/ MEDIA STATEMENT / The content on this page is not written by Polity.org.za, but is supplied by third parties. This content does not constitute news reporting by Polity.org.za.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) will be joining workers celebrating Madiba Day with activities across the provinces tomorrow and the month of July.  Activities that COSATU will be organising with its Affiliates  include providing soup kitchens for the needy, cleaning up public places and providing furniture for the daughter of a Police Officer who tragically died in a fire.

Nelson Mandela in addition to being South Africa’s founding President, remains the nation’s moral beacon.  His life of public service for the nation symbolises a generation that endured countless sacrifices, achieved the constitutional democracy that seemed an impossible dream for so many years, and laid the foundations for the transformation of the country. 

The likes of Madiba, Walter Sisulu, Ahmed Kathrada and Ruth First symbolised the best that South Africa has and the type of leadership that is needed today if we are to emerge from the myriad socio-economic challenges that the working class and society at large. 

We encourage the African National Congress led government to continue its commendable efforts to deliver on Madiba’s call for a better life for all by ensuring that Parliament concludes the passage of the National Health Insurance and Expropriation and “Two Pot Pension Reform” Bills, government intensifies the fight against corruption and redoubles its efforts to rebuild Eskom and Transnet and PRASA, and the state utilises the Special Dispensation Relief Grant as the foundation for a Basic Income Grant.

The recent burning of trucks, the challenges of load shedding and cable theft, dysfunctional municipalities and gender-based violence are a reminder of the many challenges that we need to overcome as a society if we are to build that better life for all.

Issued by COSATU