 16

1.3. 2016 Local Government Elections...............................................................................................................18

1.4. The Relationship between COSATU and the ANC.................................................................................21

1.5. On the Question of ANC’s leadership - Succession Processes towards 2017.......................23

1.6. Ideological Outlook............................................................................................................................................ 23

1.7. Transformation of the Juiciary......................................................................................................................24

1.8. Chapter 9 Institutions....................................................................................................................................... 25

1.9. Role of NGOs in the Country...........................................................................................................................26

1.10. Constitutionalism........................................................................................................................................... 26

1.11. Protection of State Information Bill.......................................................................................................27

1.12. Corruption Watch........................................................................................................................................... 28

2. SOCIO-ECONOMIC RESOLUTIONS........................................................................................................................28

2.1. Draft resolution on the NDP and radical economic transformation.............................................28

2.2. Local procurement promotion by affiliates.............................................................................................31

2.3. Wealth tax............................................................................................................................................................... 32

2.4. Employment Equity And Equal Opportunity & Disability................................................................32

2.5. The Establishment of the National Women’s Development Fund --defered to the CEC to make additions ........................................................................................................................................33

2.6. Youth Unemployment – deferred to the to address all issues affecting young workers................................................................................................................................................................................. 34

2.7. On the Banning of Labour Brokers..............................................................................................................36

2.8. Organising and Control/Regulation in the Taxi Sector......................................................................38

2.9. Taxi Violence......................................................................................................................................................... 39

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2.10. Accessible, Reliable , Affordable and Reliable Public Transport System in South Afric........................................................................................................................................................................... 40

2.10.1. Road carnage and the Arrive Alive Campaign...................................................................................40

2.10.2. Public transport...............................................................................................................................................42

2.10.3. Standing Firm against E-tolls.................................................................................................................... 43

2.11. The Safety of Public Servants in the Workplace...............................................................................44

2.12. In Defence of Collective Bargaining and Unionism in the Country and the right to strike...........................................................................................................................................................................

................................................................................................................................................................................. 46

2.13. Commercialization and Privatization of Education.........................................................................47

2.14. HIV and AIDS.................................................................................................................................................... 49

2.15. HEALTH AND SAFETY.................................................................................................................................. 50

2.16. Strengthening Primary Healthcare For the Successful Implementation of National Health Insurance............................................................................................................................................ 51

2.17. Positioning Nursing Education In South Africa.................................................................................53

2.19. Immigration Control including in the marine sectors (ships) and the aviation sector ................................................................................................................................................................................. 57

2.20. Infrastructure Development......................................................................................................................59

2.21. Transforming the ICT Sector In The Interests Of The Working Class And The Poor 61

2.22. South African Post Office .........................................................................................................................66

2.23. TELKOM.............................................................................................................................................................. 67

2.24. Maternity protection : Pregnancy Policy..............................................................................................69

3. ORGANISATIONAL....................................................................................................................................................... 72

3.2. A New Vision and Long Term Plan for the Federation ......................................................................78

3.4. Expulsion of the Former COSATU General Secretary..........................................................................79

3.5. Strengthening COSATU through Unity and Cohesion of the Federation as a whole 81

3.6. Gender Resolutions................................................................................................................................................. 82

3.6.1. COSATU GENDER POLICY AMENDMENTS..........................................................................................82

3.6.2. COSATU POLICY ON SEXUALHARASSMENT......................................................................................83

3.6.3. COSATU Policy And Procedure For The Prevention And Elimination Of Sexual Harassment – adopted with Policy – see policy................................................................................................85

3.6.4. Revised COSATU Gender Policy............................................................................................................... 86

3.6.5. Resolution On The Draft COSATU Policy And Procedure For The Prevention And Elimination Of Sexual Harassment..................................................................................................................87

3.6.6. The Establishment of the COSATU Youth Forum.............................................................................8865 | P a g e

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4. INTERNATIONAL......................................................................................................................................................... 89

4.1. COSATU PLAN FOR AFRICA............................................................................................................................89

4.1.1. On stopping the illicit financial flows, looting and plunder of Africa’s natural resources and wealth to harness the means for development on the continent.................................89

4.1.2. On Deepening a democratic and developmental state and model of governance in Africa based on transparency, accountability and participatory policy making 90

4.1.3. On Advancing Peace and Security, Justice and Human Rights and Democratic Leadership Principles in Africa........................................................................................................................................

90

4.1.4. On a new and robust industrialisation path for Africa to beneficiate our natural resources, effect job creation and confront poverty, hunger and unemployment................................................................................................................................................................... 91

4.1.5. On Building and strengthening the African trade union movement to anchor a Progressive African movement against imperialism, corruption, wars and ecological destruction/climate change......................................................................................................................................... 92

4.1.6. Solidarity with Palestine............................................................................................................................. 93

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1. POLITICAL RESOLUTIONS

1.1. The National Democratic Revolution and the Struggle for Socialism

Noting that:

1. There has been significant Progress in advancing the National Democratic Revolution in a manner which benefits the working and the poor. These are demonstrated in Housing delivery ,Infrastructure development , access to water and electricity , progress in some areas with regard to rural development ; Access to social grants

2. Progress in the National Democratic Revolution has been constrained by the following amongst others :

a) Global economic crisis which has generally impacted negatively in the economies of developing nations including South Africa. This global economic crisis has taken place in the context in which the International Balance of forces is dominated by the USA led Imperialist forces and part of their strategy is to undermine the sovereignty of developing nations

b) A powerful coalition of nation states, transnational corporation and international financial institutions is driving an agenda to expand the market by forcing developing countries to open their economies. This is underpinned by the ideology of neo-liberalism which has blind faith in markets.

c) Whilst there is a common appreciation about the an emerging counter hegemonic block represented by developments which include the formation of BRICS which has established a BRICS Development Bank, developments in Latin American countries and China, this however does not enjoy ideological coherency in opposition to Imperialist ideological orientation.

d) As a country we have not learnt anything to be emulated from the assertiveness of other developing nations and how they have pushed for radical transformation

3. Progress in the NDR has also been constrained by the fact that capital has been given enough ideological space both with the movement and in government. As a result of this despite all the changes South African capital is still predominantly white and highly concentrated. Capital’s agenda, articulated by the financial sector and business think tanks, has been to check the power of the democratic state and weaken the labour movement. To that end, it has used combination of strategies ranging from cajolement to threats of capital flight and an unremitting ideological campaign.

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In the arsenal of capital’s ideological warfare have been powerful myths about the South African capitalist economy that it promoted for decades but more assiduously on the eve of the transition to democracy. They are:

a) South Africa has a liberal capitalist economic system. The fact of the matter is that the economic system in South Africa is in fact one of colonial and racial capitalism which can neither be defined as a free market or as serving the interest of all South Africans. It is highly concentrated with unequal distribution of wealth, property and power often defined in racial and gender terms.

b) South Africa has a first world economy. The truth is that viewed in isolation, some may regard the modern sector of the economy as having many of the characteristics of first world economies, although both the so-called first and second economies are deeply characterised by the apartheid legacy. But South Africa is not a first world country. It is a developing country. The large extremely underdeveloped sector results from systematic oppression and exploitation and has underpinned the growth of the‘advanced’ sector.

c) Capitalism is a natural construct and its rules are akin to the rules of nature. The reality is that capitalism has developed over five centuries and is supported and defined by human institutions and attitudes. That means it is a social construct that can be changed

d) If the corporate sector is given the necessary power, freedom, and space in the framework of global capitalism, it will achieve a high growth rate that will in the foreseeable future lead to the creation of jobs and generally ‘trickle down’ in other beneficial ways to the poor. Again this myth is not borne out by experience as our growth has been slow and unequally shared. Employment creation has been slow and much of the formal sector has shed employment.

4. As things stand today the South African Economic Policy is still based on the neo-liberal paradigm which remains dominant in driving government economic policy. The neo-liberal economic principles and philosophy continue to dominate the practice and articulation of policy. This is based on a belief that growth must occur first, and then employment will follow.  Once employment increases, the distribution of income will improve.  This is reflected in the persistent setting of growth targets as the primary focus, rather than targets for employment and income distribution. This fails to address the apartheid economic fault-lines that resulted in the white monopoly capital taking charge and ownership of the economic levers of powers while the black majority was labouring for slave wages. Our economy remains still highly monopolised and foreign owned. It is still largely at the hands of a white minority.

5. There is no existing evidence showing the successes of neo liberal policies anywhere in the world including in the epicentres of capitalism.

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Their growth path was originally enchored on massive state intervention and protectionism including tight regulation of their economies to suit the national developmental interests. This economic policy trajectory continues to find expression in their policies to this day.

6. The basic tenets of this neo-liberal policy paradigm is to advance a policy package which elevates Trade liberalization; Financial liberalization; Labour market deregulation; Limited role of the state; Fiscal austerity; Tight monetary Policy ; Central bank independence as the mantra .

7. Unfortunately this neo liberal ideology by capital has captured some elements within the state and the democratic movement, who though aware of the harsh but failed medicine of neoliberals went ahead to impose it on society. Neo-liberalism by nature is contradictory and this played itself out in South Africa. It promotes both political pluralism and authoritarianism on questions of economic policy and management. Neo-liberalism survives and thrives under conditions of low-intensity democracy and insulate political leaders from popular pressure so that they can drive unpopular economic policies. It is against this background that the movement has over the years abandoned the people driven and people centred approach to development . It is in this context that the structures of the movement remains in disarray an focuses its energy on narrow electoral processes and gets revised only during general elections.

8. It is within this context that the concerns raised by COSATU and the SACP including some within the ANC regarding certain sections of the National Development Plan particularly sections dealing with economic policy and labour market could not be addressed .

9. There was agreement in the 2013 Alliance Summit to have these addressed but to this day they remain not addressed. This despite fact that the 2012 ANC policy conference, as well as the ANC’s national conference committed the movement to drive a radical economic shift as the main content of the second phase of our transition. This put into question a belief and understanding that there is a convergence amongst Alliance partners on the radical second phase of the economic transition. The NGC never said anything about the outcomes of the Alliance summit and the progressive ANC resolutions that are not being implemented. This therefore brings to the fore a need for an assessment of the strategic direction the Alliance and the country is taking.

10. This is reflective of the balance of forces inside the movement which is not in favour of the working class . This has also been occasioned by our own subjective organisational weaknesses as the federation. It also as a result of the fact that the we dropped our guards leading to left forces in general being in disarray following the Polokwane honeymoon and leading to the 2008 Alliance Summit

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11. Our call for the Alliance as a strategic centre of power was resolved at the 2008 Alliance Summit which agreed to a reconfigured Alliance through the introduction of an Alliance Political Council. But the Alliance Political Council exist only in name. It does not meet and is not in charge of driving the South African Revolution as envisaged.

12. The resultant effect of this is that the colonial and apartheid social and economic relations remains intact. The ownership and control of our economy still largely reside in the hands of monopoly capital and white monopoly capital in particular

13. Given this continued colonial and apartheid status qou COSATU and the SACP have the challenge of concretely radicalising the National Democratic Revolution and translating their our commitment to socialism into a practical and understandable programme.

14. We must confront the fact that over 20 years into democracy, there are clear signals of the majority getting impatient with the stagnant or rather slow levels of improvement of their material conditions and increasingly becoming vulnerable to demagoguery.

15. The lessons that can be learnt from other African countries in which on average after 20 years post liberation, the masses get impatient with their material conditions and completely change the discourse of the particular country.

16. The weak state of the movement as a whole has also seen in the weaknesses of the progressive youth and student formations have left a platform for demagoguery and other populist formations to exploit the dissatisfactions of the our people with the current socio-economic challenges.

17. The state of the balance of forces in the country has been reflected in the middle class which is opportunistically getting impatient as influenced by a number of hostile elements such as the media and the opposition who have coalesced behind a programme to drive an anti-majoretirean offensive against our movement and the democratic government . This on its own has been allowed to fester because some of our comrades deployed in government do not listen instead are driving a programme which runs contrary to the existing progressive policies adopted in conferences including in various Alliance Summits.

18. There is over-bureaucratisation of the government in which departments such as the National Treasury and senior government technocrats seem to be driving the country towards a direction that is not in the interest of ANC policies adopted by its own consultative constitutional platforms.

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19. All our organisations are faced with various internal challenges. These challenges has manifested themselves through the use of money to influence elections inside our organisations, there is significant influence of careerism, the desire of some comrades to access resources and self-enrichment opportunities within the broader movement and the alliance in particular which have an adverse effect on the state of structures of the alliance.

Believing:1. Our 2015 Plan was correct to assert the following :

a. That our local struggles are intertwined with international working class struggles - through our local initiatives and victories that we score, we open up a new front in the ongoing struggle against international monopoly capital. The globalisation of capitalism means that no society can survive on its own. Hence we need to appreciate the dynamic linkages between our struggles here at home and on the international front.

b. The current world order dominated by the United States is largely not favourable to the working class. The Alliance between powerful trans- national corporations, a handful of developed nations and international financial institutions, currently drives the anti-working class agenda. Still, in the recent past, new opportunities have emerged signifying the rising confidence of the working class to take up struggles against unfair trade, U. S aggression, etc. Overall we seek to ensure:

i. A just and equitable world order.

ii. A fair trade regime and reject attempts by developed countries to further entrench their dominance and to undermine the sovereignty of developing countries.

iii. Transformation of the international institutions such as the World Bank, WTO and IMF.

iv. International peace and stability.

v. A global basic floor of rights for workers and human rights.

2. A reconfigured Alliance must mean an Alliance which is a centre that drives the revolution and currently that is not the case. The meaningful participation of the alliance partners on the strategic matters of the revolution is an exception rather than a norm. It comes more as a courtesy or a favour rather than out of revolutionary commitment based on Alliance institutional arrangements

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3. The Alliance is not a boardroom agreement; it was constructed in the battlefield of our common struggles against a common enemy for a common objective. Therefore a reconfigured Alliance will similarly not be achieved in boardroom meetings but in the field of conscious struggles which asserts the leadership of the working class and is consciously aimed at tilting the balance of forces in favor of the working class

4. The political arrangement that presently exists is a compromise born out of complex forces involved in the transition to democracy and not necessarily the ideal outcome for the working class.

5. The National Democratic Revolution remains the shortest route to Socialism

6. The main strategic opponent of the working class has always been, and still is, domestic and international monopoly capital.

7. As a federation our ultimate objective is the transfer of political and economic power to the working class.

8. COSATU working with the SACP has the responsibility to begin building socialism now. COSATU accept and acknowledge that no trade union movement can on its own fight and win socialism. The struggle for socialism should be led by a working class political party. In our case such a working class political party is the South African Communist Party. The federation needs to fight for building blocks towards socialism. Such building blocks should include:

 

a. Engaging in relentless criticism of capitalism

b. Strengthening working class organisations on the ground. Part of work will include the following :

I. A deliberate strategy to comprehensively induct newly recruited members into structures of the alliance taking into consideration their political history and orientation. This is will ensure that even those comrades that are joining from other political formations outside of the MDM structures do not transfer a foreign culture into our structures.

II. To work closely with and strengthen all the alliance structures including those of the Progressive Youth Alliance to ensure that a vacuum is not presented to reactionary formations to exploit the discontent of young people towards the government.

III. To strengthen ideological and political education of alliance structures to ensure that there is a constant availability of

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firm cadres who can also be of assistance to the government’s strategic objectives determined by the tripartite alliance

c. Rolling back the domination of the market in the meeting of the basic needs i.e. housing, transport and other social wage related issues

d. Fighting for a powerful role of the public sector and the state in the economy

e. Experimenting with non-capitalist forms of ownership and notions of social capital (communally owned companies)

f. Introducing new socialist forms of work organisation and management which advance worker control

g. Developing working class hegemony on issues such as sport, culture values, the media and politics

h. Emphasising the concept of equality and ending all forms of discrimination and oppression, particularly those affecting women

i. Demanding that the state plays a developmental role

j. Reducing higher echelons of bureaucracy

k. Creating a more responsive state administration

l. Moving beyond bourgeoisie notions of capitalist democracy and introducing participatory forms of democracy

m. Building accountability of government institutions and of retirement fund investors

 9. For the above measures to be real building blocks towards socialism,

they need to be located and form part of a broader socialist programme. Such a programme needs to outline in detail:

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a. The nature and type of socialism that we are fighting for

b. The strategy and tactics to be used to realise our socialist objective

c. Short and long-term demands of the working class to be used in the march toward socialism

d. The social forces that will play a crucial role

 

Therefore Resolve that:

1. We need to focus on Building the organisation on the ground beyond 2015:

a) In line with the commitments of the recent COSATU 2013 organising and campaigns Conference and the Special National Congress on Going Back to Basic the first CEC after this Congress should convene a joint meeting of the Organisation Building Commission and Campaigns Coordinating Commitee to develop workplace visits programme which will focus on listening and recruitment campaign; reviving our Section 77 Socio Economic Demands, evaluating our work with civil society and making recommendations on the way forward,

b) We must undertake organisational redesign process modelled around the September Commission which must be aimed at asserting COSATU as a strong centre of political and organisational authority in the federation as a whole.

2. We must advance and win the struggle for radical economic transformation on the ground

a) We must continue to reclaim the ANC and to strengthen the Alliance based on our call for the ANC which is biased towards the working class and a reconfigured Alliance. The platform for achieving this should be based on waging a campaign on the ground for radical economic transformation.

b) In this context the federation must update our policy proposals on the Growth Path towards Full Employment to define the content of radical economic transformation and use it as a basis for our programme which will include a clear mobilisation programme of all sectors of the society around our socio-economic demands and on economic policy also focusing on specific sections of the NDP

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which we have rejected. These inputs should also be used to further enrich the SACP’s discussion document titled “Going to the Root”.

c) An Alliance Summit should be convened in the first quarter of 2016 and must be preceded by an Alliance Political Council to assess progress and confront the challenges in the NDR, and chart a way forward based on commitment to qualitatively move away from the neo liberal policy paradigm and to advance a people driven and people centred radical economic transformation.

3. We must relentlessly and unapologetically advance the Struggle for a Socialist South Africa

3.1. Whilst these programmes must be about radicalising the National Democratic Revolution but should at the same time be consciously linked to developing strategies that engage both the state and capital for the improvement of the material conditions of the majority, as part of the building blocks towards developing a long-term vision of a socialist society.

3.2. While COSATU must play a role in the formulation of such a programme, such a task is not only for the federation, but a mission for all socialist forces coalescing under the leadership of the SACP.

3.3. As recognition of the role that must be played by socialist forces outside of the Federation, COSATU working with the SACP should develop links with credible socialist organisations nationally and internationally in order to challenge capital on a global front.

3.4. We also need to increase the depth of our relationship with the SACP as a political party with a socialist vision and this must be amplified by directly working with the Party to relocate its national office to another property of its own.

3.5. In deepening the relationship with the SACP, COSATU should provide resources that will help strengthen the SACP and transform it into a formidable force capable of meeting the challenges and leading the struggle for socialism.

3.6. COSATU should have a focused campaign to re- establish party units in workplaces and strengthen the SACP branches where they are weak and help and build new ones where they do not exist.

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3.7. As a way of developing a socialist programme, COSATU should internally educate and mobilise workers and the working class broadly about the importance of their role and contribution in realising socialism. Within COSATU and its affiliates this could take the form of Socialist Forums at local level.

3.8. Once a socialist programme has been developed, COSATU and SACP must discuss and jointly develop a broader programme for taking us to socialism. Such a programme could include joint programmes of action, continuous discussion, education fora and move towards a conference of the left with the ANC as one of the partners.

4. This task must be undertaken in the context of the South African Road to Socialism (SARS) ;the Medium Term Vision (MTV) and the SACP’s 3rd Special National Congress resolution on the SACP and state power – a Reconfigured alliance, electoral options and state power which said the following :

a) The 12th National Congress resolution on contesting elections under conditions of a Reconfigured Alliance be implemented based on a clear framework, principles and guidelines and that such be tabled at the Alliance Political Council for implementation commencing with the next local government elections.

b) It is therefore important that in line with the Alliance Summit resolutions, and as part of their implementation, the Alliance Political Council decisively and speedily intervenes in provinces and regions where Alliance relations have deteriorated and degenerated to unfortunate and unacceptable levels.

c) As part of organisational renewal and redesign, a standing Central Commission on State Power and Electoral options be established to evaluate and further refine our long term strategy for socialism based on the following:

i. An independent programme of the SACP for socialism as articulated in SARS.

ii. Favourable objective and subjective concrete conditions. iii. Dynamic, robust and democratic engagements with

revolutionary, fraternal and Alliance formations and communities to ensure working class hegemony and leadership.

iv. Proper and scientific assessment of the class balance of forces at all levels.

v. That a report of this Commission be tabled in the forthcoming 14th National Congress.

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1.2. Freedom of the Press

Noting that:

a) The freedom of the press is one of the key pillars of our democracy that we fought for during the apartheid era, a cause that many gave an ultimate scarifies for. The current epoch reflects that the balance of forces is tilting towards those who control the means of production to advance a neo liberal agenda . Therefore our program towards a non-sexist, non-racial and equal society needs an agenda that will favour the “working class”, which will also include the freedom of the press.

b) However journalists reporting on looting from state coffers, corruption at all governmental levels and corruption in the private sector cannot be viewed as counter revolutionary but as a tool to defend our young democracy and equally to protect the government programs to deliver for the poor.

c) The media reporting in South Africa has not been balanced where corruption in government has been effectively reported and the biased reporting has left the private sector which ias mainly dominated by white monopoly capital to go away with murder.

Believing that:

a) Any attempt to defend those who are stealing from the poor, disadvantage the poor with regards to funds that should be channelled towards development that by its nature is counter revolutionary. We’re cautious that some reports in the media are intended to mud and dent the image our government indirectly the ruling party, so that our people should lose confidence in the congress movement.

b) Our congress movement must not be defocused on the broader mandate as a reliable vehicle that will deliver the objectives of the NDR.

Resolving that:

a) The rights of journalist must be protected and the federation should spearhead this campaign.

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b) The federation should develop a programme which will include working with Alliance formations to create a plarform to engage progressive journalists on the transformation of the media in South Africa.

1.3. 2016 Local Government Elections

Noting;

a) The local government elections are to be held in 2016 and that the ANC as the leader of the Alliance will be contesting these elections.

b) There are still challenges of transformation in the administration of local government and that such negativity affect development in the communities.

c) COSATU relies on its human resources and in particular the leadership to engage in such campaigns.

d) The IEC code of code of conduct prevents its officials from campaigning for any political party.

e) The ANC has championed service delivery in many Municipalities to change the lives of the people.

f) The local government is the main centre of development.

g) Very little percentage of the municipalities receives clean audits.h) The performance of the ANC during 2014 general elections has dropped.

(i.e. Gauteng Province, a drop of 10% to with only 54,92%).

i) There are service delivery protests linked to new opportunistic emerging social formations.

j) The developmental role that should be played by ward committees in our different communities.

k) The 2014 National General Election results in Provinces and the decline in support for the ANC in some of the Country’s key Metro’s.

l) That 20 years of democracy and progress the progressive movement have a good story to tell.

m) The less-than-satisfactory condition of ANC branches, COSATU Locals and Socialist Forums.

n) The emergence of new opposition parties in South African politics mostly coming from within the ranks of our movement and the changing political landscape, including the phenomenon of some young people joining opposition parties.

o) The list processes perceived as being non-transparent.

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a) The ANC remains a trusted leader of the society in delivering services to communities.

b) There is a need to take stock of the gains and service delivery challenges facing the Local Government.

c) Service delivery is a right not a privilege and improvement on service delivery will ease tensions in our different communities.

d) The involvement of SADTU leaders as IEC officials weakens our campaigns.

e) Competent and qualified personnel should occupy key positions.

f) COSATU must play an important role in determining the local government elections manifesto at the level of the alliance to ensure that the issues as raised by the society are addressed.

g) Political direction is crucial in assisting the nomination of candidates for 2016 local government elections.

h) Municipalities should respond quickly and introduce programmes that will accelerate the alleviation of service delivery backlogs.

i) The practice of laying-off/putting on leave farm workers during elections in some of the provinces.

j) The need for the alliance to monitor the practice by farmers not to allow workers to participate during elections.

Resolving;

a) Reaffirm the 2011 COSATU Congress resolution on Local Government Elections

b) COSATU affiliates commits to making human and material resources available to mobilise towards the landslide victory of the ANC in the coming local government elections

c) The leadership of the federation which includes affiliates’’ leaders should be at the forefront of this campaign.

d) The Local Government deployees to make comprehensive service delivery report available ahead of the 2016 local government elections

e) ANC must go back to communities to address challenges raised during the 2014 General Elections and ensure constant engagements with communities should be maintained as build up towards the full-blast election campaign

f) Reiterate the importance of COSATU members becoming ANC volunteers and should fully participate in list processes in their own capacity as ANC members.

g) Performance audits should be done annually and deployed cadres who compromise the core mandate of local government should be recalled

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h) Comprehensive Campaign programmes be developed with the Alliance for the 2016 Local Government Elections and funding be prioritised for such.

i) COSATU should ensure that our municipalities are efficient in providing service to our different communities and Union structures must engage Councillors on service deliverables.

j) We need to put more effort into our campaign towards the strategic programmes of dislodging the DA and the EFF in the Provinces

k) COSATU should assist in the renewal of ANC branches in all Wards, assist in the general recruitment of new cadreship in the ANC, and assist with ANC political education.

l) Cause an in-depth analysis to be conducted by the vanguard (SACP) and the true character of the DA, EFF including its surrogate AMCU, United Front, be exposed.

m) COSATU in collaboration with the Progressive Youth Alliance (YCLSA, ANCYL, COSAS and SASCO) should organise political schools as part of campaigning with young people in all Sectors.

n) Advertisements, posters, pamphlets are flyers to be drafted to remind the public of what has been gained and continues to be gained under the successive ANC government since 1994.

o) That COSATU should work in consultation with ANC to ensure that all concerns raised during door to door by communities during elections are progressively addressed to ensure that our people continue to have confidence in the ANC government.

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1.4. The Relationship between COSATU and the ANC

Noting that:

1. Whilst as COSATU our relationship with the ANC has been one characterized by a high level of commitment (playing our role as the spear), the ANC has on countless occasions failed to play its expected role as a shield of the workers and the working class.

2. Many existing progressive resolutions from the ANC’s Conferences held in Polokwane in 2007 and those from Mangaung in 2012 have not been implemented. These include the following amongst others :

a) Instead of prioritising the implementation of an integrated, accessible, reliable, safe and affordable public transport system in South Africa, the ANC led government prioritized the implementation of the e-tolling system (an anti-workers approach to achieving sustainable development),

b) The resolution on the establishment of a State Bank has not been implemented ,

c) The resolution on the establishment of a state pharmaceutical company has not been implemented ,

d) The resolution on the nationalisation of SASOL and Accillor Mittal has not been implemented ,

e) The resolution on the roll out of the National Health Insurance System has not been implemented, and many other progressive resolutions which stand to directly benefit the working class remain unimplemented.

3. Policies such as the Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment (BEEE) have not worked in addressing and resolving the fundamental contradictions of racial domination, gender oppression and class exploitation. These policies have not addressed the central question of the NDR particularly pertaining to the redistribution of wealth and control of the economy from the dominion of white monopoly capital to the majority which is mainly the Black and African working class.

4. Policies such as the Youth Employment Incentives which was rammed through by the National Treasury, fast-tracked and signed into law have benefited employers instead of the youth as the intended beneficiaries

5. There is an expectation by some within the ranks of the movement to have a muted COSATU whose only role is to mobilise for the victory of the ANC during elections.

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Believing that:

1. The non-implementation of some progressive policies which stand to benefit workers and the working class by the democratic government have the potential of straining the relationship between COSATU and the ANC.

2. No problem can be resolved at a level at which it has been created.

3. COSATU’s relationship with the ANC is based on the following understanding :

3.1. It is a relationship based on advancing the strategic objectives of the NDR which has the main objective of liberating black people in general and Africans in particular.

3.2. Whilst COSATU’s relationship with the ANC is not issue based, workers have an expectation that the ANC as their movement and ruling party in government will not hesitate to address issues affecting them directly

3.3. COSATU’s relationship with the ANC was foundered in the struggle through visible practical campaigns on the ground which ultimately landed a deadly blow against our common enemy.

3.4. COSATU’s relationship with the ANC is based on a clear understanding regarding each others’ role in the struggle which understanding accepts the ANC as the spearhead of the National Democratic Revolution.

3.5. COSATU’s relationship with the ANC is based on an understanding that COSATU is first and foremost a federation of trade unions whose pre-occupation is to unite workers behind the struggles to address workers’ demands.

4. COSATU’s strength and relevance in society is based on our organisational power and presence on the ground.

5. COSATU should consistently implement its resolutions as an independent organisation which derives its mandate from its own constitutional structures.

6. The power of the workers and the working class in our organisation and without organisation we are doomed.

Therefore Resolve that:

1. The Federation should have a series of programmes and campaigns aimed at getting the ANC to have its own progressive policies translated to implementable government programmes.

2. The CEC will develop a strategy to engage the ANC based on understanding that no problem can be resolved at a level where it was created.

3. The federation should coordinate a coherent programme to build the capacity of affiliates

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1.5. On the Question of ANC’s leadership - Succession Processes towards 2017

The 12th National Congress noted

a) There was an untimely discussion and debates regarding the ANC’s 2017 leadership succession

b) Some within and outside the ANC were beginning to position themselves in a manner that places them at an atvantage to access certain postions of power and yet weakening the compromising the unity and strength of the ANC

c) In the past, given the gravity of the situation , COSATU took extra –ordinary measurers and did the unusual to discuss and resolve on its preferred leadership of the ANC towards the 2007 ANC 52nd Conference.

d) The leadership of the ANC has a direct bearing on the leadership in government , for an example the president of the ANC also becomes the president of the country

e) The premature debates on the leadership succession debate has a potential to dividing the ANC and cause it to defocus from implementing the congress resolutions which must be translated into government policy and programmes

Believing that : a) COSATU is not neutral when it comes to the leadership of the ANC as a multi

class movement which is at the forehead of the National Democratic Revolutionb) COSATU must respect the indepence of the ANC as an organisation including

respecting the ANC’s leadership election processes. c) COSATU members in their own right as ANC members will influence the

outcomes of the ANC congress including on the leadership Therefore Resolve

1. To re affirm the 2007 Congress criteria on the Leadership question which included the following :

a. Commitment to the radical NDR and thorough-going transformation: The NDR is not a narrow de-racialisation project. It is radical because it must address three interrelated forms of oppression - gender, national and class oppression. Whilst it recognises that political liberation does not represent the resolution of the class contradictions, it nevertheless seeks to shift the balance in favour of the working class. It is in this context that the NDR is not hostile to socialism (at least that what the ANC 1969 Morogoro conference said).

b. The leadership that must lead an ANC rooted amongst our people and led by the working class must have an unquestionable commitment to this mass-based NDR. It must have an ambivalent commitment to all the demands of the Freedom Charter including its call for nationalisation, redistribution of wealth and land, and free and compulsory education.

c. To ensure commitment to the NDR in the long run requires revolutionary morality, organisational discipline and general reliability. We need to ensure that our candidates will not be bought by those with more wealth than any worker movement can envision. A problem is that anyone who takes a position of power

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today faces a combination of endless temptation and massive pressure from bureaucrats within the state as well as from international capital and “advisors.” How do we ensure the people we nominate cannot give in to those who oppose real change?

d. Proven commitment to the Alliance: Workers have had enough of shouting tired empty Alliance slogans and hollow commitment to the Alliance whilst the record proves otherwise. If all accept that the Alliance is a weapon in the hands of our people to effect fundamental transformation, then this must be accompanied by equal commitment to make it work. Leadership must be committed to the following principles:

While led by the ANC, the partners should recognise one another’s independence in the Alliance and accord each one equal status;

Work for mutual benefit in which there is respect and recognition of the role of each component of the Alliance while forging maximum unity;

Strengthen one another’s formations, including providing time and resources for organisational building of the Alliance;

Manage the tensions in the Alliance by consulting one another through meeting regularly and hammering out the issues; and

Promote debate and discussion within the Alliance through democratic participation of the components of the Alliance and strive to resolve such debates through discussion and consensus.

2. The first CEC after the National Congress shall finalise the discussions on leadership based on the principles raised above.

1.6. Ideological Outlook

Notinga) The COSATU 2015 Plan’s commitment of defending our political gains

and space. In this regard we need a strong ANC and SACP, rather than weakened Alliance partners. The SACP is the vanguard of the working class, and we seek to build it into a strong, mass- based organisation that truly can be the bedrock for workers.

b) The South African Communist party is overstretched in terms of resources to execute their political mandate.

c) COSATU committed through the Plan to provide financial and material support to the SACP as a concrete contribution toward the Party becoming financially stable and ultimately self-reliant. In that vein, we will encourage our members and leaders to support the debit order campaign and to join the SACP. The Central Executive Committee will determine the actual contribution by affiliates.

d) The federation did not do much to implement and reinforce this noble initiative of reinforcement of the SACP.

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Believinga) It is the ideological responsibility of the workers to ensure existence of

the SACP and its strength;b) That class consciousness is important manifestation for the working

class in the struggle to achieve socialism;c) That class consciousness can be achieved through political education andd) That the South African Communist Party [SACP] is the vanguard

which has the duty to inculcate class consciousness to the working class.

Resolvinga) We re-affirm the federation’s ideological commitment through the 2015

Plan on strengthening the SACP and its complete implementation in order for it to sustain its capacity to analyse and provide direction on all matters affecting the working class and the poor.

1.7. Transformation of the Judiciary

Noting;a) That in a constitutional democracy the judiciary plays a pivotal role in

the protection of the constitution andb) That the current government sought to create a judiciary that will be

accessible to all inhabitants of the country and to afford equal protection to all [e.g. race, gender, class etc.].

c) That Justice guarantees freedom, harmony, fairness, democracy and opportunity for all communities.

d) The cost of the justice system makes it inaccessible to the poor and the disadvantaged.

Believing;a) That the judiciary must equally protect the rights of all inhabitants of the

land andb) That individuals coming from the capitalist class will not have an

interest in protecting the rights of the working class.

c) Struggle for fair justice system is a struggle for human rights such as healthcare, education, jobs and houses.

d) Our justice system is not colour blind or ideologically neutral.

e) Our struggle for a transformation of the justice is a struggle against racism, sexual assault, wage stagnation for high quality public education, healthcare, public service, good jobs, dignity and respect.

f) That our justice system is biased in favour of the affluent due to high legal cost which the poor and disadvantaged majority cannot afford.

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Resolving;a) That the appointment of magistrates and judges must be informed by

the track record of good and impeccable conduct of the incumbent;b) The appointed judiciary should be fit and proper to effectively

execute their responsibilities andc) That a process of appointing Magistrates, Judges and Acting Judges to all

the arms of the judiciary must be reviewed with a view to ensuring the appointment of progressive minded individuals who are willing to judiciously take on power dynamics head-on that are informed by previous imbalances that continue to define our socio-politico economic landscape.

d) That the federation needs a focused campaign on the transformation of the justice system and develops programmes to be led by affiliates within the various sectors where we organize in at all levels.

e) The cost of the justice system must be made accessible to the poor and the disadvantaged.

f) Condemn the biasness of the justice system as favouring the affluent at the expense of the poor

g) Calling on the ANC to take be bold and transform the justice system as a matter of urgency.

1.8. Chapter 9 Institutions

Noting;a) That our constitution provides for the establishment of Chapter 9

institutions;b) That they are important for our democracy;c) That some are continuously interfering on political matters and are

playing the role of the opposition andd) That in terms of our constitution they should report to Parliament.Believing;a) The existence of these institutions is necessary for strengthening our

democracy andb) That the interference in political matters undermines the establishment

of the chapter 9 institutions.

Resolving;a) Parliament must play its role of ensuring that all these institutions

report at the righty forum.b) That Parliament should strengthen its monitoring mechanisms of these

institutions including the behaviour of the appointed heads of these institutions.

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1.9. Role of NGOs in the Country

Noting;a) There are many NGOs that are operating in our country;b) Some are doing a good work in assisting our communities;c) In that process they use a lot of resources from international donors andd) There is weak or non-existent regulation of the activities of NGOs.

Believing;a) While there are good NGOs some are illicitly operating a political agenda

of weakening the government;b) Transparency in their activities and funding will assist in profiling the

good and the bad NGOs.

Resolving;a) The real agenda of some of the NGOs should be exposed for what they

represent;b) The source of funding for these NGOs should be scrutinised.c) Strict monitoring and regulation of the NGOs should be the way to

address this impasse.

1.10. Constitutionalism

Noting;a) That South Africa is a constitutional democracy;b) That our constitution was an outcome of a negotiated settlement;c) We have a constitution hailed as the most progressive constitution in the

world;d) This negotiated outcome is constantly being contested by counter

revolutionary forces;e) These forces constantly use the courts to undermine our democracy andf) These counter revolutionary forces who abuse our democracy include

the opposition parties.

Believing;a) There is a need to guard against the abuse of the constitution and

democracy by counter revolutionary forces;b) This attack on our democracy is an attack and challenge on the

majoritarian character of our democracy andc) Transition is not a permanent feature of our democracy.

Resolving;a) That our democracy should be protected at all costs;

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b) The attacks and the use of courts should be condemned and our constitution needs to be amended to strengthen the majoritarian nature of our democracy

1.11. Protection of State Information Bill

Noting;a) The interest of foreign agencies in the information of the country;b) The abuse of personal information by financial institutions and other businesses

andc) The unlimited access to our information by private investigation agencies.

Believing;a) There is a need for the protection of our country;b) The unlimited access undermines the sovereignty of our country andc) There is a need to expose corruption.

Resolving;a) The Bill is necessary to protect the interests of the country and its citizens andb) The Bill should be enacted into law.

1.12. Corruption Watch

Noting;a) The scourge of corruption in our country;b) The need to deal with corruption in South Africa andc) That Corruption Watch was established under the deception that it was the

Federation’s initiative whereas processes outside the federation were already underway for its establishment including appointment of Board members.

Believing;a) Corruption is a threat to the development of the country andb) Alliances with NGOs for any project of the federations must be based on its

policies. An alliance with Corruption Watch [which does not exist] was a clandestine approach does not fit the type of organisations the federation should be relating to.

Resolving;a) That federation must rescind the earlier position of supporting the so-

called Corruption Watchb) Future relationships with NGOs should be properly looked into.

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2. SOCIO-ECONOMIC RESOLUTIONS

2.1. Resolution on the NDP and radical economic transformation

Noting:

1. The continuation of world-wide capitalist crisis and stagnation since the Great Recession of 2008-2009.

2. The South African economy continues to be weighed down by this crisis, as reflected in the unfolding job-destruction in key sectors such as mining, steel and construction, etc. reinforcing the crises of poverty and inequality and the fact that a third of the workforce is unemployed.

3. The adoption of the New Development Plan by government in 2014 without meaningful engagement with organised labour and other progressive formations in society.

4. The COSATU New Growth Path which places at the centre comprehensive set of policy proposals for decent jobs, industrialisation, nationalisation, economic redistribution and regional integration.

5. The resolution of the COSATU CEC extended Political Commission on the National Development Plan adopted on the 6th June 2013, which amongst others called for the “redrafting and fundamental overhaul of the core economic chapter of the NDP” as it undermined the critical elements of the NGP/IPAP.

6. The ANC 4th NGC’s call for a National Job Summit for a programme of economic transformation.

Believing that:

1. South Africa is unable to respond to the current unfolding world-wide capitalist crisis as a result of the dogmatic implementation of conservative macroeconomic policies and weak state intervention in strategic and key industries such as mining and manufacturing.

2. The announcement in the 2015 MTBPS of “a long-term fiscal guideline that will align spending growth closely with GDP growth”, means that spending from the fiscus is no longer to be used to stimulate growth, but instead it would be increased only if there is increased growth. This is the logic of the economics of growth first and redistribution after - a form of trickle-down Neoliberal economics.

3. The NDP’s low-wage and service sector led job-creation strategy, which includes attacks on our hard-won worker rights and institutionalisation of a two-tier labour market, will only serve to reproduce the current unsustainable colonial economic structure and its socioeconomic features.

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4. Despite the sustained implementation of government’s national infrastructure plan and other programmes, the South African economy largely remains trapped in the growth trajectory that is dominated by monopolies in finance, extractive minerals, extreme low-pay services and agro-processing sectors, at the expense of the contracting manufacturing sector.

5. The current conservative macroeconomic policies of the National Development Plan (NDP) adopted by government in 2014, work against the perspective of the radical second phase of the transition advanced by the 2012 ANC policy and Mangaung conferences, supported by COSATU and SACP.

6. The adoption of the NDP by the ANC as a long-term vision and ‘living and dynamic document” means that organised workers and the working class broadly must rely on organisational power to force a radical shift in the macroeconomic policies and accelerated implementation of the key elements of the NGP/IPAP for industrialisation.

Resolve

1. To endorse the CEC resolution on the NDP and position paper as a working document for further development and elaboration.

2. To support the ANC 4th NGC’s call for convening of a National Job Summit urgently, at the centre of which must be the review of the macroeconomic policies, strategies for creation of decent jobs, establishment of a minimum wage, wealth tax and industrialisation.

3. To develop a programme of mass action up to the next congress to fight against the current conservative macroeconomic policies, for accelerated state intervention for industrialisation and advancing the demands of our 2015 national strike.

4. In all sectors affiliates must develop their own programmes to fight against retrenchments, labour broking, outsourcing and casualization.

5. To reproduce simplified booklets on the COSATU New Growth Path, hold education session for our members and popularise its proposals in the public domain.

6. To encourage economic empowerment of the people through genuine collective ownership of the means of production (cooperatives), recognising that coops are used to circumvent labour laws and exploit workers.

7. To encourage the economy and empowerment of the people through the collective forms of ownership

8. To affirm previously taken resolutions on economic inclusion, with the addition of extreme measures which need to be implemented

9. To call an urgent meeting with the National Treasurer regarding retirement funds, within the period of 4 weeks. If the engagement is

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unsuccessful we must file a Section 77 and call for a protest action which will go beyond one day strike action and assume the form of rolling mass action.

10. re-affirm COSATU resolution on the creation of a worker’s bank and that the COSATU NOBs should form a task team constituted by the CEC members and appointed expects to get this resolution implemented.

11. Must work with the SACP to coordinate a march to the Reserve Bank.

12. Appeal to the intervention of the Federation and the Party on this matter.

13. COSATU must run a campaign and engage the private sector with regards to the international investments that have led to massive job losses.

2.2. Local procurement promotion by affiliates

Noting;a) Labour has committed to support local jobs by procuring its goods and

services from local industries,b) These commitments were explicitly made in the tripartite Local

Procurement Accord, of which COSATU is a signatoryc) Many COSATU affiliates continue to procure their paraphernalia from

imported goods, and in many instances from countries with questionable labour practices

Believing;a) Affiliates should be provided with more clearer local procurement

resources and better accessible institutions which promote local sourcing

Resolving; a) COSATU should establish a Local Procurement Office which provides and

promotes affordable, quality paraphernalia for affiliatesb) All affiliates should be compelled to source their paraphernalia via such

a Local Procurement Office. c) This must include having a list of identified shops/service providers

where affiliates can procure directly in order to purchase locally manufactured clothing/goods.

2.3. Wealth tax

Noting;

a) South Africa remains one of the most unequal societies in the worldb) The triple crises of unemployment, poverty and inequality persists

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c) Our movement has agreed that radical transformation is required to address the triple crises of unemployment, poverty and inequality

d) COSATU supports the introduction of free education and has supported the recent #FeesMustFall Campaign

Believing;a) A more radical economic intervention requires concrete progressive taxation

provisions, as one of a range of measuresb) A wealth tax can help address triple crises of unemployment, poverty and

inequalityc) A wealth tax can help to address the funding towards our medium and long

terms quest for free education

Resolving;a) To call and campaign for the urgent introduction of a wealth tax which will

constitute a revenue base to fund free education

2.4. Employment Equity And Equal Opportunity & Disability

Note a) The ideal of “equal pay for equal work” and “equal pay for work of equal value” is

a right covered by the BCEA and LRA, however most women have not yet benefitted from the collective bargaining agreements derived from this constitutional right,

b) The fight for realization of the principle of equal pay for work of equal value is still crucial,

c) Employment equity provisions are a safeguard to ensure workers’ rights to equality and equal access to opportunities of employment and development.

Believe that

a) Wage disparities still persist despite the constitutional provisions, pronouncements and prohibitions on the grounds of gender and race,

b) Women earn less that their male counterparts by at least 50% as confirmed by the secretariat report,

c) The lack of monitoring the employment equity commitments of the charters in this sectors.

Therefore resolve that

a) COSATU Trade unions in particular to embark on a campaign on the harmonization of salaries between men and women and racially defined wage gap as a matter of urgency and as a priority for the next collective bargaining rounds,

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b) The union must prioritize the monitoring of employment equity commitments by employers, (through scrutinizing and challenging where necessary) by participating in the relevant government platforms and facilitate the seeking of legal recourse,

c) Ensure regular reporting on progress made regarding employment equity trends, in particular gender disparities, utilising the relevant departments and labour institutions for conciliation and arbitration,

d) Salary disparities are done away with so that women are remunerated equally on the same bases with their male counterpart.

2.5. The Establishment of the National Women’s Development Fund

Noting a) Welcome the recognition of the second phase of our democracy as the radical

phase for economic transformation,b) The transformation agenda intended to alleviate poverty and improve the

economic status of people, in particular African working class women, is instead benefitting capitalists and the bourgeoisie class,

c) The enormous lessons derived from the opportunities of the youth development agency,

Believing a) The transformation opportunities derived from the alignment of policy

instruments to the industrialisation imperatives, must also be beneficial to the ordinary women,

b) The establishment of the national development fund that will focus on the development and empowerment of women, is long resolved at the level of the alliance and the women’s movement in general,

c) Developmental state can defeat poverty and inequality not only through a deracialized economic growth parth based only on wage earners, but also one that has a vision to transform race, class and gender contradictions,

d) Developmental state that can mobilise people as a whole to be their own liberators by encouraging them to be actively involved through participatory and representative democracy.

Therefore resolvea) COSATU to take a lead in leading civil society in the transformation struggle,

in particular the revival of the PWMSA, b) COSATU to drive the campaign on the establishment of the women

development fund that will enable working class women including women residing in rural areas to also benefit from the opportunities that comes with the government transformation agenda.

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2.6. Youth Unemployment

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Noting

a) Employment Tax Incentives (also known as the Youth Wage Subsidy) has not succeeded . it has been abused by employers and has not helped to reduce youth unemployment

b) Translate the objectives of the progressive micro economic policies such as the New Growth Path, into concrete benefits for the youth,

c) Turn around the structural outlook of the unemployment, that takes the form of race, class, gender and most importantly the youth,

d) The need to reduce the vulnerability of young workers to the ‘s trend of job shedding through retrenchment, including subcontracting and the deliberate use of labour brokers, which subject workers especially young workers to different and inferior working conditions of employment,

e) Provide hope for young workers affected by unemployment, especially young graduates from different institutions of higher and further education and training including skills development institutions such as the artisan’s training institutions for vocational training, certificate in mining, who struggle to get internship practices in the mining companies,

f) The cooperatives drives of government should be targeted to address youth unemployment and to build an alternative economy to the capitalist economy based on the principle of solidarity.

Believing:

a) It is the deliberate effort by employer to circumvent the progressive labour laws by sending home workers who qualify to meet the threshold of being made permanent, especially in the industries such as the retail, hospitality, etc.

b) To some extent youth unemployment is attributed to the structural outlook of the SA economy and that strategies to address it should include job creation through programmes that would instil the spirit of entrepreneurship among young people in particular African youth.

c) Lack of support for young workers who pursue scarce skills courses who wish get jobs in order to gain experience in the various skills which is a condition to continue with their studies.

Therefore resolve

a) Programmes for development should have clear targets achievable to fight unemployment in particular youth unemployment,

b) The budget of the youth wage subsidy to channelled to appropriate programmes for youth development including supporting job creation efforts by the youth,

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c) Government to strengthening the existing polices for youth development programmes (NYDA) and to ensure that they include young workers as beneficiaries targeted for development and empowerment programmes,

d) Ensure the improvement of education and skills levels among young people in order to better prepare them to assume their rightful place in the world of work and of business,

e) Demand that companies afford learners with the necessary opportunity to gain experience through internship practice in mines.

f) To ensure reasonable fees and STD requirements for entry in institutions of further and higher education, including programmes of internships and learners hip,

g) Companies to step up their bursary efforts and contribution for students in higher education in support of the call towards free education, in particular the “#Fee’s Must Fall Campaign”.

h) The CEC must conduct an urgent audit on the affiliates

i) COSATU Workers must start mobilizing young workers in High Schools, Tertiary institutions and colleges etc.

j) Facilitate good relationships with unemployed graduates so that when they come to the work place they know about COSATU

k) Must reject the Youth Wage Subsidy – Workers are going to be retrenched, recycled and will not be employed permanently because of this.

l) There must be a strategic focus on using the organs of the state such as the NYDA. These structures should allow young people to be in the power to form part of policy structures in government.

2.7. On the Banning of Labour Brokers

Note a) That labour brokering is the worst form of slavery practice, and does not

contribute towards job creation and poverty alleviation. b) Government refuses to ban labour brokers, but choses to regulate them. c) Labour brokering does not offer job security. d) That labour brokering is opposed to the decent work principles. e) That labour brokering is multiplying itself more rapidly. f) That labour brokering weakens the trade union movement due to short term

employment. g) The amendments to the Labour Relations Act in the attempt to regulate labour

brokers does not meet the demands of the labour movement, as the compliance of employers remains an issue in itself.

h) That only about 20% of temporary employees are given permanent positions after their three month contract ends.

i) That the Youth Wage subsidy is meant to be a tax incentive to encourage employers to hire young people, but labour brokers have been benefiting from the grant by boosting profits, without subsidising wages.

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j) The impasse we have as labour in particular COSATU to have the labour brokers banned and done away with altogether,

k) The tendency of business to short-circuit the constitutional laws that protect and regulate casual work, mostly subcontracted through this barbaric system.

l) That Outsourcing is another form of labour broking in the Public Sector

Believinga) That the capitalist business has created casualisation as a response to

circumvent and counter the legislative protection and workers’ rights to job security that comes with the democratic dispensation and transition,

b) That the undermining of these rights shifts the burden of social protection to the government by way of having to provide basic needs, such as health care and provident fund to workers when they reach old age.

Resolve: a. To reaffirm the COSATU resolution on the total ban of labour brokers,

casualization and the super exploitation of vulnerable workers. b. To roll out a campaign against labour brokers as we organize in the mostly

affected sectors.

c. To pursue and prioritise the effective protection of part-time workers and workers in other atypical forms of employment as a stepping stone towards phasing out all atypical forms of employment and for progression to full-time permanent work for these categories of workers.

d. COSATU must identify the big companies practicing labour broking in the industries, and mobilize mass protest demonstrations against those companies.

e. The failed Youth Wage subsidy is unsustainable and should therefore be withdrawn.

f. That while we relentlessly fight for the banning of labour brokers, we must identify workers affected by labour brokerage and take the employer head on through the labour court with these cases, so as to also test the seriousness of government to regulate this scourge.

g. All COSATU unions must utilize their legal resources to the maximum, and fight for individual workers by taking companies to task where labour brokers exists.

h. Audit the extent of labour broking in the COSATU affiliated unions and industries within which our affiliates operate. and take up cases to test by taking it up to legal recourse, after having exhausted all internal avenues,

2.8. Organising and Control/Regulation in the Taxi Sector

Noting;

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a) That 185 000 people work in the minibus taxi industry in South Africa. These workers provide the main form of public transport in the country.

b) The largest group of workers are drivers. In addition to drivers, there are queue marshals, car washers and administrative workers. In some parts of the country there are also fare collectors.

c) About 95% of workers in the taxi industry are African. Less than 2% are women. Very few drivers are self-employed. Most work for a taxi owner and are paid significantly wages. However, very few taxi owners have a formal written contract of employment, which enables them to exploit taxi drivers extensively.

d) Drivers are hired on the basis that they possess a driver’s license and a permit to transport the public – Professional Driver’s Permit (PrDP). Drivers enter into informal and verbal contracts with employers making it difficult for contribution and collection of skills levies and other statutory deductions such as Unemployment Insurance Fund etc.

Believing;a) That although the taxi sector is a vulnerable subdivision of labour, which

has not been greatly tapped into, the Federation should make all the necessary moves to ensure that workers in this sector are represented as well.

Resolving;

a) To urgently seek a meeting with the Minister of Transport on the future of the taxi industry, and to demand the implementation of the promised Social Plan for taxi drivers. The discussions with the Minister should also address the need for an integrated transport plan. This will greatly assist on the issues of taxi violence, and the fighting for commuter “routes” in the taxi industry.

b) To put pressure on the Department of Labour to enforce the Sectoral Determination. Sectoral determinations controls the terms and conditions of employment for employees in that particular sector. It may set minimum wages in sectors, regulate payment in kind, regulate pension and medical aid schemes, prohibit or regulate piece work, set minimum standards for housing for employees who live on the employer's premises, and so on. Sectoral determinations will be set in sectors where there is no centralised collective bargaining, and which require detailed and specific regulations (e.g. the taxi sector).

c) To continue and intensify the Federation’s involvement with the taxi Chamber of the TETA as a part of advancing training in the sector.

d) To condemn taxi violence in the strongest political terms, and to exert pressure on the law enforcement agencies to expedite the arrest and prosecution of the criminals who assassinate rank stewards.

2.9. Taxi Violence

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Noting;a) That the taxi bosses have been orchestrating violence as a means of

achieving their business and/or economic objectives. b) That taxi violence has claimed too many innocent lives. c) Inaction on the part of the law enforcement agencies in stopping the taxi

violence. d) Lack of decisive action on the part of authorities to deal harshly with

rogue elements in the taxi industry who perpetuate violence. e) The lax regulation of the taxi industry.

Believing;a) That those who orchestrate taxi violence should be exposed and

isolated/encase rated. b) That the taxi violence ought to be stopped. c) That the taxi industry ought to get rid of the hit squads and/or assassins. d) That the law enforcement agencies should act ruthlessly in stopping taxi

violence. e) That the taxi industry should be properly regulated to strategically

exclude the perpetrators of violence and criminals.

Resolving;a) To condemn taxi violence in the strongest political terms. b) To campaign for the ending of taxi violence. c) To exert pressure on the law enforcement agencies to expedite the arrest

and prosecution of the criminals who assassinate rank stewards. d) To campaign for the banning of belligerent taxi operators from operating

taxis. e) Call the govt to monitor the day to day activities in the Taxi industry and

provide security to control taxi violence because indeed the police are getting injured in the process.

f) In engagements with SA government, must talk about the taxis manufactured in SA for the safety of our people. As these unsafe taxi seriously pose a danger to the lives of the millions of people who use taxis on a daily basis.

2.10. Accessible, Reliable , Affordable and Reliable Public Transport System in South Africa

2.10.1. Road carnage and the Arrive Alive Campaign

Noting:

a) Transport carnage (road and track etc.) statistics in South Africa continue to rise drastically, killing many people all year around, in all provinces. In May (2015) the International Transport Forum (ITF) found that South Africa ranked worst out of 36 countries for road fatalities alone.

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b) Despite the hair raising statistics, transport carnage (road in particular) remain low on South Africa’s list of priorities. Horror crashes occur with frightening regularity.

c) The decline of rail freight services during the 1990s and 2000s has caused a massive increase in road freight.

d) Trucks (often slow and difficult to overtake) block faster traffic, leading to frustration, risk-taking and, ultimately, fatal collisions on the National roads.

e) The Federation is not greatly involved/engaged in campaigns that raise awareness about the issues of road safety, such as the Arrive Alive Campaigns.

Believing:

a) Transport Carnage is to a large degree preventable, if all the necessary precautions are taken and changes in infrastructure made.

b) That our physical infrastructure is good; but the quality has to be improved. This means improving the reliability and frequency of rail services to boost competition with road freight. Taking into consideration that the road freight industry has also matured into a multi-billion rand industry, it is not expected hat capitalists will play along to any plans to reduce road freight transport.

c) There is an increased need to reduce the volume of passenger road traffic.

d) There is an urgent need for structural changes to the South African transport network.

e) That the issue of transport carnages should not only be given a priority at certain times of the year, or made to be “seasonal” occurrences.

f) That in order to raise further consciousness and mindfulness to our members in particular, the Federation must form part of/be at the forefront of road awareness campaigns.

Resolving:

a) To engage with the Minister of Transport and broader private establishments (companies) to work collaboratively to reduce freight transport on our national highways and roads. Through engagements with Transnet, the rail freight carrier, has improved their services over the last few years and will hopefully continue to make inroads into the road freight industry.

b) To develop a COSATU plan as a basis of engagement with the Arrive Alive Campaign, Distraction Campaign, and the like. The Federation must elaborate on ways in which the campaign(s) can be transformed into continuous campaigns rather than ones that is concentrated around the Easter and Christmas holidays.

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c) To link the Campaigns with the demand for public provision of infrastructure, and the demand for safe and affordable public passenger transport. This includes the demands for the elimination of fraud and corruption amongst the laws enforcement agencies.

2.10.2. Public transport

Noting: a) There are approximately 3,9 million public transport commuters. The 2,5

million taxi commuters account for over 63 percent of public transport work trips, bus services account for another 22 percent of public transport commuters and the balance are carried to work by train. In addition to the 2,5 million commuters who use minibus-taxis as the main mode of travel, there are another 325 000 commuters who use taxis either as a feeder mode to other public transport services.

b) 30 per cent of households in the RSA spend more than 10 per cent of their income on public transport.

c) Minibus taxis as an informal transport system make 67.9% of a total number of trips. This highlights the important role that a well-managed minibus taxi system can play as the core focus of public transportation, and the new transportation subsidy regime of government is shifting towards the direction of supporting this sector.

d) The lack of convenient public transport has been identified as a serious obstacle for tourists to the city of Johannesburg.

e) Conventional metered taxis, unlike in other countries, do not cruise the streets in search of passengers, and must generally be summoned by telephone.

f) Railway infrastructure in most cities covers only the older parts of cities and has not kept up with new city development.

g) Small bus operators outside the formal subsidy system struggle to raise capital and to recapitalize their bus fleet.

h) Many instances of fraudulent bus operators have complicated the process whereby contracts and subsidies are awarded.

i) Fraudulent operators are also the ones neglecting their responsibility to maintain roadworthy vehicles.

Believing:

a) That a responsive, sustainable, balanced and equitable public transport system allows for the basic mobility needs of the working class population in particular to be met, affordable, operate efficiently, offer choice of transportation modes, support a vibrant economy and operate seamlessly across the municipal boundaries.

Resolving

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a) To reaffirm COSATU’s demand for an integrated public transport system that are safe, reliable, affordable, and accessible.

b) To call for a well-planned funding model for the system.

c) That subsidies must be aimed to assist marginalised users and those with poor access to social and economic activity.

d) To call for an effective land transport system which must be achieved through integrated planning, provision and the regulation of services, infrastructure, and diligent, effective law enforcement.

e) Public transport must be given higher priority than private transport, and all alliance partners must promote the frequent use of public transport.

f) An appropriate shift of freight from road to rail must be promoted, which does not affect job losses for workers in the transport sector.

g) The participation of all interested parties in transport planning must be promoted.

2.10.3. Standing Firm against E-tolls

Noting: a) That e-tolls are anti-working class on the basis that after the recession,

workers are being taxed more and co-operates are being taxed less. b) That e-tolls are exploitative in nature and will continue to subjugate the

majority of society. c) The Department of Transport has undermined all efforts to resolve the

issues of abolishing the e-tolls system, and has instead promoted this anti-working class arrangement, which on one hand has led to the decline in the people’s confidence in the tripartite alliance. This was seen from the outcome of ANC votes for 2014 National Elections.

Believing: a) Black Africans in particular have been able to collapse dehumanising

segregation laws which subjugated the majority. Therefore the possibility of winning the battle against e-tolls is not impossible considering the country’s current economic standing.

b) The unity of the working class will be able to do away with exploitative systems such as the e-toll.

c) The tender process employed for the implementation of the system was incorrect on the basis that it promoted foreign direct investment rather than local economic development.

d) As workers, we bitterly resent having to pay twice for road improvements which have already been paid for through taxes and the fuel levy.

Resolving: a) COSATU re-affirms its rejection of the rapid roll out of the e-toll road

infrastructure system.

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b) In as much as the policy has been implemented, the campaign for the ban of e-tolls will not stop.

c) COSATU will continue to fight for the rights of the working class in order to advance a socialist agenda.

d) The abolishing of the e-tolls is necessary because they will continue to extract colossal amounts of money from the working class majority (in one way or another).

e) Corporate tax or the petrol levy must be implemented to finance/develop South African roads, and other mechanisms to raise funds must to be employed rather than implementing anti-working class projects.

f) The Department of Transport must be bias to the interests of the workers since it is us who defended (and continue to defend) the soul of the tripartite alliance.

g) The campaign against the buying of E-tags to continue

2.11. The Safety of Public Servants in the Workplace

Noting That:

a) There has been a rapid increase in the incidences of casualties of public servants in the line of duty most notably our police officials; teachers and health workers in the country;

b) The mushrooming of private security firms and the agenda of the right-wing elements to publicly ridicule our police services in their quest to justify the limitless guns they continue to possess and

c) The recent ANC NGC resolution also condemning the killing of police officials.

Believing;

a) Every worker irrespective of the sector has the right to feel safe in the workplace at all material times;

b) A state in which public servants and law enforcement officials in particular cannot be protected from harm of danger is a total collapse and a disregard of the rule of law by the citizenry.

c) These ills and somewhat well-orchestrated crimes undermine the democracy we gained after 1994.

d) The current initiatives by government to regulate the private security industry are important and the restrictions on the acquisition of guns and ammunition must be enforced.

e) Public service delivery centres, are not mere dispensers of services but centres of inspiring hope and development and therefore any form of violence in these centres is a direct attack on the civil liberties due to our people as guaranteed by the constitution.

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f) Victimisation of public servants and the killing of the police points to the deep sited challenge of addressing violence as a societal problem

Resolving;

a) Society as a whole must be mobilised to take a firm stand against police killings and rising killings of other public servants.

b) The government must prioritise the curbing of police killings.

c) The government must be compelled to produce and communicate a workable plan to stop police killings and of those of other public servants.

d) The maximum sentence must be applied to those found guilty of killing police officials and any other public servants;

e) The judiciary must finalise such cases rapidly and within the shortest time possible so as to send a strong message to would-be police killers;

f) Government should look into the long term solutions by a way of addressing the socio- economic conditions of most South Africans.

g) Fully support the current initiatives by government to regulate the Private security industry.

h) Call for restricted acquisition of guns and ammunition.

i) To support the ANC NGC resolution to regard these killings as treason and therefore be met with the harshest penalty ever.

2.12. In Defence of Collective Bargaining and Unionism in the Country and the right to strike

Noting That:

a) There’s an increasing trend of employers in both the public and private sector of not implementing a number of collective agreements that have been signed.

b) The emerging trend not to consult labour in key policy decisions that have an impact on the working conditions.

c) The employer’s tendency in the public service sector to consult labour on policy matters through circulars, the media and gazettes instead of thorough engagement in the relevant legislated platforms.

d) The tendency by the employer in the public service sector to renege on collective agreements without engaging labour such as was the case with the previous negotiations on the salary increment.

e) The right to collective bargaining is enshrined in the chapter 2, section 23, of the Constitution

f) Threre is an increasing culture of non-compliance with companies including in state institutions

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Believing;

a) Collective bargaining is a right that we fought very hard for as the workers and it must be defended with the necessary vigour at all times.

b) The employers are engaged in a low intensity war against organised labour.

c) The employer has a responsibility to ensure labour peace and desist from provocative stunts.

d) The employers in the public and private sector must be compelled to respect the tenants of the constitution.

Resolving;

a) Government as leading employer must lead by example and COSATU should condemn in the harshest terms possible any instances where collective bargaining was undermined.

b) The federation must launch a vigorous campaign to defend and promote collective bargaining across all sectors.

c) All manner of unilateral pronouncements and policy declarations must be met with equal condemnation and mobilisation against such conduct.

d) Employers that undermine collective bargaining in both the private and public sectors must be taken to task by the federation; this could be done through the mechanisms provided for by the Labour Relations Act as amended, naming and shaming in public and launching intense public mobilisation campaigns against those specific employers.

e) CB in this country came because workers of this country were tired of being under attack by private employers and the federation will launch a Collective Bargaining campaign in collaboration with the govt focusing on ensuring existence of Collective Bargaining in all sectors.

f) Congress reject amendment that compels our members to a ballot before going to strike, and the ANC must allow the spear of workers to fight against this and shield the workers.

2.13. Commercialization and Privatization of Education

Noting;

a) Reaffirming that education, from early childhood education through higher education, is a fundamental human right and a public good, and that its provision is the principal responsibility of governments, including the duties of the State to define the goals and objectives of education systems of quality and to adequately finance them, and to do this in consultation and negotiation with representatives of teachers’ unions ;

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b) Observing that education privatization and commercialization, has created and exacerbated, inequalities in access to, and in the quality of, education, particularly for the socio-economically disadvantaged; and that wealth, gender, ethnic and geographical inequalities are deepened by privatization in and of education, further marginalizing and excluding groups from access to and participation in education; 

c) Considering that private schools and forms of Public-Private Partnerships may divert funding and support for public schools, thus weakening public school systems, particularly in contexts where government spending on education is already low;

d) Acknowledging that ‘cost-efficient’ measures in education may result in increased class sizes; a reduction in services provided for children; the use of unqualified teachers; the casualization of the terms and conditions of employment of education personnel, which are detrimental to the quality of education services.

Believing;

a) Affirming that unions organizing in the education sector, are critically important in ensuring that the potentially negative effects of privatization and commercialization in and of education are exposed and addressed;

Resolving;

b) COSATU to urge governments to recognize education as fundamental for social development and justice, and, therefore, protect the public education sector from privatization and commercialization;

c) Calls for a concerted effort from COSATU and its affiliates to advocate for the full realization of the right to free quality public education and for equitable employment rights for education personnel in the private and the public sector;

d) Requests COSATU to closely monitor emerging education privatization policies and the effects of privatization and commercialization on education systems, as well as the impact on students, teachers, educators and education support personnel, and to advocate and mobilize against attempts to privatize and commercialize public education;

e) Urges COSATU and its affiliates, in accordance with statutes and rules of procedure, to organize and defend the rights of teachers and education support personnel in the private and the public sector.

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2.14. HIV and AIDS

Notinga) HIV and AIDS is the epidemic disease that continues to kill people

despite the campaigns by government and civil society movements.

b) The scale of poverty and inequality within the society is undermining the fight against the disease.

c) Old men, successful, living posh and luxurious lives use power play to attract young innocent girls to engage in unprotected sex.

d) The Microbicides discovery is bringing hope in the fight against HIV and AIDS more so in women who are vulnerable.

Believing:a) The fight against HIV and AIDS is mostly based on behaviour and value

each individual encompasses.

b) The government and business sectors have to put more resources to fight the scourge of the disease.

c) The more we talk of the disease the more it gradually takes away the stigma associated with HIV and AIDS.

Resolving: a) COSATU should join hands with other progressive organisations that are

campaigning for the eradication of HIV and AIDS in South Africa. The Federation should engage campaigns that will encourage all our members and their families to test for the disease, so that they can if necessary access treatment in time.

b) That COSATU campaigns in raising awareness of HIV/AIDS amongst members and communities should be stepped up.

c) COSATU members should be encouraged to continue to participate in the HCT campaign.

d) COSATU affiliates should in their collective bargaining agreements include clear HIV and AIDS policies or rather wellness policies in the workplaces.

e) Government and all healthcare service providers should comply with the latest guidelines that have been adopted by the WHO which seek to treat this disease in a different way.

f) There should be a serious monitoring of the viral load than focusing on CD4 counts

g) Call for a fast track on the programme launched by the on the screening in communities and universities so that we know the extent of the problem

h) This should be a conscious campaign that should be led by the leadership and

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2.15. Health and Safety

Noting a) The need to influence the policy on transformation through the effective

integration of women into the three sectors,b) Monitor the adaptation of facilities to suit the needs of women workers , c) Ensure compliance of health and safety measure to protect workers against

hazardous conditions, including safety measures,d) The policy progress on the provision of the Personal Protective equipment in

particular the mining industry.

Believinga) Employers not doing enough to comply to health and safety standards, including

regular inspection and effective training for health and safety practitioners,b) Difficulty to exercise the right to refuse to work under hazardous conditions by

workers, therefore requires more to be done in this regard,c) Protective Equipment (PPE) not suitable to women in terms of its design.

Therefore resolve to; a) Work towards ensuring that employers provide empowerment and training of

health and safety practitioners so that they ensure safe working environment and conditions,

b) Raising awareness on the rights of workers to refuse to work under conditions that put them at risk

c) Employers to develop or adapt health and safety codes including make available the H & S Plans,

d) Construct separate facilities to meet women specific needs,e) Ensure the provision of gender appropriate PPE that is suitable to women,

putting measures of safety and compensation where women get exposed to risks related to safety at work or in the line of duty.

2.16. Strengthening Primary Healthcare for the Successful Implementation of National Health Insurance

Noting;

a) That access to healthcare is a human right as enshrined in the Constitution of this country,

b) 1942-1944 National Health Services Commission recommended a national health tax which was reversed after the Nationalist Party government was elected into power in 1948 after which there was relative silence on substantive health system reform.

c) Pre 1994, South Africa had a fragmented health system designed along racial lines. One system (whites) highly resourced whilst the other (blacks) severely under-resourced.

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d) ANC’s “Ready to Govern Document – 1992” started to show policy direction and was influencing key stakeholders to buy into their plan of redistribution of the resources to meet the basic needs – water, electricity, land, housing, health, education and social security – through re-prioritization of the budget. NHI was made policy post 2007 52nd National Conference of the African National Congress which instructed its National Executive Committee (NEC) to take forward the task of implementing the NHI. During 2009, the Government Gazette establishing an NHI Ministerial Advisory Committee (MAC) in line with the National Health Act, 2004 was published.

e) A vision of the department of health in South Africa, “A long and a healthy life for all South Africans,” is directly linked to access to health care by all.

f) Today’s search for labour is a highly organized global hunt for talent that includes nurses and that nurse mobility becomes a major issue in the context of their retention and usage in their respective countries.

Further noting;

a) The NHI green paper was published in August 2011 and the white paper is still pending.

b) A human resource strategy to increase the number of health workers was launched in October 2011.

c) The health department announced 11 NHI pilot districts (one in each of the nine provinces and three in KwaZulu- Natal in April 2012.

d) The Campaign for full implementation of PHC re-engineering with professional nurses as leaders of World Based Family Health Teams.

e) A programme to assemble the newly qualified nurses completed community service.

Believing;

a) Primary health care, which is the first point of entry into the health system, a point where there’s less activity/perceived movement with the view to meet NHI implementation targets is the core.

b) South Africa has a long history of policy debates about fundamental health system reform to better meet the health needs of the country and that this is an opportune moment for the country to deliver.

c) Nurses form the largest group of health professionals, who are the closest and often the only available health worker to the population, with a greater responsibility to improve the health of the population as well as to contribute towards achievement of the global sustainable goals.

d) The Department of health has introduced ward-based community health workers (CHW) outreach teams, as part of a series of strategies to strengthen primary health care. The national policy has outlined that communities (wards) should have at least one PHC outreach team comprising a professional nurse, an environmental health officer, health promoters and 6-10 CHWs;

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e) That CHW are not employed directly by the department, provinces are using different ways to pay them their stipend or pay resulting in unnecessary conflicts and tension thereby undermining the capacity to fully utilise these cadres

f) The current incentives aimed at attracting required skills to the rural areas are inadequate and divisive.

g) Mishandling of the processes regarding the placement of nursing education may negatively affect the production of nurses both qualitatively and quantitatively, with PHC and rural areas being disproportionately affected

Resolving;

a) Government should increase the number of nurses especially at PHC level. Govt should direct more resources in the form of material and human to the PHC level.

b) Government should absorb community health care workers which are already doing excellent community health work.

c) To call for more legitimate nursing colleges to be opened, and more bursaries so that we will be able to conquer the disease of lifestyles.

d) To do away with training of clinical associates

e) Hospitals should always have enough medication so that sick people can have medication when it is needed.

f) To call for the decentralisation of all professional services

2.17. Positioning Nursing Education in South Africa

Noting;

a) The Summit held in 2011 culminated into a Nursing Compact and subsequent development.

b) The primary aim of nursing education and training is to provide adequate numbers of competent, service oriented and career focussed nurses to meet the health needs of the country.

c) There is a recommendation that Nursing Colleges should be declared higher education institutions, in compliance with the provisions of the Higher Education Act.

d) The current Nursing College’s infrastructure is strategically positioned adjacent to hospitals to facilitate clinical practice and are the property of the Department of Health funded by a Provincial Department of Health.

e) On average 80% of nursing cadres are produced at Provincial Nursing Colleges and 20% at universities, annually.

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f) Nursing Colleges will require accreditation as higher education institutions if they are to continue to offer nursing programs as contemplated by the Nursing act, and as a transitional measure, nursing colleges will have conclude Memoranda of Understanding with Universities in order to offer Higher Education Qualifications in Nursing Sciences Education.

Further noting;

a) There is no formal decision about the future of college based nursing education as yet.

b) Nursing students will not have access to NSFAS, Clinical Training Grant and that colleges will not be able to benefit from Foundation Provision Grants, Infrastructure Development Grants and Teaching and Learning Development Grants provided by the DHET to public providers of higher education if status quo remains.

Believing;

a) The two ministers can reach an agreement on the migration strategy without compromising any of the ministers’ mandates.

b) Colleges will function as autonomous bodies with their own Legal Boards, as required by the Higher Education Act.

c) Any improvements in nursing education should not compromise the clinical practical content, but rather should enhance it

d) Colleges are still better placed to meet the countries nursing needs

e) Migration of nursing education does not necessarily mean demolition of nursing colleges

f) That provision of nursing education should be the sole competency of government

Resolving;

a) Nursing Education and Training be regarded as a national competency to eliminate issues such as, provincial inequalities, fragmentation, lack of clinical training, lack of social accountability, ‘fly by night’ nursing training and lack of norms and standards for nursing education.

b) Nursing students should have the status of a full student but continue to receive stipend from the department of health which should be paid monthly.

c) The quality assurance function in terms of nursing as a profession should remain the responsibility of the South African Nursing Council.

d) Quality assurance of the academic programmes should be the responsibility of the supporting university in accordance with the criteria and guidelines of the Council for Higher Education.

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e) Nursing Colleges should report to the National Department of Health in terms of governance, regulations and funding.

f) As a transitional measure, Memorandum of Understanding should be between the University Council and the Nursing College Council and not with the academic department of Nursing in the University to facilitate

g) The National Dept of health must assist in ensuring that they have a policy that will guide colleges on where to submit documents while awaiting to be placed which is a long process. This will enable them to get into the healthcare services as soon as possible. Amendment/addition of (e)

2.18. Immigration Control including in the marine sectors (ships) and the aviation sector

Notinga) That there is loose or weak immigration control in South Africa;b) That the weaknesses lead to an un-regulated presence of people from

other countries that can lead to cheap labour and exploitation;c) This is compounded by corruption in our Ports of Entry;d) That some people come into the country looking for political asylum

while their main interest is business and organised crime;e) The Department of Home Affairs does not have the capacity to deal with

undocumented foreign nationals that are in the country; because we only have 800 inspectors nation-wide.

f) That even communities do not know the extent of foreign nationals within their communities which has a potential to create misperceptions and ultimately lead to Xenophobic incidents;

g) Existence of undocumented foreign nationals who are thoroughly exploited and made to work ridiculous hours.

h) The political instability within some of the countries within the continent, which lead to this hassle in South Africa.

i) There is an approach to outsource this function of immigration control to be discharged by private agencies [Border Control Management Agency].

j) The proposed legislation to establish Border Management Agency outside the state

Believing;a) This weak immigration control and subsequent economic activities by

foreign nationals often leads to misconceptions and ultimately confrontations with locals;

b) That knowledge of who is living in our localities will assist in profiling and dealing with those that are in the country unregulated and in particular those with mischievous intentions;

c) The security of the country is the sole responsibility of South African government and cannot, in any way, be left into private hands.

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Resolving;a) That immigration control must be strengthened through utilisation of

members of the South African Police Service and South African National Defence Force; and this should entail profiling of people coming into the country;

b) Capacitation of the Department of Home Affairs should be prioritised;c) Fighting corruption in the Ports of Entry should also be prioritised d) . Customs functions must remain within SARSe) Border Management staff are to enjoy all labour rights as provided for in

the Labour Relations Act. f) Government must expand and inspectorate the sector to seriously deal

with the issues of incapacity. g) The Border Management must be located inside government, as the

services provided are not outside “public service”. h) Corrupt employers who collude with immigration officers, and corrupt

officials who engage in such actions must be exposed and should face the mighty of the law.

2.19. Infrastructure Development

Noting;

a) That the government has placed infrastructure development at the forefront of its agenda to transform the economy and stimulate economic growth and job creation and has invited organised labour to partner with it in finding lasting solutions;

b) The coming into effect of the Infrastructure Development Act aimed at fast-tracking regulatory decision-making and speeding up the implementation of strategic infrastructure projects earmarked for South Africa;

c) That the current structure of employee representation in the GEPF is not conducive for meaningful employee participation in its decision making processes;

d) Those countries with mature infrastructure markets have started building up their pension fund investment allocation to infrastructure;

e) That workers are currently in the periphery of the economy at the hands of banking conglomerates who have little interest in assisting the poor and workers in sustaining their livelihoods;

f) That government has decided that accessing retirement funding for infrastructure development is a key consideration for devising appropriate funding strategies;

g) That unclaimed retirement funds benefits are standing at R50 Billion and the benefits are currently not well regulated;

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h) That government is the guarantor of the Government Employee Pension Fund;

i) That retirement funds belong to the workers and

j) That vast stretches of arable land are unused in South Africa whilst our people live in dehumanising squalor and poverty.

Believing;

a) That infrastructure investment is a key priority of both the National Development Plan and the New Growth Path;

b) That the funding of the infrastructure development programme is dependent more on retirement funds both the private and private sector funding the programme;

c) That, the Government Employees Pension Fund [GEPF], being the largest fund in Africa and with a value of R1.6 trillion, and constituting a 3 rd to the Gross Domestic Product; should play a more visible and meaningful role in the development of our country;

d) That the amount of R50 billion in unclaimed retirement benefits [private and public] should be used instead for national development with government standing in as a guarantor for all claimants that fall within the category of unclaimed benefits;

e) That the current GEPF Law and its overall structure need to be overhauled in order to enhance meaningful employee representation and participation in its decision making processes;

f) That a Workers Bank, by the workers, for the workers would have an interest of the poor and the workers at heart in providing them with banking solutions and

g) That through a coordinated rural development strategy we can unlock the potential of agriculture as a catalyst to roll back the effects of poverty and squalor that has besieged our people.

Resolving;a) That all COSATU affiliates in the public sector should advocate for and

campaign that the GEPF should be in the forefront in funding infrastructure development projects in South Africa;

b) That all COSATU affiliates in the private sector should advocate for and campaign that their respective retirements funds should be at the forefront of funding infrastructure development projects in South Africa;

c) Re-affirm COSATU’s resolution of forming a worker’s Bank. The CEC to develop a practical programme towards the establishment of a first Workers Bank in South Africa; this will include an investigation on the feasibility of the implementation of functioning of the Workers Bank.

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d) That all COSATU affiliates in the public sector should advocate for and campaign for the review and amendment of the GEPF law to enhance meaningful employee representation and participation;

e) That COSATU must develop a practical programme towards the establishment of a first Workers Bank in South Africa;

f) That all COSATU affiliates in the public sector should advocate for and campaign for the review and amendment of the GEPF law to enhance meaningful employee representation and participation and

g) That COSATU must develop a programme of consolidating the efforts of government in prioritising agriculture as a means towards ending poverty and ensuring food security to the masses of our people.

2.20. Transforming the ICT Sector in the interests of the working class and the poor

Noting that:

a) Digital capitalism has been in the forefront of the neoliberal globalization of the past decades.

b) The telecoms industry and the dot.com economy have been central to the economic expansion of the 1980s and 1990s.

c) ICT is spearheading the current stage of globalization and is mainly responsible for conveying capitalism messages of consumerism and materialism.

d) ICT’s are the main platform cybercrime involving corruption, fraud and exploitation of children in pornography and other sexual crimes

e) The government’s neo liberal policy of “managed liberalization” of the ICT sector to appease the WTO agenda and to introduce competition has not delivered any benefits to the working class and the poor.

f) Under the GATS agreement , the ICT sector in South Africa was targeted as part of the 1996 class project and its impact has led to massive job losses, privatisation and high prices of ICT services

g) That the majority of our people in particular the rural and outskates areas of our country have no access to network/internet services.

h) That the vast land of our country thus includes urban areas have no infrastructure to deliver access to these services.

i) That the majority of our people especially in rural areas are unemployed and are fully dependent on social grants.

j) These services and their related equipment are not affordable to many of our people.

k) Internet access is the daily lifestyle to the modern society/world, however plays a significant role in the marginalised sectors of our society.

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l) South African’s citizens are exposed to high cell phones rates, which are as a result of interconnection fees. ICASA was taken to court by both MTN and VODACOM to reverse a decision of cutting interconnection rates by 20c. The South Johannesburg Court ruled on the 31st March 2014 that new interconnection rates were unlawful and invalid, but the order was suspended for six months.

m) Vodacom and MTN had asked a Johannesburg High Court to stop the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) from forcing the operators to reduce fees they charge one another to connect calls.

n) The evolution of the technology requires us to move with the necessary speed to cope with a fluid industry,

o) Any policy decisions have serious implication on how will the country move forward in terms of the broadcasting.

p) DTI has imposed an import duty of 15% which protects against piracy and irregularities.

q) The government has set aside R2.45 billion subsidy – the state will procure exclusive from local manufacture.

r) The state is funding conformance regime MOU for SABS to establish conformance test lab, Plus Digital Logo

s) The Broadband Infraco, SENTECH and Telkom have similar vision and mandates though they operate in different spheres i.e. Broadband Infraco – optic fibre SENTECH – Spectrum and Satellite Communication, Telkom – Telecommunication (Mobile and fix line)

t) The government on the other hand has introduced two ministries in the ICT industry namely Departments of Communication and Telecommunications and Postal. Secondly the Broadband Infraco is still harboured in the Department of Trade and Industry. The Telecommunication remains a lucrative industry and as things stands is the most vulnerable to looting by international investors.

u) It is said that South Africa is the most expensive country in the world in so far as the provision of ICT services particularly access to broadband.In South Africa companies operating in the ICT space are currently engaged in what can be described as an ultimate game of outcompeting each other for profit maximisation.Their operations are geared towards areas they have defined as high revenue stream centres.This is hapening against the backdrop where large areas such as rural areas, small towns, townships and villages are systematicaly being excluded because they are regarded as high cost and low return on investment areas.

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v) The schools and Institutions of health located in the rural areas, small towns, townships and villages have not escaped this exclusion from benefiting in the services the ICT offers.

Further noting:

a) That a consultative process to arrive at an agreement about the role the ICT sector has to play as a catalyst for Skills Development-Transformation of the South African Society – Gender Equality and Economic Development was undertaken and completed.

b) That as a result of that consultative process the ICT charter was developed and its main objectives in compliance with BEE Act are:

c) To promote and facilitate economic empowerment in the ICT sector by doing one or more of the following:

d) Enable meaningful participation of blacks in the growth of the ICT sector and, by extension, in the national economy, achieving a substantial change in the racial and gender composition of ownership, management and control structures as well as in the skilled and specialist positions of new and existing enterprises;

e) Increasing the extent to which black women, communities, disabled persons, workers, co-operatives and the youth participate meaningfully in all areas of the sector; facilitating access to ICTs by black people, the rural and urban poor as well as other marginalized groupings, otherwise referred to as bridging the digital divide.

f) Providing skills development and training and thereby increasing access to and participation in the National economy of South Africa by black people.

g) Providing an enabling environment for transparency, fairness and consistency when measuring and adjudicating on matters related to BEE in the ICT

h) That various pieces of legislation to facilitate activities in the ICT were passed by the South African government:

Employment Equity

Skills Development / Skills Levies

Preferential Procurement Policy

BBBEE

Competition Act

Believing that:

a) The role of ICT in socio-economic development, e-government, etc. has been largely under estimated

b) Competitiveness should not be the only consideration for policy development and regulatory intervention , without taking into consideration the interests of the working class and the poor

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c) The ICT infrastructure of TELKOM, SENTECH, INFRACO, SITA are national assets and should remain in the hands of the people of South Africa.

d) There is a lack of implementation of those progressive resolutions of the ANC’s 54th related to the ICT sector.

e) That internet access is an educational tool and is developmental in nature.

f) That internet access promotes scientific innovation, makes education fashionable and access to communication.

g) That it prolong and promotes healthy human being lifestyle and improve capacity of human knowledge.

h) That it promoted safe and stable society and build healthy relations among people/families.

Resolve that:

a) COSATU should campaign to ensure that ICT infrastructure should become a utility similar to water and electricity, which will result in every household should to have access broadband connection (for voice, internet and/or broadcasting) , either fibre optic, high speed ADSL, Wireless, Terrestrial or Satellite , etc. This will ensure that the digital divide is eliminated. ( rich vs poor, urban vs rural , township vs suburb , etc.)

b) ICT skills should be incorporated into the school curriculum from primary school level to ensure that citizens have the necessary skills to participate in the digital economy.

c) TELKOM should be nationalised as it remains the only feasible option for universal service and access, affordable ICT’s and job security. This should also include the consolidation of all state-owned companies in the ICT sector.

d) COSATU must ensure a more proactive and considerate approach of the sector by the regulator ICASA, in its regulations by being cognisant of :

The national conditions and socio-economic level ( poverty, inequalities, unemployment) of the population

The level of development of the country

The dynamic nature of the ICT sector

How it can assist in job creation and narrowing of the digital divide

How it can improve the lives of the majority of South Africans, i.e. the working class, the poor in general and the rural poor in particular

e) The retrenchment of workers in the sector and outsourcing of jobs should be stopped and the campaign should be intensified.

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f) That every school, community hall, church or taxi rank be declared WIFI free access area.

g) Removable/portable internet café services shall be created for rural and informal settlement areas.

h) Computer literacy shall be made compulsory in education from the General Education Band.

i) Sentech should provide satellite access to needy communities in line with its mandate.

j) Private sector in the form of big business should form partnership with government to speed up access to internet services.

k) Every geographical area should have access to internet by 2020 and every community building should have a WIFI Free access in 2025.

l) COSATU must drive a mass based campaign that will involve communities, NGO’s, MDM formations and most of all our members.

m) COSATU must strive for a broader public discourse that will include all marginalised sectors of our society.

n) COSATU must support the initiative by ICASA to reduce interconnection rates.

o) To call for locally assembled, manufactured and maintenance to be locally based.

p) SAPO must be used as an agency to distribute the set top boxes to the public. It is through SAPO where we can establish cooperatives within the communities

q) On realignment a merger of Broadband Infraco, Telkom and SENTECH must be considered to advance and intensify the ownership and nationalization of our telecommunication infrastructure.

r) The realignment will assist the state to regulate telecommunication’s prizing, ranging from broadband (internet), mobile and fixed line.

2.21. South African Post Office .

Noting that: a) In the past 5 years or so the SAPO has been unstable as it has been marred

by crises after crises, corruption, a flurry of unprotected strikes and undermining of the principles of cooperate governance.

b) There seems to be concerted efforts that include human resource, financing and systematically support of the formation of new or counter unions for purposes of diving workers in the company. These are initiatives executed by the executive management of SAPO.

c) Their desire is to make sure that they suffocate trade unions and undermine bargaining processes.

Believing that:

a) In the South African Post Office there is a challenge that is systematically coordinated to run the company to dysfunctional state. If the company

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continues with the status quo the company will be unsustainable and that will lead to job losses and the society will lose on service delivery.

Resolving that:

a) The state must revoke the SAPO subsidy that was cancelled in 2012 b) There must be a immediate financial injection from the treasury to relieve

SAPO’s financial woes. c) Government should bring all postal related business in all government

departments to the South African Post Office;d) The South African Post Office should take over the distribution of SASA grants

at a reasonable rate;e) Rea Vaya bus service tags which are also used for multiple transactions such

as purchases, withdrawals , etc. should be provided by the South African Post Bank;

f) Post Bank should be converted into a state owned bank with low interest charges aimed at helping the poor. It must have competent and reliable infrastructure, as a result, systems currently used are to be reviewed in order to be compliant with modern technology to avoid systems being off-line or failure. An internal IT department to provide support and back-up should be built. Staff members should be capacitated in line with the proposed changes as required in the banking sector. CWU should be involved in the corporatisation of the Post Bank in order to influence the whole process;

g) The South African Post Office should utilise its own building as opposed to renting a building at high monthly rentals amounting to millions of rands.

h) The work of text book delivery in our public schools should be handed over to the state institution (SAPO) to deliver such task.

i) The program will effectively revive the business (Post Office) in terms of regenerating revenue.

2.22. TELKOM

Noting that:

a) Telkom has embarked on a jobs bloodbath crusade through voluntary severance packages and retrenchments and this impacting negatively on the jobs;

b) Telkom has appointed a lily-white EXCO contrary to the transformation agenda of the country;

c) Telkom has made efforts and committed himself to erode the existence of union in order to exploit workers willy-nilly;

d) The Bains consultants are milking Telkom of millions of rands as a result of a contract that they have entered into with Telkom which was secured without following proper procurement procedures;

Believing that:

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a) Any attempts to cut jobs will have devastating results in the country socioeconomically;Resolve that:a) There should be an immediate reversal of the decision to constitute a lily

white and males only EXCO and consider candidates that are blacks in general and Africans in particular;

b) This EXCO should be gender balanced;c) The CEO of Telkom should be dismissed as he is insensitive to conditions

of the working class currently obtaining in the country and to priorities of the country.

d) The contract which Telkom has entered into with Bains Consultants should be terminated.

e) Telkom should be nationalised in order to be able to provide broadband across the country particularly in previously disadvantaged and rural communities;

f) Telkom’s Centre for Learning (CFL) should be converted into an ICT centre for training purposes and access should be accessible to all companies in the ICT sector;

g) COSATU should engage government not to sell its 39% share of Telkom to the private sector instead acquire its total share to ensure 100% ownership to work towards nationalisation;

h) COSATU should embark on a radical campaign in Telkom before the launching of the second phase of job losses which will be targeting the bargaining unit;

i) Telkom should reduce its costs in order to make them affordable to the previously disadvantaged communities;

j) For quality programming, local content, free broadcasting for all sporting codes and educational programs the digital migration must be swiftly done to address this area.

k) The quality of news in the SABC channels should be the same as the quality in the 24 hour news channel;

l) ICASA’s process of granting licenses to community radio stations should be user friendly and accessible to the marginalised sectors of the South African Communities;

m) COSATU should embark on a campaign for reduced call termination rates in the mobile space as was proposed by ICASA; furthermore a reviewal of the cell phone rates charges in the Republic.

n) Broadband Infraco should merge all broadband companies instead of having multiple entities;

o) Rolling out of broadband should be the responsibility of the state;p) The federation should develop its social plan document that will cut

across all sectors in response to section 189A of the Labour Relations Act;

q) A draft program should be developed to incooperate all stake holders with all sectors on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSI) projects;

r) Government offers should be based on its determination of the value of the land identified in redressing ills of the past on land issues;

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s) A state funded pharmaceutical company should be established because sourcing medicine from private companies for hospitals has proved to be very expensive for state hospitals as private companies are charging government exorbitant and unrealistic prices.

2.23. Maternity protection: Pregnancy Policy

Noting a) Ensure that women exercise their choice and rights to economic participation

and the right to safe reproductive health care, b) Improve existing agreements and the practice regarding legislative protection of

pregnant women and breastfeeding to work under hazardous conditions to both the mother and the baby,

c) Encourage shared parental responsibilities to alleviate the burden of women which is often undermined and unrecognized by employers..

Believing a) The tendency not to comply with the legislative protection regarding maternity

leave, is prevalent in the three sectors that NUM is operating in, Mining, Construction and Energy.

b) Noncompliance to the provision to protective measures and adjustment to working arrangements for pregnant and or breast-feeding women workers,

c) Failure to adhere to these protection leading to unfair or constructive dismissal.

Therefore resolve . a) Female workers to be granted A MINIMUM OF 4 months paid maternity leave as

stipulated by law, b) Employer to find suitable alternative placement during pregnancy and after

maternity until confirm by medical and to maintain the same terms of conditions with no risk of occupational health and safety,

c) Increase paternity leave to 10 days so that men are encouraged to share domestic responsibilities and for employers to recognize the unpaid labour of women by through their granting of paid paternity leave for men. (increase from 3days - 10days).

d) COSATU must have a campaign to advance Specific action for the protection of parental rights and childcare: The campaign shall elevate the following elements of a comprehensive parental rights package:

o Non-discrimination

o Job Security

o Parental leave (maternal and paternal)

o Cash benefits

o Social security

o Right to return to work

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o Ante-natal and post-natal care

o Breastfeeding provisions

o Childcare

o Health and safety

o Career breaks

o Adoption

o Stillbirths, miscarriages and abortions

COSATU Affiliates must campaign and bargain for the following demands:

o Paid maternity leave

o Paid and unpaid parental leave

o Childcare leave

o Flexible working time

o Provision of childcare facilities

o Breaks and facilities for breastfeeding mothers

o Job security and health and safety for pregnant women

Adequate support will be given to negotiators and organisers in conducting this campaign. This includes education programmes, research backup and a parental rights negotiators manual.

The public campaign should be conducted at a political and ideological level, with an emphasis on the role of the state and employers, and the recognition of the right of all parents to participate fully in family life – and acknowledging the importance of fathers.

Demand fully paid maternity leave for a minimum of six (6) months, with a view to progressively increasing this and additional paid leave made available for ante and post-natal care for both parents.

Maternity protection and benefits should be made available to all categories of workers with no exclusions.

Maternity benefits should be paid from a stand-alone maternity fund, embedded within the UIF mechanism, to which the state contributes. Employers’ contribution to the UIF mechanism should increase to 2%. Maternity leave should be paid out to all workers from this fund, at 100% of earnings.

The state should establish a separate social assistance fund for unemployed pregnant women and teenage mothers. This also includes vulnerable workers with no exclusions.

Ensure the recognition of the need for childcare leave for all parents and guardians (irrespective of family status) starting with a minimum amount of paid childcare leave of 10 days per year, up to the age of four (4) years.

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There is a need for a minimum of 10 days’ paternity leave for fathers, with a view towards extending this to two months

Campaign for male workers to be given paid leave to support pregnant partners’ attending ante natal care.

Continue to campaign for the ratification of ILO Convention 183.

COSATU to work with a broad range of progressive women’s organisations, LSOs and NGOs, alliance partners to mobilise support for parental rights demands, and also engage statutory organs (such as the Law Reform Commission, the Portfolio Committee on Women in the Presidency, the Women’s Multi Party Caucus and the Commission for Gender Equality) to ensure the maternity protection and benefits are achieved.

3. ORGANISATIONAL

3.1. A New Vision and Long Term Plan for the Federation

Noting:

a) The federation’s 2015 plan has now officially lapsed.

b) The 2015 plan served as an important strategic compass for the federation over the last decade.

c) Whilst there are some targets that we might have missed as articulated in the 2015 plan, in general, progress has been made given the challenges facing the federation and some of its affiliates.

Believing:

a) A clear long term vision is a necessity in the life of the federation, for strategic guidance as we move the federation forward.

b) A long term plan will help the federation to evaluate its work.

c) The long term plan will serve as an early warning system for the federation as we monitor the implementation of the agreed objectives.

Resolving;

a) The federation must establish a sub-committee of the Central Executive Committee on its first ordinary session after Congress whose main term of reference will be to develop a new long term plan to replace the lapsed 2015 plan.

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3.2. Expulsion of the Former COSATU General Secretary

Noting;

a) That both the COSATU constitution and code of conduct clearly prescribes the conduct of leaders and office bearer.

b) Mr. Vavi was served with charges of misconduct, including charges of specific acts of corruption, charges of abusing the position bestowed upon him by the federation, putting the federation into disrepute and having a sexual relationship with a junior staff member.

c) The court decision lifting the suspension of the COSATU General Secretary.

d) The unbecoming and defiant conduct of Vavi towards the federation during the period leading up to his dismissal.

e) The recommendation of the intervention Task team of the ANC.

f) The attempts by former leaders in fostering unity within COSATU.

g) The former General Secretary’s continued disrespect of the decision of the CEC that “CEC members should avoid public spats”.

h) Silence on the plight of the expelled staff member involved on the matter emanating from harassment, inflammatory remarks and abuse.

Believing;

a) This behaviour is tantamount to undermining the collective leadership and by so doing sowing divisions within and among affiliates of the federation.

b) Efforts to foster unity in the federation are a welcome development.c) COSATU’s unity is critical in fighting against worker exploitation.d) Submission of the individual to the collective is a requirement for all

office bearers and leaders, whose only authority comes from that collective.

e) Discipline is the mother of victory, and that due process should consistently be implemented in COSATU.

Resolving;

a) Reaffirm the CEC decision on the expulsion of Mr. Vavi for flaunting COSATU policies and constitution.

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b) COSATU to develop and adopt a gender campaign in order to champion the course of Gender Struggle within its ranks.

3.3. Strengthening COSATU through Unity and Cohesion of the Federation as a whole

Notinga) The principle of one country one federation one sector one union;b) The federation exists on the basis of the central pillars of worker unity

and solidarity which become eroded by mushrooming of smaller unions aiming at weakening the existing unions within the same sector/industry;

c) That COSATU is guided by the constitution, policies, established practices and structures.

d) The COSATU Constitution is silent on the application process with regards to minimum membership requirement;

e) All constitutional systems of democracy, including COSATU’s, rely on the periodical delegation of authority to the centre.

f) That there’s reciprocal submission of the centre to the authority of mass membership, via congresses; conferences; Central Committee and other constitutional meetings.

g) That this reciprocal authority is known as Democratic Centralism, and it is binding on all members, in higher offices and lower levels of the federations, without exception.

Believinga) COSATU should have implemented its resolution of one country one

federation one sector one union to ensure the unity of the working class;b) The unity of COSATU is dependent on the stability and unity of the

affiliates and that insurgence of splinter unions should be discouraged at all cost;

c) The silence on application requirements has got the capacity to encourage a breakdown of numbers in unions, therefore diminishing the bargaining power;

d) The lack of minimum requirements having a potential to compromise internal democratic processes;

e) That a union with less than a thousand members can affiliate to the Federation and enjoy equal status with unions having bigger numbers;

f) That, unions are autonomous but are bound by the constitution of the federation, as per clause 2.3, on autonomy of the affiliate.

g) Submission of the individual to the collective is a requirement for all office bearers and leaders, whose only authority comes from that collective.

h) Discipline is the mother of victory, and that due processes should equally be followed in COSATU and

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i) Mechanisms aimed at ensuring unity of the federation and promoting majority rule should be put in place to ensure that decisions of the Federation stands the test of time ant that all office bearers conduct themselves in good faith at all times;

Resolving

a) COSATU rejects all forms of tribalism, cult of personality, and factionalism and victimhood.

b) All members must respect internal organisational processes and affiliates must defend COSATU, its constitution and its leadership.

c) To improve internal communication within the federation.d) We reaffirm the principle of one country one federation one sector one union;e) Build strong unions at shop floor and sector level to curb the insurgence of

smaller and splinter unions;f) There should be a determination for a minimum membership requirement for

those new unions requiring to affiliate, and current affiliates with lesser numbers should be given a timeframe to meet minimum requirements;

g) This should be done in consideration of the vastness of the industry they operate under and

h) Proportionality should apply across the board where for each meeting attendance is determined by the percentage each affiliate has in times where meetings cannot sit for whatever reason, a point system is applied each affiliate’s written letter carries points in line with the general membership they represent.

3.4. Gender Resolutions

3.4.1. COSATU GENDER POLICY AMENDMENTS

Noting - The Identified need to review the current policy in order to

effectively monitor the transformation and the opportunities provided since the 1994 democratic victory,

- Despite the legislative measure put in place by government since the democratic dispensation, gender inequality is still entrenched in the South African society, in particular in the workplace and in most organisations and institutions, including the communities,

Believing that COSATU is still commitment to the elimination of discrimination

and gender inequality in the trade unions, the workplace and society at large.

To this end COSATU has adopted a gender policy (2000) which is a consolidation of resolutions adopted since its inception in 1985,

Employers have come with new mechanisms to circumvent the enabling and protective laws that are targeted to benefit women

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through affirmative and transformative programmes and opportunities.

Therefore resolve that; Congress to adopt the revised COSATU Draft Gender Policy as

proposed by the NGC, COSATU to intensify the transformation struggle to ensure that the

legislative measures put in place by government are translated into concrete measures for women, in particular the working class women.

3.4.2. COSATU POLICY ON SEXUALHARASSMENT

Noting

a) The integration of women into the male dominated sectors have been met with resistance from both employers and to some extent their male counterparts,

b) Sexual harassment is still trivialized and therefore not taken seriously,

c) Women are still perceived as sex objects, despite the effort to conscientize and education which a preventative measure to mitigate this challenge,

d) The absence of a policy guide the handling of any form of gender based violence which takes the form of sexual harassment in the work place.

Believing

a) COSATU confronted the challenge on sexual harassment since its inception, including the issue of workplace power relations,

b) In the COSATU vision of a non-sexist society, where women are treated as human beings, i.e. with respect and dignity and their rights to economic participation are respected, protected and promoted,

c) Sexual harassment constitute a barriers to women economic participation,

Therefore resolve

a) Congress to adopt the proposed policy that will be applicable to the federation and it’s affiliates for the protection of staff members against any form of abuse,

b) Adopt a Three Pronged Approach on handling SH, namely the Preventative measure to enhance women participation be put in place to create an environment that is free from any form of exploitation and any form of gender based violence, the effective and fair and thorough Handling of cases because the NEDLAC Code of Good Practice which stipulate that unless

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handled effectively by the employer SH will be regarded as unfair labour practice, work towards the eliminating this scourge.

c) Support the monitoring and evaluation by the CEC through the programmes developed by the NGC,

d) Support initiates by fraternal organizations and strategic partners to transform society against all social ills related to gender based violence.

3.4.3. COSATU Policy And Procedure For The Prevention And Elimination Of Sexual Harassment – adopted with Policy – see policy

Noting:

1. The Draft Policy and Procedure on dealing with Sexual Harassment in the Federation has been place before Congress for adoption:

2. The current Sexual Harassment Policy for COSATU as a workplace was adopted almost 20 years ago and is outdated and needs to be amended;

3. The current Sexual Harassment Policy is not in line with the legislation which has since been passed and thus there are many gaps in the current Policy;

4. Importantly there is no consistent grievance and disciplinary procedure in the current Policy that deals with sexual harassment when it occurs;

5. The current mainstream disciplinary procedure is adhoc and the appeal process as provided for in the COSATU Constitution is long in duration and does not provide for an appropriate response to handling cases of sexual harassment;

6. The Current policy does not have mechanisms to contribute to the prevention and elimination of Sexual Harassment.

Believing:

1. Combatting Sexual Harassment is a long standing campaign of COSATU;

2. COSATU has been in the forefront of campaigning and ensuring that there is legislation on dealing with Sexual Harassment for example “The Code of Good Practice on the Handling of Sexual Harassment Cases” as amended and attached to the Employment Equity Act of 1996.

3. COSATU and affiliates should lead by example by having a comprehensive policy and procedures that deal with Sexual Harassment so that Sexual Harassment can also be combated in the companies where we organise;

4. To break the silence on sexual harassment it is necessary to have mechanisms that can deal with cases in a confidential and speedy manner that ensures justice for all involved;

5. We should build an organisational culture that allows everybody to be heard and justice dispensed equally.

Therefore Resolve:

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1. The Congress adopt the draft Policy And Procedure For The Prevention And Elimination Of Sexual Harassment;

2. And in particular highlighting:

(a) that the COSATU Constitution be amended so that appeals be heard by a standing Appeals Committee;

(b) The National Office Bearers and CEC take responsibility for ensuring that the necessary structures as outlined in the Draft are established and functioning.

3.4.4. Revised COSATU Gender Policy

Noting that:

a) The Cosatu Gender Policy was written and adopted fifteen years ago;

b) Many developments have taken place that made it necessary to revise the Policy;

c) There are gaps on gender issues that have not been taken on board;

d) Progress with regard to gender issues and women empowerment has been slow;

e) There is a need for steps to be taken to build and strengthen the gender structures, the leadership of women and their activism;

f) That implementation of gender issues are uneven across Cosatu Provinces and structures;

Believing that:

a) It is important that the gender struggle be taken more serious if COSATU and affiliates want to remain relevant and respond to the needs of women and issues that effect both men and women at the workplace, in the union and society in general;

b) In order to mainstream gender and build women leadership it is necessary that the Cosatu gender structures be constitutionalised and the structures be represented in the constitutional structures as outlined in the Revised Policy;

c) The Revised Policy will ensure uniform implementation of gender issues by providing improved institutional mechanisms;

d) The process to revise the Policy has been a thorough one and has taken affiliates on board to ensure full participation.

Resolve that:

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a) Congress adopts the Revised Gender Policy;

b) Cosatu National Office Bearers and CEC oversees the implementation of the Policy and integrate it in the post 2105 Plan.

3.4.5. The Establishment of the COSATU Youth Forum

Noting that:a) The last congress has resolved on establishing the young workers forum

guided buy all organisational processes.b) COSATU itself is on track on this matter at national level.c) Some of the affiliates were able to implement as resolved.d) That the youth movements from all sectors of our society have been

actively involved political activities that are shaping out the world and our country in particular.

Believing

a) The recent trend by employers to target young workers as the preferable workforce, given their vulnerability to job security and better working conditions such as the minimum wage under collective bargaining agreements, is meant to maximize the profits of business and to undermine the gains that have been achieved over the years under the post 1994 democratic dispensation, therefore this makes this to be a political matter,

Therefore resolve

Call all COSATU structures and its affiliates to expedite the processes of establishing the young workers forum at all levels of the federation, including its affiliates,

a) To give full support to interim structures of COSATU young workers forum and its programs.

b) To support the proposed time lines sets in the young workers program of action, which must entail the launching of this platform.

c) The formation of youth desks in affiliates be supported by the organisation.

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4. INTERNATIONAL

4.1. COSATU PLAN FOR AFRICA

4.1.1. On stopping the illicit financial flows, looting and plunder of Africa’s natural resources and wealth to harness the means for development on the continent

Noting;

SADTU supports the draft resolution to be forwarded by the COSATU International Department to the 12th Congress on the Federation’s Plan for Africa

The draft resolution to be finalised focuses on the following five major thrusts:

Congress calls for the following critical measures;

a) A New and progressive Macro-economic and industrial development Policy for the continent, that eliminates regressive taxation, financial parasitism, unnecessary concessions to Multinational companies, corruption and its sources in all its forms, cronyism and all forms of parasitic accumulation, as well as build the required institutional capacity of the state, in all spheres, particularly technical, professional and strategic elements necessary to drive this critical agenda. This policy intervention must also enhance job creation and the skilling of workers and communities.

b) The beneficiation of our raw material or mineral resources to create jobs, confront structural underdevelopment and improve the living conditions of the people, particularly women and children. This should be supported by a progressive industrial and trade policy that supports local procurement and stimulate local production in both downstream and upstream industries, thus boosting the involvement of local people in real productive economic activities, control and ownership of the economy

4.1.2. On Deepening a democratic and developmental state and model of governance in Africa based on transparency, accountability and participatory policy making

Resolve;

a) The increased participation and respect for the rights and interests of the people must lead to qualitative improvement in their lives and that of the whole society, hence the clear link between democracy and development in the welfare of society and the people as a whole

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b) We must fight the neo-liberal agenda of outsourcing, casualisation, informalisation, fragmentation and all other forms of privatisation of public services towards profit-seeking interests

c) We must fight to strengthen the redistributive and developmental character of the state, including its technical, strategic and overall political capacity to drive empowering development models

d) Land and mineral resources, as the heritage of all the people, must be in the hands of the state, under democratic management and socialised forms of ownership be promoted to broaden access for all

4.1.3. On Advancing Peace and Security, Justice and Human Rights and Democratic Leadership Principles in Africa

Resolving;

a) Call for the strengthening and capacitating of the African Human and Peoples Rights Court to enforce human rights, democracy, the rule of law and redress for victims of terror, genocide and injustice. This should enhance our call on the AU to do more when countries, multinational companies and individuals violate human and workers rights. We also call for regional courts, such as the SADC Tribunal to be so positioned as non-partisan defenders of human rights of communities, individuals and other social forces.

b) Reject imperialist aggression and wars, as well as the apparatuses of domination, such as NATO, AFRICOM, massive infrastructure of US military bases the world over and all other such structures of destabilisation and legalised terror on peoples and countries

c) Work to promote a school curriculum that is based on the ideals of justice and human rights, coupled with mass public education to build a new culture of respect for the rights and freedoms of other people and society as a whole

d) Do active work in promoting Africa wide progressive  labour migration policies which amongst others must address issues of xenophobia, national security and terrorism in Africa

e) African governments must maintain, strengthen and develop clear standards of accountability, transparency and participatory governance and civil society participation at all levels of society

f) Durable peace means decent work, secure incomes for families and individuals and safety of people, women and children in particular,

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freedom from aggression and abuse and guarantee of the rights every human being should enjoy

4.1.4. On a new and robust industrialisation path for Africa to beneficiate our natural resources, effect job creation and confront poverty, hunger and unemployment

Congress resolves to take forward the following proposals in order to redress the situation:-

a) We must redirect all worker-controlled funds as well as the public sector retirement funds towards a pro-Africa industrialisation, development and labour-intensive trajectory.

b) Our economic policies must target the most marginalised groups for economic integration. This includes women, youth, the displaced, migrants as well as those in the informal sector.

c) We must socialise our economies by expanding co-operatives in all sectors

d) In respect of education and skills development, programmes to redress the shortage of skills must be pursued, in particular skills needed for beneficiation. Such programmes must include a requirement that foreign investors transfer skills to local workers.

e) We must challenge the trajectory and role of the African Development Bank and related financial institutions on the continent and beyond in order to play a direct and positive role in our industrialisation agenda

f) We must engage more robustly with the AU’s 2063 Programme and the SADC Industrialisation Strategy to anchor a progressive shift in the developmental narrative and focus on our general path to the future

4.1.5. On Building and strengthening the African trade union movement to anchor a Progressive African movement against imperialism, corruption, wars and ecological destruction/climate change

Congress resolves that our response must include the following:-

a) Building a progressive African movement to drive a broad unity of social forces committed to the cause and interests of our people

b) Building solidarity between different unions and with other progressive civil society forces

c) Building an anti imperialist solidarity movement on the African continent, free from external and undue influences by donors and other such forces of domination

d) Our campaigns and actions must include a focus on white collar crime and corporate capture as particularly dangerous forms of corruption

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e) We must strengthen internal accountability in our own ranks

f) Conference called for the reaffirmation of all our resolutions on climate change, and step up our campaigns on climate change and to promote the notion of a just transition to a low carbon economy which grows new clean jobs

g) We must build active campaigns around health justice and access for all, particularly for the state to invest adequate resources and support to advance the objective of building a healthy nation and continent

h) We must develop an effective and time framed programme to implement our clear resolutions on organising vulnerable workers and those in the informal economy

4.1.6. Solidarity with Palestine

Noting;a) The COSATU 10th Congress Resolution on “Palestine and Israel”b) United Nations General Assembly resolution 67/19 adopted at the sixty-

seventh session upgrading Palestine to non – member observer status and the recent sixty-ninth UN General Assembly resolution on raising the flags of non-member observer States at the United Nations

c) The continued illegal occupation of Palestinian territories by apartheid Zionist Israel

d) The impact of the Boycott Disinvestment Sanctions [BDS] campaign on Israel;

e) Woolworths Holdings Limited, a publicly listed company on the JSE, has the Public Investment Cooperation [PIC] as one of its largest shareholders. In turn, the PIC has, firstly, the Government Employees Pension Fund [GEPF] as its largest contributor [the GEPF accounts for 88.81% of the assets under PIC management] and, secondly, the Unemployment Insurance Fund [UIF], as its second largest contributor [the UIF accounts for 6.21% of the assets under PIC management].

f) The attempts by the Israeli state to crush the liberation struggle of Palestinians through violation of numerous international and humanitarian laws and the several United Nations resolutions.

g) The deliberate bombings of schools, homes, women and children ,detentions without trial, murder and assassinations of Palestinian leaders,

h) depriving entire populations of access to basic resources and denying them the freedom of movement

i) The silence and indecisiveness of the so called super powers such as USA on the continuous onslaught of the Palestinian people and the barbaric occupation of Gaza.

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Believing;a) That the people of Palestine also have human rights including the right

to live peacefully in their landb) That people of Palestine also have the right to have a right to own land

and the right to self-determination c) The sixty-ninth UN General Assembly resolution on raising the flags of

non-member observer States at the United Nations is a victory for the Palestinian struggle

Resolving;a) Reaffirm the COSATU 10th Congress Resolution on “Palestine and Israel”b) That South Africa boycotts the import and export of goods from and to

Israel in pledging solidarity with Palestine and continues lobbying other countries to support the campaign.

c) We are demanding that Woolworths immediately terminates its trade links with Israel until such a time that Israel complies with international law and ends its oppression of the Palestinian people.

d) If Woolworths does not end relations with Apartheid Israel and Israeli companies then we will lobby [via the GEPF, UIF and through other avenues that we have representation] for the PIC to divest from Woolworths Holdings Limited because of its involvement with Israeli companies in general and Israeli agricultural companies in particular.

e) We will continue to advocate for the right of self-determination of Palestinians and their right to live free from a brutal Israeli military occupation.

f) South African Government should continue other UN member states to put pressure on the UN General Assembly for the recognition of Palestine as a sovereign state in its own right

3. 12th National Congress Special Declaration on the National Minimum Wage – Annexure G

ANNEXURE “G”

Special Declaration of the 12th COSATU National Congress on the National Minimum Wage and the crisis in the negotiations

26 November 2015

NOTING THAT

1. Sixty years ago the Freedom Charter called for a National Minimum Wage (NMW) as one of its key demands. The Freedom Charter states

There shall be a:

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a. forty-hour working week,

b. national minimum wage,

c. paid annual leave and sick leave for all workers,

d. and maternity leave on full pay for all working mothers.

2. Twenty one years after our democratic breakthrough, and sixty years after the adoption of the Freedom Charter, millions of South African workers remain super-exploited, stuck in the cheap labour system, and are part of the working poor. That is, although they work full time, they and their families continue to live in poverty, and still cannot afford basic necessities.

3. To address this situation the COSATU 11TH Congress in 2012 and the Collective Bargaining Conference in 2013 called for the implementation of a legislated National Minimum Wage, linked to a Minimum Living Level, as part of a comprehensive National Wage Policy, including the introduction of wall to wall Collective Bargaining, and comprehensive social protection, to address working poverty and wage inequality. The National Minimum Wage floor is not intended to replace the campaign for a Living Wage, or to substitute for collective bargaining, but rather to act as a springboard to support these. COSATU, supported by the international experience, further rejected the notion that a NMW would lead to high levels of job loss. In fact the NMW, by raising working peoples incomes, could complement other economic and industrial policies, by stimulating demand in the economy.

4. The ANCs 2014 Elections Manifesto undertakes to implement a National Minimum Wage, as part of a package of measures aimed at addressing wage inequality and working poverty. Comprehensive collective bargaining, state incentives, employment equity, and the national minimum wage are proposed as a package of mechanisms to transform the apartheid wage structure, and to promote decent wages, and decent work.

5. The President , in his State of the Nation Address of 17 June 2014, announced that Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa would convene a dialogue on wage inequality and labour relations. This process would investigate a national minimum wage as one of the key mechanisms to reduce income inequality.

6. At the Nedlac Summit in September 2014, the Deputy President announced that an Indaba would be convened to: address the untenable labour relations environment that gives rise to wage inequality and prolonged violent strikes; deliberate on measures to combat wage inequality, and examine the role of a national minimum wage in dealing with poverty and inequality, including the modalities of implementing a national minimum wage;  consider measures to address the causes of violent and protracted strikes; and measures to promote inclusive negotiations and bargaining processes.

7. On 4 November 2014 the Nedlac Indaba was convened, and adopted the Ekurhuleni Declaration which agreed to engage on a national minimum wage, as a means of addressing wage inequality. It set up a Committee of Principals (COP) chaired by the Deputy President, comprising of leaders of the different constituencies.  Terms of Reference for the negotiations were adopted in

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February 2015, and a Task Team on Wage Inequality was established to negotiate the National Minimum Wage, as well as a Task Team on Labour Relations.

NOTING FURTHER THAT

8. Negotiations have been taking place in the two Task Teams since February this year. While business resisted committing itself to a National Minimum Wage, after several months an agreement was reached on how a National Minimum Wage would be defined, as well as on some related matters. This constituted a degree of progress, albeit slow.

9. However, negotiations in Nedlac have made virtually no progress in the past four months, and have now entered a deadlock. This is because business has refused to engage on the level, or any issue related to the level of the National Minimum Wage. While labour, community and government agree that the first NMW must be the outcome of negotiations, business are insisting that the setting of the level must be outsourced to an "independent body of experts". The Deputy President is currently engaged in discussions aimed at breaking the deadlock.

10. Detailed research has been done by progressive researchers on the prospects for a NMW in South Africa, and labour in alliance with community has placed detailed proposals on the table based both on extensive analysis of the international experience, as well as detailed consideration of the South African wage structure, and the conditions facing workers.

WE THEREFORE RESOLVE

On the deadlock in Nedlac

11. Congress mandates the newly elected COSATU leadership, as their first major political task emerging from this Congress, to communicate in the strongest possible terms to the captains of business that their conduct in refusing to discuss the level of a NMW is entirely unacceptable, and will be strongly opposed. The leadership must also meet with government and the ANC to communicate that we expect them to take a far stronger stance on this matter. The NMW is a matter of life and death for workers.

12. Congress reiterates labour's view that the level of the NMW must be negotiated, and rejects the notion of outsourcing this to an 'independent body of experts', which is nothing but an attempt to water down the demand for a meaningful minimum wage, by taking the negotiations out of the hand of the mass constituencies, and putting workers fate into the hand of conservative technocrats.

13. Congress rejects the continuous delaying tactics and foot-dragging by business. As was agreed at the COP meeting in August, the negotiations must be approached with the necessary urgency, and the final package must be concluded in time for the President to make an announcement at SONA in February 2016. Negotiators from all sides must drop all other commitments, and make themselves available to achieve this, and the necessary meetings scheduled and honoured. Business must ensure that their negotiators are properly mandated, and capacitated.

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14. The urgent finalisation of an agreement on the NMW is non-negotiable for the working class. We will now engage in mass mobilisation to ensure that what has not been agreed in the boardrooms, will be resolved in the streets and workplaces. If the deadlock is not satisfactorily resolved by December 4th, we will immediately begin to mobilise for a Day of Action for a National Minimum Wage in January 2016, and will file a Section 77 notice in Nedlac.

15. We will go out to our members after this Congress, and mobilise them en masse for a mother of all battles to achieve the NMW. We will also embark on a campaign to investigate, expose and boycott those employers who are refusing to comply with set minimum wages.

16. A programme of mobilisation to popularise the NMW campaign must include:

Embarking on a road show and rolling out workshops to educate organise and mobilise workers, communities, and other federations;

Creating platforms for public engagement on the NMW;

Mobilising and engaging all stakeholders, communities, including across federations  on the NMW;

Engaging the alliance and government through all available forums (such as the ETC, NEC, bilaterals with the Presidency, and relevant Ministers etc.)

On the Level of the National Minimum Wage

17. Congress supports the position taken by labours negotiators in Nedlac that the figure for a NMW must be based on the relevant benchmarks which have been advanced in the negotiations, namely:

Using the international benchmark for setting a National Minimum Wage at 40% - 50% of the average wage. An indication of the average wages of SA workers is the average wage for formal sector workers, which is R10 274 according to the latest available information1. So a NMW set at 40-50% of this estimated average would be in the range of R4 110- R5 137.

Using the poverty line or minimum living level as a second key benchmark for setting a NMW. The basic needs poverty line produced by Stats SA has been revised by SALDRU at UCT in 2015 and has been found to be R1319 per person or R5276 for a household of four (three being roughly the average number of dependents in poor households).

The Wits NMW Research Initiative has produced a working poor line. This research indicates that a worker, with an average number of dependents, needs to earn R4 125 in wage income just to lift her or his head and those of their dependents above the poverty line2.

Congress supports the joint approach of the Labour and Community constituencies in Nedlac who, as a basis for negotiating a NMW figure, have agreed to advance a range for the NMW which reflects these benchmarks.

18. We reject with contempt the research presented by Treasury which suggests that even a NMW set at the ridiculously low level of R1258 per month, would cause substantial job loss! Research produced by the Wits NMW RI shows that a

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NMW of between R3500 – R6000 could be introduced without major negative effects, and would have many positive effects on the economy.

19. Congress believes that these three benchmarks indicate a useful range within which negotiators should negotiate the National Minimum Wage level. We also recognise that we may not be able to immediately achieve a NMW at the level which workers legitimately desire, and there may need to be a process of transition to achieve our desired target. But the first NMW should not be below the range indicated above.

20. At the same time, an initial level for introducing the first NMW, in line with these benchmarks outlined above, must be combined with a bold strategy, as has been done in Latin America, of progressively increasing the value of the NMW over the medium term, through significant real annual increases in the NMW, and deliberately transforming the wage structure. To this end, we support labour's proposal that the competent authority overseeing increases in the NMW, must be given a roadmap with targets to determine the future setting of the NMW.

21. We further support the need for concrete measures to address the massive pay gaps caused by ultra low wages alongside obscene executive pay, to work towards a ratio of 16:1 between the top and bottom of the wage structure, as agreed at our 2013 Conference.

On the Architecture of the National Minimum Wage

22. We endorse the position that it is preferable to minimise exclusions and exemptions from the NMW. International evidence, supported by the ILO, supports this view. The agreement in Nedlac is that the National Minimum Wage must set an economy wide wage floor below which no worker should fall, unless exclusions/ exemptions are agreed to upfront. Downward variation of wages and employment conditions will not be allowed by the NMW legislation, and SDs, collective bargaining, and employment contracts will only be able to improve on the NMW floor. The most vulnerable workers must benefit from the NMW.

23. We support the approach in Nedlac to only exclude very limited categories, such as the intelligence services, and some others excluded from the BCEA, such as unpaid volunteers.

24. We recognise that there are certain ultra low wage sectors, such as domestics and agriculture, which are excluded from the NMW in some countries. However we support the view that the exclusion of such sectors is a harmful practice leading to growth in the wage gap between sectors and inequality. As a compromise (to avoid the NMW being pitched at an excessively low level), labour has agreed to consider a tiered system whereby domestic, public works, and farm workers start off with a slightly lower NMW at for example 70- 80% of the general NMW, and then phase in to one rate over a set timeframe. However, this is only acceptable if the NMW is set at least within the range stipulated above (R4125-R5276).

25. We endorse the position taken by Labour in negotiations opposing the notion of exclusion, or setting a lower NMW, for young workers, workers in small businesses, workers in certain regions, or workers being trained. International

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evidence suggests that such exclusions do not meet their claimed objectives, and undermine the effectiveness of a NMW.

26. We support the view that Labour has advanced that a system of regulation and incentives can ensure that businesses co-operate in implementation of the NMW. Proper systems of enforcement and penalties should be combined with compliance certificates, and only businesses complying with NMW and other labour legislation, would qualify for state incentives and support. Specific state incentives, eg access to affordable credit, can be given to support compliant small businesses, provided the necessary safeguards are put in place.

27. Labour has proposed that the NMW be calculated though a combination of hourly, weekly and monthly reference periods, with a guaranteed payment for minimum hours worked, and a premium paid for those working under a stipulated number of hours. Congress endorses this approach to prevent employers reducing pay through cutting the number of hours.

On related demands

22. The campaign for a National Minimum Wage must be combined with a campaign for a living wage, and establishment of comprehensive Centralised Bargaining in all sectors of the economy.

23. The Freedom Charter states that: "The state shall recognise the right and duty of all to work, and to draw full unemployment benefits". Congress resolves to embark on an intensified campaign to establish a comprehensive social protection floor that caters for all, including the unemployed and underemployed, who currently fall through the cracks.

Footnote

1. This figure of full time formal sector wages (excluding domestic and farm workers) is used as a 'proxy'/ broad indication, because significant evidence suggests that wages reported by Stats SA underestimate the true level of wages. More research is being done on this matter.

2. This figure of the working poor line is lower than the poverty line for a family of 4 because: it assumes a slightly lower dependency ratio; and because it assumes that workers are receiving income from other sources, including grants. So the two lines are actually compatible.

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4. 12th National Congress Declaration- Annexure H

Declaration

12th National Congress, held from 23rd – 26th November 2015 at Gallagher Estate, Midrand

We, the more than 2,500 voting delegates to this 12th National Congress of COSATU gathered in Midrand, Johannesburg and celebrating our unbroken 30 fighting years, declare for all our country and the world to know, that our trade unions are emerging from this congress under the banner of COSATU more united and determined to build our giant, militant and class-oriented federation for all the workers of our country and the struggles ahead.

Our congress took place in the year of the 60th anniversaries of the Freedom Charter and the founding of our forerunner, the South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU). We represent 1,9 million workers across a wide-range of sectors in the South African economy, and are drawn from all the provinces of our country, from urban centres and countryside, under the theme: Unity and Cohesion of COSATU to advance the National Democratic Revolution. We draw strength and inspiration from the messages of support from our allies, the African National Congress, the South African Community Party and the South African National Civic Organisation, as well as from the World Federation of Trade Unions, the International Trade Union Confederation and all our esteemed guests, to forge ahead with more determination to meet the challenges facing our members and the working class as a whole.

Our 12th National Congress has placed us in an advantageous position, to see the real challenges confronting us clearer.

We declare for all to know that as unions organised under the banner of COSATU, we have put our divisions behind us so that we are able to confront our real class enemies as a united force!

We are forging ahead on the path of the mandate given by our Special national Congress this year to deepen and consolidate the unity and cohesion of the federation, based on an understanding that COSATU’s unity is sacrosanct!

We are preparing to heighten our struggles in all fronts. Clear that none other than the working class itself will take forward its struggles, advance and defend its interests and aspirations, we commit to fight to the bitter end for that which belongs to the workers and the working class as a whole. In this regard we will continue to strengthen the socialist axis of our alliance and ensure that the alliance as a whole is reconfigured to function optimally in pursuit of our shared historical missions.

We appreciate the fact that we are conducting our struggle under conditions which are not of our own choosing. Our struggle is being waged in a period of persisting systemic crisis of global capitalism and a world that is ever more afflicted by imperialist aggression and imperialist inspired terrorist atrocities.

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The unfolding global capitalist system’s multiple-crises underscore the insights of Vladimir Lenin, that the epoch of imperialism is one which “is relatively much more violent, spasmodic, disastrous and conflicting, an epoch which for the mass of the population is typified not so much by a ‘horror without end’ as by a ‘horrible end ”.

The Middle East , the Arab Penensula and North Africa a region which at the time of our last congress was overflowing with hope in the wake of the inspiring mass uprisings, has now exploded into a theatre of war, especially in Syria, Iraq and Yemen. Israeli’s aggression against the people of Palestine has also worsened. The hellish banditry of ISIS and the predatory imperialist schemes of regime-change orchestrated by Western imperialism have slaughtered thousands of people and turned millions into refugees. .

The glaring fundamental feature of imperialism during this period of global economic crisis is its continued ability to respond in a manner which bolsters the ideological existence of capitalism whilst at the same time heightens its offensive by shifting the burden of the economic crisis on to the working class.

The centralization and concentration of capital and wealth; the financialisation of the economy; the systematic attack on the social functions of the state; the attacks on international law and sovereignty of the states; the monopolization of the world’s political power by a few, imperialist states, build on the foundation of economic concentration again for a few in those countries; the strategies of militarization of international relations, are features of capitalist policies that dominate most countries all over the world today.

The dominance of imperialism has come with the heightening offensive against the working class which expresses itself in government policies all over the world which include cuts in real wages; intensification of work and associated retrenchments; deregulation and increase in working hours; deregulation of labour relations; widespread casual labour, particularly among the women and young workers; over-exploitation of migrant workers; appropriation of labour productivity gains by capital; cuts in pensions and retirement benefits; increase in unemployment rates; regression of social and labour rights; and the denial of the right to bargain collectively and to strike.

Here at home, part of this offensive also manifests itself through liberal commentators, bourgeois economists and their like in the political fold who have fabricated a baseless allegation against our progressive trade union movement. They say our unions are narrowly concerned only with the interests and aspirations of the employed workers without regard to the unemployed. We will not allow this neoliberal tirade and false divide to succeed in its intention – which is to divide and rule the workers for ever, deepen exploitation and maximise profit at the expense of the working class as a whole, both employed and unemployed.

As COSATU, we will not allow to be confused and blackmailed by bourgeois ideologies and the false consciousness that has gripped certain sections of our society and some in our own broad movement post-1994. Inequality, unemployment and poverty have not been invented and are not being reproduced by workers and trade unions. Inequality, unemployment and poverty are the necessary conditions and products for the existence of the capitalist system of exploitation and are used by the capitalist class to lower wages and cut back on workers’ hard-won gains. This is the reason why the

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capitalist class, its ideologues and sympathisers are calling on our trade unions to “moderate” wage demands (the youth wage subsidy as one of many an examples), reduce the protections and hard-won gains of the workers.

The fortunes of the rich and the super-rich have soared, while social inequality has reached unprecedented levels as a result of the vast appropriation of wealth from the bottom to the top. Far from resolving the contradictions that have manifested themselves, capitalism has exacerbated the problem of global poverty and inequality.

Our own continent, Africa, has not been spared the scourge of the destabilising imperialist ploys and horrors of terrorism. In this regard we pledge solidarity with the peoples of West and East Africa who are under siege from terrorist attacks.

We also reaffirm our solidarity with the struggling peoples of Swaziland and Western Sahara.

We are angry that more than one trillion dollars flowed illicitly out of Africa in the past 30 years, dwarfing capital inflows, and stifling economic development. Equally, we note with anger that around 14 African countries are still obliged by France through a colonial pact, to put 85% of their foreign reserves into the French Central Bank. These countries still pay a colonial debt and those who refuse are either killed or become victims of a coup. On the other hand, those African elites, the comprador bourgeoisie, who obey are rewarded by France with lavish lifestyles while their people endure extreme poverty and desperation.

We are angry that poverty stubbornly persists on the African continent in the midst of massive natural wealth, which is estimated by the UN Economic Commission for Africa as including 12 percent of the world’s oil reserves, 42 percent of its gold, 80 to 90 percent of chromium and platinum group metals and 60 percent of arable land.

Combined with neo-colonial land grabs, rampant mineral extraction, corruption and elicit outflows of billions of dollars, more and more people of our continent find themselves trapped in sprawling slums and haunted by the spectre of avoidable diseases and death.

As a response to this imperialist offensive, the countries of the South have responded by mobilising themselves into a bloc constituted in the main by China, Asia, Africa and some countries in Latin America. These countries have presented themselves as an alternative engine of growth and development for the world economy and as an anti –thesis to the USA and European based growth and development models. However, even these inspiring developments are currently being threatened by counter revolution and are facing aggressive imperialist schemes to roll them back. This is despite the formalisation of the diplomatic relations between Cuba and the USA.

The determination of imperialist counter-revolution is underscored by the continuation of the criminal economic blockade against Cuba and Obama’s executive order declaring Venezuela as an “extraordinary and unusual threat to the national security of the United States”.

Nonetheless, we note with admiration the indomitable resolve of the peoples of South America in their resistance and defence of their gains. As ever, we pledge solidarity with them, especially with the Cuban revolution whose outstanding heroes visited our country earlier this year. We pledge solidarity with the Bolivarian people’s republic of

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Venezuela who is facing a counter revolution aimed at reversing the gains of the people’s revolution

On our part, we are convinced that unless we study and draw lessons from experiences of this region, including on the clandestine role imperialist agencies such as the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) play in stoking the so-called civil society, our own revolution is doomed.

We have also noted the current changes taking place in Cuba’s economy and will be undertaking a study tour to the country in order to properly understand these developments from firsthand experience. We have confidence that these changes will not compromise the fundamental principles of Socialism.

We also instruct the CEC to ensure that part of this should include conducting a study of the BRICS countries the Latin American countries with a view to gaining a deeper understanding of the political and economic developments that are currently taking place there.

Part of this task will include building campaign based relations with the trade union movement and parties of the left in the BRICS countries.

We note that despite massive injection of fictitious money, increasing rate of exploitation, austerity programmes, and sustained offensive against trade unions, mass retrenchments, mergers and acquisitions – global economic growth remains basically stagnant in the face of the lack of channels for productive and profitable investment and surplus absorption. In turn, this crisis-ridden trajectory of capitalism has plunged our planet into a morass of unprecedented ecological destruction. Never before in the history of humanity has our world come so close to obliteration.

Therefore, we emerge from this congress fully conscious of the fact that the balance of class forces internationally remains decisively in favour of monopoly capital. This is also reflected at the level of the world order, which despite the emergence of the China-led BRICS, NATO and G7 countries continue to enjoy strategic advantages of control of global financial markets, natural resources, advance technology, media and communication monopolies as well as the monopoly of weapons of mass destruction.

Despite all of this, we note that more and more people, especially workers in western imperialist countries, are increasingly challenging the dominant neo-liberal paradigm. Organised workers are increasingly gaining confidence to defend their jobs, public services and to fight against trade and investment agreements designed in favour of monopoly capital. Hence, as we move towards the affiliation of COSATU to WFTU, we remain committed to the realisation of our lofty ideal of worldwide unity of the organised workers. With all its limitations, we welcome the adoption of the Africa Vision 2063 Programme, on which we commit to work with the African trade union movement and other progressive forces, to ensure that it becomes a genuine programme of thoroughgoing democratic revolution in our continent.

Like much of Africa, the South African economy continues to suffer from the fall in commodity prices, weak demand from China and Europe and capital market volatility, including the sharp depreciation of the Rand, as a result of the prospects of interest rate hike in the USA. The persisting global capitalist crisis continues to heavily weigh down on the South African economy as reflected in the spectre of massive job-destruction and closures that is stalking mining and steel industries in particular. Whilst we appreciate 145 | P a g e

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the range of interventions undertaken in terms of the NGP and IPAP by the ANC government as presented to congress by the Minister of Economic Development, Ebrahim Patel, as COSATU we believe that much more must be done in addressing the crises of mass unemployment, poverty and increasing inequality.

Much more must be done in transforming the colonial structure of the South African economy and forging an industrialisation-led growth path. As Mao Zedong said, “colonial forms of capitalist exploitation transfer surplus value to the metropolis and hinder the development of productive forces.” Thus, congress calls on government to undertake more decisive interventions to stem the unfolding de-industrialisation and job losses from imports. Furthermore, congress calls on government to impose capital controls to stem the tide of capital flight, including the rejection of the SABMiller-AB Inberv merger. Thus, we reaffirm our policy framework, A New Growth Path towards Full-employment which places at the centre a comprehensive set of policy proposals for decent jobs, industrialisation, nationalisation, economic redistribution and regional integration.

We note that despite our call in 2013, supported by the SACP, for the “redrafting and fundamental overhaul of the core economic chapter of the NDP and the appreciation by the Alliance of the need for further engagement, the ANC government has, since last year, begun to implement elements of these, especially on macroeconomic policy. We view this as part of the hallmarks of Treasury’s unilateralism, as reflected in the introduction of the Employment Incentive Tax Act, the freezing of vacant posts in the public service, e-tolls, moves to introduce preservation of provident funds and many others. Therefore, as COSATU, we resolve to file a Section 77 Notice urgently in the next few days before it can be passed into law. If necessary this action would be escalated into rolling mass action until this unilateralism is stopped. In this regard, we pledge to build on this year’s National Day of Action, to mobilise our members around the following issues:

1. The neo-liberal macroeconomic policies that undermine industrialisation and job-creation;

2. Retrenchments, outsourcing and casualization;

3. Immediate engagement on a comprehensive social security system;

4. Imposition wealth tax;

5. Introduction of minimum wage;

6. Banning of labour broking;

7. Affordable, reliable, accessible and safe public transport and a stop to the expansion of the Gautrain service. This include the scrapping of e-tolls; and

We know that we cannot mount a successful counter offensive against imperialism, monopoly capital and threats inherently internal and within, if we do not have a strong organisation grounded within the workers. Our refuge is amongst the people. Our strength remains to be rooted amongst the toiling masses of our people.

On this year of the 30th anniversary of COSATU, congress reasserts our time-tested founding principles of one union, one industry, one country, one federation! Paid up

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membership, international worker solidarity, worker control, unity of workers, non-racialism and democratic centralism. From its founding congress,, COSATU has remarkably grown from strength to strength across a wide-range of sectors of the economy, different strata of workers, in membership, organisationally and ideologically. Despite the shortcomings that congress identified, we remain the best organised and class conscious giant federation of the South African workers.

In 1985 at our launching Congress, we had a membership of 500 000 drawn from thirty-three (33) affiliates. At this 12th National Congress we have 1, 9 million members drawn from eighteen (18) affiliated unions.

Yet despite our phenomenal development since our founding congress , our lodestar of One Union, One Industry, One Country, One Federation! remains elusive.

In South Africa, we remain with a highly fragmented trade union movement, yet an overwhelming majority of workers are unorganised especially in the private sector. Hence for more than half of all the workers, their wage and conditions of work are solely determined by the employer. This is more so amongst the youth, women, community care workers, domestic workers and foreign nationals, who tend to make the bigger proportion of the vulnerable sections of the labour force. Indeed, congress directs all affiliates to develop and implement programmes targeting these categories of workers, programmes to increase membership and participation in our activities by coloured, Indian and white workers and programmes to improve our presence in sectors such as catering, wholesale, hotel, cleaning and private security.

Within our own ranks, we acknowledge that we are still far from consolidating our organisational power in terms of the implementation of our resolutions on mergers and building super-unions. Instead a few of our affiliates from time to time slide backward to a tendency of competing with others instead of practicing solidarity, of extending organisational scopes instead of merging with others and of poaching of the membership of others instead of recruiting scores of unorganised workers. Thus, congress sends a message to all affiliates of COSATU, that the South African workers are under siege in the face of escalating offensive by employers and the crisis of capitalism.

That the advanced component of these workers, which is found in our federation is itself on the receiving end of an unprecedented scale of an offensive by the bourgeois media, ultra-left forces and imperialism. Therefore, in the period ahead we are more than ever called upon to consolidate our unity and cohesion and to defend all our affiliates and membership base. We are called upon to build strong workplace organisation, build class consciousness and close the distance between our members, their union and leadership. In line with our principle of “one union, one industry”, all affiliates are called upon to stop extending scopes and poaching members of COSATU unions.

The consolidation of unity, cohesion and organisational power means that we must move with speed to implement the resolution of the 11th congress that was adopted by the February 2013 CEC on mergers and the demarcation of scopes. This we shall do as part of returning to the outcomes of our 2013 Collective Bargaining, Organising and Campaigns Conference, whose organisational tasks, combined with the resolutions of this 12th congress shall be part of the Organisational Building and Development 147 | P a g e

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Programme of our new medium-term strategic plan, building on what we have achieved in terms of the 2015 Plan.

We emerge from this congress more convinced than ever that our COSATU must remain grounded on the traditions of strong shop floor organisation and militant struggles for worker rights, collective bargaining and power; activism; democratic organisation controlled by workers and based on campaigns and mobilisation; incorporation of broader social issues and interests into our programme, thus building alliances with community organisations, with the political movement and with intellectuals, etc .

This programme shall be part of our Back to Basic Campaign. As our Special National Congress directed, this means that “in keeping with the true traditions of our federation, we will initiate a process of deeply looking at ourselves; we will study how affiliates and COSATU structures operate in practice. And that this must be with the view to subsequently elaborating and enriching the content of our Back to Basics perspective”. To ensure success, at the centre of this shall be the review of the effectiveness of our existing organisational machinery at all levels, with a view of establishing the kind of organisational engines and capacity of cadreship that would be best positioned to meet the tasks of the pillar of Organisational Building and Development Programme. This includes, the COSATU Locals as basic structures that are closest to members and that are indispensable in the mobilisation of members and in implementing the federation’s campaigns.

The 12th National Congress observed with concern that despite the advances made in the past 21 years, the high levels of unemployment, poverty and inequality remains unresolved and these affects blacks in general and Africans in particular. . The international trend of worsening unemployment and poverty reflects the reality in South Africa. We are angry that in our country we remain confronted with a reality that more than 7.6 million people are without employment. The South African economic policy is still based on the neo-liberal paradigm which remains dominant in driving government’s economic policy.

The neo-liberal economic principles and philosophies continue to dominate the practice and articulation of policy. This is based on a belief that growth must occur first, and then employment will follow.  And that once employment increases, the distribution of income will improve.  This is reflected in the persistent setting of growth targets as the primary focus, rather than targets for employment and income distribution.

It fails to address the colonial and apartheid fundamental contradictions that resulted in the white monopoly capital taking charge and ownership of the economic levers of powers while the black majority remains enslaved in waged labour. Our economy remains highly monopolised and foreign owned. It is still largely in the hands of a white minority. Unfortunately, this neo-liberal ideology has captured some elements within the state and the democratic movement, who though aware of the harsh but failed medicine of neoliberalism, have still gone ahead to impose it on society.

Neo-liberalism by nature is contradictory. It promotes both political pluralism and authoritarianism on questions of economic policy and management. Neo-liberalism survives and thrives under conditions of low-intensity democracy and insulates political leaders from popular pressure so that they can drive un-popular economic policies.

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It is against this background that the movement has over the years abandoned the people driven and people centred approach to development. It is in this context that the structures of the movement remain in disarray with the focus being on narrow electoral processes. It is unacceptable that when we ask to be given a comprehensive social security and retirement reform discussion paper, which government has failed to deliver for more than ten years, we get given the Taxation Laws Amendment Act. And when we take this process to NEDLAC government represented by the National Treasury abandons the engagements to pursue its planned retirement reforms unilaterally.

We want to reiterate that this arrogant act of provocation by government represented by the National Treasury will get an appropriate and equal response from the workers. Workers will fight any attempts to impose the compulsory preservation of our hard earned deferred wages.

We want to say here and now that there will be no compulsory preservation or any other imposed reforms for us and about us without us, on our watch. We will spare no effort to stop this tyranny and ill placed overconfidence by the neo liberal hard liners in government concentrated in the National Treasury.

No government has a right to unilaterally decide for workers, as to how and when they should spend their retirement savings. These savings are part of worker’s hard-earned salaries and should be accessible to the workers, as and when they need them in particular in the absence of comprehensive social security.

It is clear that with all these challenges as the working class and particularly as COSATU cannot afford the luxury of continuing to fight against each other. We therefore declare that from this Congress we will stop fighting amongst ourselves and direct our energies and resources to heighten our struggle and consolidate our unity against our primary class enemies, the white monopoly capital. This congress has set the tone that we must continue with the tradition of robust and frank engagement regarding our organisation and the struggles of the working class and to do so using the platform of our constitutional structures and within the parameters of our constitution.

We accept that the Alliance remains the only vehicle available to advance a second more radical phase of the National Democratic Revolution. Alliance resolutions which advance the interests of the working class only remains on paper and are not translated to funded government programmes. Our voice must matter in the Alliance. It is not acceptable that when we call for the reviewal of the employment incentive act or the youth wage subsidy no one wants to listen!

We reiterate our call for a total ban of labour broking and re-affirm that will intensify our struggle on the ground for a final push for the total elimination of this modern day slavery.

We want an Alliance which collectively develops policy in line with our vision in the Freedom charter, which collectively monitors implementation of policy, which collectively decides on deployment, and which can call ministers to account.

We want an Alliance where partners are treated as equals!

We want a reconfigured Alliance which is at the centre of driving the National Democratic Revolution!

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We want an Alliance which practices the Mass Line as the “primary method of revolutionary leadership of the masses. The mass line means to start with the diverse ideas of the masses, and return the concentrated ideas to the masses. This is also known as the method of “from the masses, to the masses”. ,

We want the Alliance to be led by the ANC whose perspective is based on an understanding that “in contrast to many old-style nationalist movements in Africa, we believe that there can be no true national liberation without social emancipation. . To postpone advocacy of this perspective until the first stage of democratic power has been achieved is to risk dominance within our revolution by purely nationalist forces which may see themselves as replacing the white exploiters at the time of the people’s victory” .

We want the alliance to be led by an ANC which understands that the strategic objectives of the National Democratic Revolution is to resolve three interrelated contradictions of racial domination , gender oppression and class exploitation . These interrelate d contradictions have not been resolved yet and therefore the entirety of the congress movement have not yet arrived !

Our shared understanding is that the NDR is our most direct and uninterrupted route to Socialism. In consolidating the NDR by strengthening people’s power in action we lay a solid foundation for a Socialist society. The tasks of the NDR do not work against a possibility for socialism. Hence we commit to struggle against the notion that the main task of the NDR is to merely manage the primary contradictions without ensuring qualitative advances for the working class and the poor.

The misplaced notion that all our movement stands for whilst it is non capitalist is to consolidate a capitalist path must fearlessly be fought and defeated. There is neither ‘Chinese wall’ nor contradiction between the task to construct the so called “National Democratic Society” and the struggle for a Socialist South Africa. In the same way as the Bourgeoisie Society which emerged from the Feudal Society, the Socialist and communist society will emerge from the Bourgeoisie Society as we have seen in many parts of the world. As comrade Mao put it that “Changes in society are due chiefly to the development of the internal contradictions in society, that is, the contradiction between the productive forces and the relations of production, the contradiction between classes and the contradiction between the old and the new; it is the development of these contradictions that pushes society forward and gives the impetus for the supersession of the old society by the new”.

We will fight to have an Alliance which is conscious that the primary task in this phase of our transition is to resolve the colonial and apartheid contradictions based on radical economic transformation.

We want an alliance which is led by the ANC that understands and accept in practice the leading role of the working class as a primary motive force in the National Democratic Revolution. We want an ANC which accept and understand that the working class has the enduring organisational power, occupies a strategic location within the productive force, suffers the most from both exploitation and domination, and has made the most sacrifices to advance the revolution.

We want the Alliance to be led by an ANC which accept and understand that as the organised detachment of the working class, located strategically at the point of

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production, we are not just an interest group or just another NGO in the revolution but we constitute the most powerful motive force of our revolution.

We shall act consciously to ensure that the leading role of the working class in our revolution is won on the ground through visible campaigns based on our political and Socio- Economic demands.

We will go beyond seeking to secure agreements in meetings about the content of radical economic transformation but the content of radical economic transformation shall be defined through heated struggles based on our political and socio - economic demands.

We shall work to ensure that we strengthen the South African Communist Party to lead the struggle for socialism.

We note the right wing offensive which has been directed against the leadership of our communist party as an attempt to mute and weaken the SACP. We will defend our communist party and its leadership with everything we have!

We, the delegates to this 12th National Congress hereby declare that ideologically we remain a militant and radical trade union movement that wants the country to move towards a socialism.

The Alliance remains a critical vehicle towards the attainment of the NDR. We will defend the Alliance with all that we have and will ensure that it remains united and coherent and that it must advance our needs as the workers.

It is in this regard we want to call on the SACP to expedite the process of its commission to look into contesting state power in the very near future. The SACP remains the political vehicle of the working class and the workers in particular, it is incumbent upon us to defend it against the emerging anti-communist sentiments and attacks on the General Secretary by a faction within the movement.

Concerned that the ANC faces internal factional battles and fixation with leadership contest, as the strategic ally, COSATU calls on the ANC to maintain its established tradition and practice regarding succession of leadership.

Building on the spirit of our Special National Congress with regard to the scourge of business unionism, we shall systematically develop binding policy frameworks, which must address challenges arising from our investment arms, union-linked retirement funds, procurement of goods and services and fund raising.

In the immediate period ahead, we undertake that our organisation building programmes and campaigns shall include:

1. Political Programme

a) To wage campaigns on the ground and to work with the Alliance partners to strengthen and reconfigure the Alliance to drive the National Democratic Revolution

b) To strengthen the socialist axis under the leadership of the SACP to advance in a programmatic way the struggle for socialism. This will also include participating

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in the SACP process towards a decision on how it will relate to electoral politics in the future guided. by our 9th Congress resolution and the SACPs 12th National Congress and its Special National Congress resolution in this regard

c) As part of the task to develop political consciousness, we will run joint programme with the SACP focusing in ideological training of our leaders and members.

d) We will make resources available to mobilise for the overwhelming victory of the ANC in the forthcoming local government election

e) To openly contest and defend the centrality of the working class as the primary motive force in the NDR. This will also include openly contesting and defending the working class biasness and the mass based character of the ANC through visible programmes on the ground.

f) To develop programmes aimed at linking mass power and state powerg) Fight against the killing of the Police and attacks directed at public servants : We

have noted with anger the continued killing of the police and merciless attacks directed at public servants and civilians which happens with impunity. We have seen nurses and teachers raped and physically attacked at work and in our view all these are intended to undermine the state and the security establishment of the country . We are worried that the state security capacity continues to be dwarfed by the capacity of private security firms who are three times more resourced and more armed than the state security agencies. What is even more worrying is that these are foreign owned and remain unregulated . We will heighten our campaign in defence of the police and public servants. We call on government to impose strict regulatory measured against private security firms. Police killings should be treated as treason!

2. On Imperialism

a) As COSATU we pledge to work with the Alliance and other progressive and internationalist formations in our country, to embark on mass protest actions to oppose the USA-led wars of regime-change in the middle-east, Latina America and Africa.

b) This would include engagement with fraternal trade unions in countries that are affected, in order to develop closer relations and to understand the concrete realities in their countries.

3. On Latin America

a) COSATU undertakes to strengthen our bilateral relations with the Cuban trade union federation, CTC and its affiliates. Thus, as part of our solidarity with the Cuban revolution, we shall continue to mount protest actions against the criminal economic blockade imposed by the USA on Cuba.

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b) Similarly, we shall establish relationship with the Venezuelan trade union movement with the view of developing a campaign in support of the Bolivarian revolution and its defence against US sponsored ploy of regime change.

4. On Neoliberalism

a) We note that global monopoly capital is using multilateral and bilateral trade agreements and partnerships to impose and lock countries within the Neoliberal development framework in order to prevent alternative development paths. Therefore, as COSATU we shall work with the broader international trade union movement to fight against the WTO and all such trade agreements and partnerships.

5. Transforming the Labour Market

a) Strengthening Workplace Struggles: Strengthening workers capacity to take up work place struggles. This must be done through amongst others exposing corruption at the workplace , acting against racism in the workplace , Listening and acting on issues raised by workers , a focus on women’s struggles in the workplace , making progressive labour laws serve workers etc.

b) Defending our hard-won labour rights: Part of this should include campaigns against threats on our right to strike and to defend collective Bargaining and demand expansion of centralised bargaining across sectors, to attack and call for the withdrawal of the Taxation Amendment Act of 2013 which is aimed at taking away the right of workers to decide on how to spend their deferred salaries.

c) National Day of Action : to ensure mmobilisation towards annual national National Day of Action focusing on the National Minimum wage ,transformation of the economy , , abolition of Apartheid wage structure , transformation in education etc.

d) Ban Labour Brokers: We shall heighten the campaign for the total banning of labour brokers now!. This campaign shall include our demand on Equal pay for work of equal value! We will not accept any form of blackmail including convenient and right wing interpretation of the constitution which places the right to trade above labour rights . Labour brokers are not involved in any form of productive activity nor do they add any value in the creation of jobs. No economy shall grow on the basis of slavery!

e) Campaign against Youth Wage Subsidy: to demand the scrapping of the Youth Employment Incentives in favour of a comprehensive youth employment strategy. Noting that majority of Youth Wage Subsidy funds have gone to labour brokers. COSATU must file a section 77 at NEDLAC declaring its opposition to the youth wage subsidy and calling for its end .

6. Transformation in Education

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a) We applaud SASCO for leading the struggle for Free Education in South Africa. This is the struggle which must be taken to its logical conclusion. In this regard working with the PYA, the Education Alliance, and the federation will convene a meeting to take forward the broad based struggles on the education crisis and the realisation of free education. This will be linked to a programme focusing on the transformation of basic education and the expansion of vocational education and training.

b) The Department of basic Education must respect the agreement it reached with educators to postpone the implementation of Annual National Assessments. We will work with SADTU to strengthen and heighten the campaign to reject the Annual National Assessments (ANA) in their current form, because they are not in the best interests of learners and will do nothing to improve the quality of education. At the centre of this campaign shall be to force employers to respect collective bargaining. The Department of Basic Education has joined the national treasury in the art of displaying arrogance against workers demands and to undermine existing collection agreements. We call on the DBE to reverse their decision to proceed with the implementation of Annual National Assessments in the current form.

c) To convene an urgent education summit which will on amongst others address issues relating to the realisation of free education, transformation of the curriculum, availability of resources in our schools etc.

7. Fighting Corruption in our ranks and in Society Generally

a) To lead a campaign exposing corruption in the private and public sectors and call for decisive punitive action against perpetrators. The current framework is not hard hitting enough against offenders in the public sector .It allows business to pay their way out and go away with murder as in the cases of collusion as exposed by the competition commission. We demand the strengthening of the legal framework so that responsible company executives can face prosecution.

b) Building on the spirit of our Special National Congress with regard to the scourge of business unionism, we shall systematically develop binding policy frameworks, which must address challenges arising from our investment arms, union-linked retirement funds, procurement of goods and services and fund raising.

8. Struggle for radical Economic Transformation

a) We will launch a radical campaign against privatisation which goes beyond section 77 based protests but a a protest action which will include rolling mass action.

b) We call for the convening of an Alliance Economic Summit to discuss issues relating to policy differences in the Alliance including on the concerns we raised with the SACP on the economic and labour Market sections in the NDP.

c) Launch a campaign demanding the implementation of the National Health Insurance now!

Conclusion 154 | P a g e

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Each one of our affiliates commits to deploy all resources, time and energy towards the implementation of these resolutions.

This declaration and the resolutions taken by this 12th session of the workers parliament shall remain the compass and a guide to action for every affiliate, every shop steward, every organiser and every member in every workplace,

We call on all our members to rally behind the directives contained in this declaration and the corresponding Resolutions.

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