SAFTU

16/11/2025

Find time to listen to SAFTU General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi’s salutation to an activist who embodies the finest values of worker militancy, sacrifice, and political consciousness.

Comrade Vuyani Sipambo is not simply retiring from the army — he is closing a chapter of a lifetime committed to the working class and the liberation of this country.

He was a founding member of NUM in 1982 and COSATU in 1985. In the harshest years of apartheid repression, he operated underground as an MK cadre before going into exile in 1986. There he joined SACTU and played a role in establishing NEHAWU, POPCRU and SADTU — unions that continue to shape the trade union landscape to this day.

After the unbanning, he came home and rejoined NUM as an educator in the PWV region. He later joined the SANDF but never drifted from his roots, remaining a dedicated NEHAWU member throughout his service. Even on the eve of retirement, he continues to organise and is now successfully recruiting workers into NUPSAW.

Do yourself a favour and listen.
There is deep wisdom here — forged not in theory, but in the trenches of struggle.

16/11/2025

16/11/2025

Find time to listen to this class and the politically conscious activist on his day of retirement from the army! Vuyani Sipambo was a founding member of NUM in 1982 and COSATU in 1985. He was an underground member of MK and later went into exile in 1986. While in exile he joined SACTU and played a role in establishing NEHAWU, POPCRU, and SADTU. After the unbanning, he rejoined NUM as an educator in the PWV region and joined SANDF, becoming a member of NEHAWU. He is now successfully recruiting workers to NUPSAW.

Listen to him—you will definitely learn something.

13/11/2025

Government boasts that a 3% inflation target ‘brings us in line with our peers’. But when we use the same World Bank and ILO data to compare unemployment, poverty and inequality, South Africa is not a normal upper-middle-income country – it is the world champion of joblessness and inequality, with poverty rates roughly double many of its so-called peers. You cannot import a ‘normal country’ inflation target into an economy with abnormal unemployment and then pretend you are comparing bananas to bananas

13/11/2025

The choice could not be clearer. You can continue backing a government that has relentlessly slashed corporate taxes from 52% in 1992 to just 27% today; that has embraced a monetary regime encouraging corporations to list offshore and shift their profits abroad; that has allowed illicit financial flows to bleed over R400 billion out of the country every single year; and that tolerates tax-dodging schemes costing the nation billions more — all while big business sits on R2 trillion in idle cash instead of investing in jobs, industries, and infrastructure.

This is the road to national implosion. It is a path that entrenches mass unemployment, deepens poverty, and condemns millions to permanent exclusion while a tiny elite accumulates grotesque levels of wealth. It is irrational. It is immoral. And it is unsustainable

12/11/2025

SAFTU calls for a new fiscal framework that:
• Acts on the Freedom Charter’s call that “the wealth of the country shall be shared among all the people.”
• Introduces a Wealth and Solidarity Tax on the wealthy.
• Reverses corporate tax cuts from 27% back towards 35–40%.
• Implements the Judge Dennis Davis Tax Review recommendations, including stronger inheritance, capital gains, and wealth taxes.
• Ends procurement theft through real-time transparency and prosecutes colluding corporations and officials.
Austerity is not discipline — it is deliberate economic sabotage of the poor.

12/11/2025

The Minister claims the fiscal strategy aims to “stabilise debt,” “grow the primary surplus,” and “mobilise resources for infrastructure.” In reality, it signifies ongoing austerity. • Between 2019/20 and 2026/27, non-interest spending will be reduced by R270 billion. • Per capita non-interest spending will drop from R34 600 to R26 400 — a 23% decrease. • Public-sector capital expenditure has declined by R82 billion (-29%) since 2016. • Education and health spending face real per capita cuts of R320 per learner and R200 per patient. • Spending growth of only 2.7% in 2025 is below inflation, resulting in further real cuts.

12/11/2025

The Minister claims the fiscal strategy aims to “stabilise debt,” “grow the primary surplus,” and “mobilise resources for infrastructure.”
In reality, it signifies ongoing austerity.
• Between 2019/20 and 2026/27, non-interest expenditure will be reduced by R270 billion.
• Per capita non-interest expenditure will decrease from R34 600 to R26 400 — a 23% decline.
• Public-sector capital expenditure has dropped by R82 billion (-29%) since 2016.
• Education and health spending face real per capita cuts of R320 per learner and R200 per patient.
• Growth in spending of only 2.7% in 2025 is below inflation, leading to further real cuts.

12/11/2025

Here is our economic reality - not the false optimism championed by the Minister:
• Industrial output remains stagnant; manufacturing employment has fallen to under 9% of total jobs.
• Capacity utilisation in manufacturing has dropped below 76%, signalling deindustrialisation.
• Expanded unemployment stands above 42%, and 62% of South Africans live below the upper-bound poverty line (R1,558 per month) according to UCT-SALDRU.
• Corporate surpluses kept in cash accounts exceed R2 trillion, hoarded rather than invested.
This is not “faster growth” or “better life for all” — it is the growth of inequality. Treasury’s policies serve capital accumulation, not national development.

12/11/2025

The Minister claims that GDP growth will reach 1.2% in 2025, “more than double” the rate for 2024. However, this is a hollow victory. After all, the 2025 increase in population is expected to be 1.37%, according to StatsSA, so the Minister must be aware that once again, under his watch, the average standard of living is declining.
Even conservative economists agree that South Africa requires 5–6% annual growth to start reducing unemployment. Treasury’s forecast of 1.2% in 2025 and 1.8% by 2028 indicates long-term stagnation.

11/11/2025

Minutes — SAFTU / Rosa Luxemburg Political School webinar: Budget, the MTBPS & the Threat of Austerity

Context: Webinar convened by SAFTU with Rosa Luxemburg support to prepare affiliates for the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) to be delivered to Parliament on 12 November 2025. The session aimed to explain the economic framework (inflation targeting, Operation Vulindlela / GAIN, blended finance and PPPs), to assess likely impacts on workers and public services, and to plan mobilisation and communications ahead of the MTBPS.

Opening
• Newton Masuku welcomed participants, noted purpose of webinar (preparation ahead of MTBPS and mobilisation for demonstrations outside Parliament on 12 Nov).
• Zwelinzima Vavi gave a short welcome framing the webinar as essential worker education — emphasised the real, immediate impact of fiscal and monetary policy on jobs, services and wages, and urged that material be simplified for mass circulation.

Presentation — Dominic Brown (AIDC)
Key points
1. Deindustrialisation & investment shortfall
o Manufacturing’s share of GDP and employment has fallen substantially since 1994; gross fixed capital formation (investment) remains low (~14% of GDP) compared with other emerging economies.
o Low investment levels, trade liberalisation and high-cost imports have contributed to job losses.
2. Monetary policy, interest rates & inflation targeting
o Interest rates in South Africa have been high; the inflation-targeting framework is a material constraint on growth.
o A narrower (lower) inflation target (3% focus) implies tighter monetary policy — higher rates and a stifling effect on investment and jobs.
o Many price drivers are supply-side (exchange rate, fuel, food, municipal service charges) which interest-rate hikes do not adequately address.
3. Operation Vulindlela / GAIN / “blended finance” approach
o Government proposals aim to raise fixed investment (target referenced ~25% by 2030) primarily through private-sector mobilisation, blended finance and de-risking of private projects.
o Blended finance + PPPs shift risk to the state while guaranteeing private profits; this is accompanied by deregulatory measures (unbundling SOEs, liberalising energy and ports, opening rail/ports to private operators).
4. Energy market liberalisation
o The move towards a liberalised wholesale energy market (daily/hourly pricing, wheeling, independent generators and transmission companies) will produce fluctuating tariffs and likely higher costs for households.
o “Wheeling” and preferential negotiated deals (subsidies to industry) will shift costs onto ordinary consumers.
5. Fiscal constraints and contingent liabilities
o Increased reliance on PPPs and guarantees raises contingent liabilities and can crowd out fiscal space for public services.
o Smart meters and other conditionalities on finance have distributional impacts—municipalities incentivised to raise service revenues rather than protect free/basic services.
6. Alternatives / points for unions
o State-led, locally directed industrial strategy with targeted public investment, capital/exchange controls and technology transfers could create local demand and employment.
o Re-introducing policy tools (e.g., controls on capital outflow, reorientation of public investment) would reduce dependency on precarious private finance.
Technical materials
• Dominic agreed to share slides for circulation; slides requested for immediate distribution and simplification for grassroots use.

Discussion — key interventions & responses
• Capacity-building for affiliates: Meshack, Makungu and others asked how AIDC and SAFTU can support smaller unions and shop stewards to understand and campaign around these issues. Dominic confirmed AIDC’s willingness to engage further on capacity-building; follow-up support was requested.
• Inflation and the poor/unemployed: Liso queried the effects of tolerating higher inflation if wages could be indexed; Dominic replied that tolerating inflation only becomes acceptable if it is paired with a credible program of mass employment, wage protection mechanisms (indexation where possible), expanded public services and price controls for essentials — otherwise the poor suffer disproportionately.
• Marxist critique / structural constraints: Newton raised the argument that the problems are structural (global over-accumulation, international division of labour). Dominic acknowledged international constraints but argued the South African state has policy choices (investment direction, capital controls, domestic beneficiation) that matter for how those constraints are navigated.
• Energy & independent transmission: Liso and others asked about consequences of independent transmission and wheeling; Dominic explained how multiple private players and “cost-plus” arrangements add markups at each step and tend to increase household tariffs while private industry can receive negotiated subsidies.
• Mobilisation & messaging: Zwelinzima Vavi stressed the need to translate the technical content into bite-sized materials (posters, one-minute videos, social media clips) so workers can grasp the link between the budget and their daily struggles.

Additional contextual concern raised
Participants noted a deepening social crisis that intersects with austerity: attacks on service providers and emergency personnel, vandalism and burning of public infrastructure (schools, libraries, universities), escalating gender-based violence, and other forms of social breakdown linked to economic distress. Meeting contributors argued this heightens the urgency of protecting and expanding public services and preventing further state retrenchment of essential social provisioning.

Decisions, actions and responsibilities (agreed at the webinar)
1. AIDC → SAFTU: Provide presenter slides and source material to SAFTU for republication and distribution to affiliates (slides to be supplied by Dominic Brown / AIDC).
2. SAFTU Media Team: Convert slides + key points into simplified, shareable formats — short explainer videos (≈1 minute), posters, and social media clips in accessible language for workers.
3. Campaign & Organising Committees (SAFTU): Lead mobilisation for demonstrations outside Parliament on 12 November 2025; use webinar material in leaflets and inter-union mobilisation.
4. Capacity-building: SAFTU to coordinate with AIDC to design rapid briefs/training sessions for shop stewards and smaller unions (focus: how the budget/MTBPS affects wages, jobs and services).
5. Research / Follow-up: Collate evidence on vacant public posts, municipal free-basic services decline, smart-meter contracts and PPP approvals to inform campaign messaging and parliamentary submissions.
6. Communications: Draft an internal brief summarising the webinar’s main messages and suggested talking points for affiliates’ use in workplace meetings and social media.
(Owners: SAFTU Secretariat / Campaign Committee / Media Team / AIDC as indicated. Ex*****on to commence immediately by those nominated.)
Key messages for affiliates (to be published / circulated)
• The MTBPS and the shift to a tighter inflation target risk more austerity: higher interest rates, less investment in public services and more unemployment.
• Operation Vulindlela / blended finance + PPPs threaten to privatise risk while guaranteeing private profit — this will raise costs for ordinary households (energy, water, transport).
• Unions must demand: protection and filling of public-sector vacancies (teachers, nurses, police, CHWs), halt to cost-reflective tariff rollouts that hurt households, and transparency on PPPs / IPP contracts.
• Immediate priority: mobilise members for visible presence at Parliament on 12 Nov and use the simplified materials produced from the webinar to educate shop stewards and members.

Closing
• Newton Masuku thanked the presenter, contributors and participants. Zwelinzima Vavi closed by reiterating the urgency of education and mobilisation, and asked that the slides and simplified materials be circulated broadly (Facebook and other platforms) for wider worker education.