SHARPEVILLE.- The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) in Gauteng observed May 1, International Workers Day, at the Sharpeville Cricket Oval last Thursday.
The party said the celebrations were done in observation of the gains over the past years in developing and bettering the lives of the poor and the working class. COSATU, South Africa’s biggest workers federation gathered its affiliates, social partners, and tripartite alliance partners (a political alliance between the ANC, the SACP, and COSATU) to join the festivities.
The event was graced by, amongst others, the Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources, Gwede Mantashe, and Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi, who also gave an address. The speakers talked about the need to unify the workers and also that the working class has a responsibility to elect and support a government that is empathetic towards their agenda.
The leaders deployed by the ruling party were not spared by the speakers, who highlighted the challenges of service delivery, nepotism and corruption by self-serving individuals within the ruling party. Duncan Luvuno, the second deputy president of COSATU, pleaded with affiliates to build formidable worker-controlled organisations that will easily deal with the challenges that workers face in their workplaces.
