SAFTU

17/02/2026

Rest in peace, Reverend Jesse Jackson.

He never said South Africa was too far away or that our struggle had nothing to do with the people of the United States. He stood firmly with us, mobilising millions to isolate the racist apartheid regime and calling for sanctions, boycotts, and global solidarity until apartheid fell.

It is therefore deeply disappointing that some South Africans today, the very beneficiaries of that international solidarity now claim that the suffering of Palestine, Cuba, Venezuela, the DRC, or Sudan is “too far away” to concern us.

Our freedom was made possible because others refused to be indifferent. We dishonour that legacy when we do the same.

17/02/2026

MEDIA STATEMENT
17 FEBRUARY 2026

SAFTU MOURNS THE PASSING OF REVEREND JESSE JACKSON: A GIANT OF THE GLOBAL WORKING-CLASS AND ANTI-APARTHEID STRUGGLE

The South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) mourns with deep sorrow the passing of Reverend Jesse Jackson, one of the most courageous and consistent fighters for the liberation of the working class, Black people, and all oppressed humanity.

His passing marks the departure of a towering figure whose life was defined by uncompromising struggle against racism, capitalism, imperialism, and apartheid.
Jesse Jackson belonged to that historic generation of leaders who understood that racism was not an accident, but a structural pillar of capitalism, used to divide and super-exploit the working class.

A LEADER OF THE BLACK WORKING CLASS IN THE UNITED STATES

Reverend Jackson emerged from the furnace of the US Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, working alongside Dr Martin Luther King Jr and millions of ordinary workers, domestic workers, farm workers, and the unemployed who rose against racial oppression.

He played a decisive role in the great mass struggles that dismantled legal segregation, expanded voting rights, and exposed the brutality of American capitalism.
But unlike many who became absorbed into the political establishment, Jackson remained rooted in the struggles of the poor and working class.

Through Operation PUSH and later the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, he organised workers and oppressed communities to demand:
• Jobs and economic justice
• Workers’ rights and unionisation
• Corporate accountability
• Access to education and healthcare
• Economic redistribution
He recognised that political democracy without economic democracy was incomplete and fragile.

A CONSISTENT AND COURAGEOUS OPPONENT OF APARTHEID

At a time when the United States government and Western powers continued to collaborate with and protect the apartheid regime, Jesse Jackson stood firmly on the side of the oppressed majority in South Africa.

He was among the most prominent voices in the United States calling for:
• Comprehensive economic sanctions against apartheid South Africa
• The isolation of the racist regime internationally
• Support for the African National Congress and liberation movements
• The release of Nelson Mandela and all political prisoners

He mobilised millions of people in the United States and internationally to demand the end of apartheid. His activism helped build the global pressure that eventually forced the apartheid regime into retreat.

The South African working class and liberation movement will never forget his principled solidarity during our darkest hours.

A FIGHTER AGAINST IMPERIALISM AND GLOBAL INJUSTICE

Reverend Jackson understood that the oppression of Black workers in the United States was inseparable from the oppression of workers in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East.

He opposed wars of imperial domination and consistently called for international solidarity between oppressed peoples.
He recognised that multinational corporations and financial elites accumulated wealth through the exploitation of workers globally.
His life embodied the principle that the working class has no borders, and that solidarity across nations is essential for liberation.

GIVING POLITICAL VOICE TO THE POOR AND WORKING CLASS

His historic presidential campaigns in 1984 and 1988 broke barriers and transformed American politics.
He used his campaigns not for personal ambition, but as platforms to advance the demands of the working class, including:
• Full employment
• Universal healthcare
• Free and quality education
• Workers’ rights
• Racial and economic justice
He gave hope and political voice to millions who had been excluded from political power.

LESSONS FOR THE WORKING CLASS TODAY

Reverend Jesse Jackson’s life teaches us that:
• The working class must organise independently to defend its interests.
• Racism and capitalism are interconnected systems of oppression.
• International solidarity is essential to defeat injustice.
• Courageous leadership must stand against powerful interests.
At a time when neoliberal austerity continues to devastate workers in South Africa and globally, his example remains profoundly relevant.

SAFTU’S TRIBUTE
SAFTU dips its revolutionary banner in honour of Reverend Jesse Jackson.
He was not merely a civil rights leader. He was a leader of the working class and oppressed humanity.

He stood with South Africa when many powerful governments stood with apartheid.
His legacy lives on in every worker who fights exploitation, in every union that defends workers’ rights, and in every struggle for justice.

SAFTU conveys its deepest condolences to his family, comrades, and the working class of the United States and the world.
The most fitting tribute we can pay is to continue the struggle for a society free from exploitation, racism, and inequality.
An injury to one is an injury to all.

Issued on behalf of the SAFTU General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi.

For Media inquiries contact, the National Spokesperson at
Newton Masuku
Newtonm@saftu.org.za
0661682157

Media Officer
Asive Dyani
0719019564

17/02/2026

MEDIA STATEMENT
17 FEBRUARY 2016

42.1% EXCLUDED FROM EMPLOYMENT CONFIRMS ECONOMIC CATASTROPHE. GOVERNMENT’S NEOLIBERAL POLICIES HAVE FAILED AND ARE DESTROYING MANUFACTURING WHILE CREATING PRECARIOUS WORKING POVERTY

The South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) notes the release of Statistics South Africa’s Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) for October-December 2025. The figures confirm beyond any doubt that South Africa faces a structural economic catastrophe, and that the government’s neoliberal economic policies have dismally failed.

The report confirms that the combined unemployment and potential labour force rate stands at 42.1%. This means nearly half of the working-age population is excluded from employment.

More than 4.6 million people have been completely pushed out of the labour market, they are discouraged work seekers or marginalised workers who have given up looking for work because there are simply no jobs available. This figure alone exposes the scale of economic collapse. Yet President Cyril Ramaphosacontinues to speak of “green shoots.” There are no green shoots for the working class. There is only economic devastation.

Manufacturing is collapsing: the backbone of the economy is being destroyed

The most devastating reality revealed by the report is the continued destruction of manufacturing jobs. In the last quarter of 2025 alone, the manufacturing sector lost 61,000 jobs. Manufacturing is the backbone of any industrial economy.

Manufacturing jobs provide:
• Stable, permanent employment
• Pension security
• Medical aid
• Skills development
• Economic stability for working-class families

Their destruction represents the destruction of the productive economy itself. South Africa is rapidly deindustrialising. This is visible in the closure and collapse of key industrial employers. ArcelorMittal has shut down steel production capacity. British American To***co South Africa is closing manufacturing operations while maintaining imports and distribution. Tongaat Hulett is collapsing, threatening thousands of jobs in sugar production. Goodyear and Bridgestone have closed tyre manufacturing plants.

In each case, production stops, workers lose jobs, but imports and distribution Continue. South Africa produces less. South Africa imports more. This is the deliberate warehousing of the economy.

Jobs being created are precarious and entrench the working poor

The jobs being created are not replacing the stable industrial jobs that are being lost.
They are concentrated in sectors characterised by:
• Temporary contracts
• Labour broking
• Informal employment
• No pensions
• No medical aid
• No job security

This is creating a permanent class of the working poor.Workers may technically be employed, but they remain trapped in poverty. They cannot build wealth. They cannot retire with dignity.

They cannot escape economic insecurity. Government is not solving unemployment. It is replacing stable jobs withprecarious survival.

The Government has entrenched extractivisminstead of building local industries

The Government has entrenched the colonial economic structure of extractivism. South Africa continues to export raw minerals instead of beneficiated products. South Africa exports agricultural products instead of building agro-processing industries. South Africa exports timber from Mpumalanga and imports finished furniture made from its own wood. This represents a catastrophic loss of industrial and employment opportunities. Instead of building furniture factories, food processing plants, and beneficiation industries, government has allowed value addition to occur overseas. South Africa produces raw materials. Other countries create the jobs. This iseconomic regression.


Fiscal policy has redistributed wealth from workers to corporations

The Government has reduced corporate income tax from 52% in 1992 to just 26% today. This represents a massive transfer of wealth to corporations. These tax cuts have cost the country billions of rand, money that could have been used to industrialise the economy and create jobs. At the same time, government allowed major corporations such as Anglo American, SABMiller, Old Mutual, and others to shift their primary listings overseas. This enabled massive capital outflows and profit externalisation. Government has failed to stop transfer pricing, illicit financial flows, and illicit trade. This represents the systematic looting of South Africa’s wealth.



Monetary policy protects banks and billionaires while destroying productive sectors

South Africa’s monetary policy regime continues to benefit banks, millionaires, and billionaires at the expense of workers and productive sectors. The repo rate stands at 6.75% and the prime lending rate at 10.25%.

These high interest rates:
• Destroy small businesses
• Prevent industrial investment
• Accelerate factory closures
• Increase debt burdens on workers
At the same time, banks and wealthy asset holders earn billions through interest income. Workers pay more. The wealthy earn more. This is a direct redistribution ofwealth from workers to financial capital.

Operation Vulindlela and GAIN shift risk to the public and privatise profits

Operation Vulindlela and GAIN represent the latest phase of neoliberal restructuring. They shift the risk of investment onto the public while guaranteeing profits for private corporations. The public finances
infrastructure. The public carries the risk. The public absorbs thelosses. The profits are privatised. This is not a market economy. It is the socialisation of risk and privatisation of profit. These policies protect capital while exposingworkers to unemployment and poverty.



SAFTU’s Section 77 demands provide the only viable alternative

SAFTU has tabled demands under Section 77 of the Labour Relations Act for the fundamental restructuring of the economy. The starting point is to overhaul the economic structure so that it serves the needs of the people, not profits.

The economy must be restructured to prioritise:
• Job creation
• Elimination of poverty
• Reduction of inequality
• Meeting the basic needs of all

This requires:
• State-led industrialisation
• Beneficiation of mineral resources
• Development of manufacturing and agro-processing industries
• Massive public investment
• Abandonment of austerity
• Expansion of public employment
• Democratic public ownership of strategic sectors
• Comprehensive social protection

South Africa must build industries that process its own resources and create jobs locally.

The Government must abandon failed neoliberal policies

The 42.1% exclusion rate confirms the catastrophic failure of neoliberal economic policies. Government cannot continue to deny reality. There are no green shoots. There is only mass unemployment, deindustrialisation, precarious work, and economic collapse.
The Government must abandon Operation Vulindlela, GAIN, austerity, and neoliberal policies and implement a worker-centred economic transformation.

SAFTU calls for mass mobilisation
SAFTU calls on workers, the unemployed, unions, and communities to unite in mass struggle to demand economic transformation.

The current economic path leads to permanent unemployment and social collapse. South Africa must build a productive economy that serves its people, not corporations.
The future of millions depends on it.

�A statement was issued on behalf of the SAFTU General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi.
��For media inquiries, contact the National Spokesperson at:�
�Newton Masuku�newtown@saftu.org.za�0661682157�Media Officer�Asive Dyani�0719019564

15/02/2026

*Media Statement*
*15 February 2026*

*SAFTU STATEMENT CONDEMNS THE ASSASSINATION OF ABAHLALI BASEMJONDOLO LEADER ZWELI “KHABAZELA” MKHIZE*

The South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) expresses its deepest shock, outrage, and anger at the barbaric assassination of Comrade Zweli “Khabazela” Mkhize, the Treasurer of the eNkanini branch of Abahlali baseMjondolo, who was gunned down on the evening of Thursday, 12 February 2026, in eNkanini, Ellandale, Gauteng.

According to reports, Comrade Khabazela was at the home of a close friend, someone he regarded as a brother, when two men arrived in a Renault vehicle and immediately opened fire on him. He was brutally murdered in cold blood in what bears all the hallmarks of a targeted political assassination. This is not merely a criminal act. It is an attack on democratic organisation, community leadership, and the fundamental right of the working class and the poor to organise and defend their dignity.

SAFTU conveys its heartfelt condolences to his family, comrades, and the entire Abahlali baseMjondolo movement, as well as to the community of eNkanini, who have lost a courageous, principled, and honest leader.

Comrade Khabazela was known as a committed, transparent, and trustworthy leader who dedicated his life to advancing the interests of his community. His commitment to democratic processes and grassroots organisation reflects the finest traditions of working-class struggle in South Africa. His assassination represents a direct assault on the democratic rights of shack dwellers and the broader working class.

*A PATTERN OF POLITICAL ASSASSINATIONS AGAINST COMMUNITY LEADERS*

This killing is not an isolated incident. It forms part of a disturbing and unacceptable pattern of assassinations targeting Abahlali baseMjondolo leaders and community activists across South Africa. Over the past decade, numerous leaders of this movement have been murdered under similar circumstances. These assassinations expose the brutal reality that activists who stand up against corruption, land dispossession, housing injustice, and local elite patronage networks often face intimidation, violence, and death.

The working class and the poor are being told, through bullets, that their lives and their democratic rights are disposable.

This is a damning indictment of the state’s failure to protect activists and uphold the constitutional rights to organise, protest, and participate in democratic life without fear of assassination.

*THE FAILURE OF THE STATE AND THE CULTURE OF IMPUNITY*

SAFTU condemns the culture of impunity that allows these assassinations to continue without consequence. In far too many cases, the perpetrators, the planners, and those who benefit politically and materially from these killings are never arrested or prosecuted.

This raises serious questions about:
• The failure of law enforcement agencies to investigate political assassinations with urgency and seriousness;
• The possible involvement of local power brokers threatened by democratic grassroots organising;
• The broader environment of lawlessness, corruption, and violence that has taken root in many communities.

A democracy cannot function when community leaders are silenced by bullets.

A society cannot call itself free when the poor are murdered for organising themselves.

*AN ATTACK ON THE ENTIRE WORKING CLASS*

An injury to one is an injury to all.

The assassination of Comrade Khabazela is an attack on the entire working class, the unemployed, shack dwellers, and all those who struggle daily for land, housing, water, electricity, and dignity. It is an attempt to intimidate and silence those who refuse to accept the unbearable conditions imposed by poverty, inequality, and state neglect.

History has taught us that violence against grassroots leaders is often used to protect corrupt interests, maintain unjust power relations, and suppress legitimate democratic demands.

SAFTU stands in full solidarity with Abahlali baseMjondolo and all community movements fighting for justice.

*OUR DEMANDS*

SAFTU calls on the South African government and law enforcement agencies to:
1. Immediately launch a full, independent, and transparent investigation into the assassination of Comrade Zweli Mkhize;
2. Arrest and prosecute not only the gunmen but also those who planned, ordered, and financed this assassination;
3. Provide protection to Abahlali baseMjondolo leaders and other community activists facing threats;
4. Publicly report on progress in investigating political assassinations of community leaders across the country;
5. Take decisive action to dismantle the networks of violence, corruption, and intimidation operating in communities.

THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES

Throughout our history, the working class has paid a heavy price for freedom, justice, and dignity. From the assassinations of trade unionists and community leaders under apartheid to the present day, the forces of repression continue to target those who dare to organise and resist injustice.

But history also teaches us that repression cannot defeat a just cause.

SAFTU salutes the life and struggle of Comrade Zweli “Khabazela” Mkhize. His commitment, courage, and sacrifice will not be forgotten. His death strengthens our resolve to continue the struggle for a society based on equality, justice, dignity, and democratic control by the working class.

We call on all workers, unions, and community organisations to unite in defence of activists, democracy, and the right of the poor to organise without fear.

The blood of Comrade Khabazela must not be in vain.

A statement was issued on behalf of the SAFTU General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi.

For media inquiries, contact the National Spokesperson at:

Newton Masuku
newtown@saftu.org.za
0661682157
Media Officer
Asive Dyani
0719019564

15/02/2026

POLITICAL EDUCATION PAMPHLET

When Movements Become Cults
When Desperation Produces Strongmen

Why “Messianic” leaders always turn against workers
A SAFTU Political Education Pamphlet

1. Why do Strongmen rise?
Strongmen do not rise because societies are “stupid”.
They rise because societies are desperately trying to find a way out of a deep crisis.
They emerge when people experience:
a) Mass unemployment and hunger
b) Rising inequality and humiliation
c) Corruption and collapse of public services
d) Crime and insecurity
e) Loss of hope — especially among youth
f) Political parties that promise change but deliver betrayal
g) Collapse in the national conscious and death of politics
In these moments, people start saying:
• “Democracy is not working – the constitutional order is a farce.”
• “We need a strong hand we have been betrayed by those we trusted.”
• “We need a saviour to clean up – dictatorship is actually good – bring back a Whiteman – setlare sa moto ke lekgowa.”
That is the opening where cult politics grows.

Lesson 1 — Stalin: How Socialism Lost its Democracy
Joseph Stalin
Before the Russian revolution promised
• worker councils
• factory democracy
• recallable leaders
• mass participation
After power was concentrated under Stalin:
• opposition banned
• internal democracy crushed
• unions subordinated to the state
• strikes prohibited
• mass purges
• millions jailed in labour camps
Fear replaced debate.
Consequence: Socialism became associated worldwide with dictatorship and repression.
Lesson: Socialism without democracy becomes bureaucracy and coercion.
workers’ control cannot be replaced by “strong leadership.”

Lesson 2 — Mao: when a leader becomes sacred
Mao Zedong
During the cultural revolution:
• critics labelled enemies
• youth mobilised to attack “opponents”
• schools and workplaces disrupted
• millions persecuted
• personality cult flourished
Consequence: Economic chaos, fear, destroyed institutions.
Lesson: No leader must ever become untouchable.
when criticism disappears, abuse grows.

Lesson 3 — Italy: Why Mussolini looked like “hope”
Benito Mussolini
Conditions that produced him
After World War I:
• unemployment
• inflation
• returning soldiers with no work
• weak, corrupt governments
• mass strikes and factory occupations
Elites feared worker power.
He became popular because he promised:
• order
• stability
• anti-corruption
• national pride
• “strong leadership”
Desperate people believed him.
What he actually did once in power:
• smashed unions
• banned strikes
• jailed socialists
• ruled through violence
• served big business
Lesson
Fascism rises to crush workers — not save them.
Lesson 4 — Germany: why Hi**er won mass support
Adolf Hi**er
Conditions
• hyperinflation destroyed savings
• great depression mass unemployment
• youth hopeless
• parties discredited
Why people supported him
He promised:
• jobs
• discipline
• national revival
• an end to chaos
First action in power
He destroyed independent unions and jailed labour leaders.
Lesson
Every strongman who promises salvation eventually attacks organised labour.

AFRICA TODAY: WHY COUPS AND “STRONGMEN” LOOK ATTRACTIVE — AND WHY WORKERS MUST BE CAUTIOUS

Across parts of West and Central Africa today, we see a similar pattern to Italy in the 1920s and Germany in the 1930s.

Decades after independence, many countries face:
• mass youth unemployment
• deep poverty
• corruption and looting of public resources
• governments seen as agents of foreign interests
• continued control of minerals and economies by multinational corporations
• political parties that promise liberation but deliver misery
In the Sahel region especially, anger has grown against regimes seen as “French stooges”.
So when soldiers overthrow those governments, many ordinary people celebrate.
They celebrate not because they love military rule.
They celebrate because they are desperate.
They feel:
“Nothing else has worked.”
“Anyone new is better than the old politicians.”
“At least these ones are decisive.”
This is exactly the psychology that previously lifted Mussolini and Hi**er.
Desperation makes strongmen look like saviours.
The danger sign workers must recognise
When a strongman takes power, something predictable happens:
Criticism becomes suspicious.
Questions become disloyalty.
Opposition becomes “foreign agents”.
Anyone who points out weaknesses is labelled:
• imperialist
• counter-revolutionary
• traitor
• enemy of the nation
This closes democratic space very quickly.

The Burkina Faso example
Under Ibrahim Traoré, many Africans admire his anti-imperialist language and rejection of foreign domination.
This anger against neo-colonialism is understandable and justified.
But workers must ask a deeper question:
• Are unions free to organise?
• Are strikes protected?
• Can civil society criticise openly?
• Can the press question leadership without fear?
• Can workers oppose decisions without being labelled enemies?
If the answer is no, then democratic space is shrinking — even if the rhetoric is radical.
History shows:
When leaders cannot be criticised, workers cannot defend themselves.
Even leaders who begin with popular support can drift toward:
• centralisation of power
• intolerance of dissent
• restrictions on unions
• repression “in the name of unity”
And once that space closes, it is very hard to reopen.

Lesson 5 — Fanon’s warning about post-liberation elites
Frantz Fanon
Fanon warned that after liberation:
• a small elite captures the state
• replaces colonial rulers but keeps the same system
• uses nationalism to silence criticism
• becomes corrupt and self-serving
• democracy becomes hollow
He warned that without political education: “The party becomes a screen between the masses and the leadership.”
Meaning: leaders stop listening to the people. This describes many post-liberation societies today.

Lesson 6 — Cabral on political education
Amilcar Cabral
Cabral insisted:
“Tell no lies. claim no easy victories.”
and
“Hide nothing from the masses… expose lies whenever they are told.”
and
“Learn from life. learn from our people. learn always.”
Because without political education:
• leaders become arrogant
• cadres become careerists
• movements decay
leaders who hate education usually fear questioning.
Connecting to South Africa
We face:
• mass unemployment
• inequality
• corruption
• service collapse
• crime
• youth despair
• alienation from politics
These are exactly the conditions that historically produce:
Messiahs
Strongmen
Coups
Personality politics
But history teaches:
Strongmen always end by:
• shrinking democracy
• attacking unions
• suppressing dissent
• protecting elites
Even inside unions
The same dangers exist:
• Purges
• Corruption
• Factionalism
• Service-provider and investment company capture
• Intimidation
• Splintering
This weakens workers and strengthens bosses.
Without internal democracy, unions also decay.

SAFTU’s Position
Workers must defend:
◊ Mandates
◊ Debate
◊ Criticism
◊ Recallable leaders
◊ Political education
◊ Collective leadership
Never surrender democracy for a hero.
Final message
History is clear:
• Stalin
• Mao
• Mussolini
• Hi**er
Different ideologies. same result.
When democracy dies — workers suffer.
The answer is not a Messiah.
The answer is organised, educated, democratic worker power.

12/02/2026

VIVA NUPASW VIVA

12/02/2026

If the President is truly serious about respecting the citizens of this country, then accountability cannot be selective or cosmetic. He must act decisively and remove the Minister of Water and Sanitation, the Premier of Gauteng, the Mayor of Johannesburg, and the Rand Water Board.

When taps run dry, when infrastructure collapses, and when communities are left without water, it is not a technical glitch, it is a failure of leadership. Accountability must start at the top

12/02/2026

https://youtu.be/WX4mADh4B2g?si=UVDLls2XSHjJEBfu

Saftu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi, Denosa president SimonHlungwani and South African Union of Students spokesperson ThatoMasekoa weigh in on what they ...

10/02/2026

MEDIA STATEMENT
10 FEBRUARY 2026

SAFTU ON NERSA TARIFF HIKES, IPP SUBSIDIES AND “LOAD REDUCTION’’ PROVE ELECTRICITY APARTHIED IS ALIVE

The South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) condemns in the strongest possible terms the latest decision by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) to increase electricity tariffs yet again tocompensate for regulatory failures linked to the Eskom settlement. Workers are being forced to pay for mistakes they did not make. At a time of mass unemployment, stagnant wages, rising food prices, and an unsustainable cost of living, these tariff hikes amount to nothing less than a direct assault on the working class.There are no so-called “green shoots” for ordinary people, only deepening poverty.


NERSA has now approved increases of 12.7% for 2025/26, 8.76% for 2026/27, and 8.83% for 2027/28, nearly a 30% cumulative increase in just three years. Such steep increases come in an economy where wages remain suppressed, and household incomes are under severe strain. The regulatory decision once again shifts the burden of systemic failures onto workers and the poor.


Electricity Prices Have Exploded for Two Decades

This is a structural crisis: Independent energy analysts have shown that electricity tariffs have increased by more than 520% since 2007, with some estimates placing the increase as high as 653% between 2007 and 2022. In practical terms, electricity now costs six to seven times more than it did fifteen years ago. No worker’s wage has increased anywhere near 600%. No social grant has grown at such a rate. Only electricity prices have surged to these extreme levels.
This cannot be explained away as ordinary inflation. It reflects deliberate policy choices about who must carry the burden of the energy crisis. Working-class households have been turned into shock absorbers for systemic failures in the energy system.


Electricity Apartheid Has Not Ended, It Has Been Renamed “Load Reduction”

The government celebrates what it calls the “end of load shedding.” Yet for black working-class communities, power interruptions have not ended; they have merely been renamed. Eskom itself confirms that while load shedding may be suspended, “load reduction” continues during peak hours, particularly between early mornings and evenings.

The reality on the ground is stark: Suburbs enjoy a relatively stable electricity supply while townships face scheduled cuts. This amounts to electricity apartheid by another name. The affluent celebrate uninterrupted power, while working-class communities continue to cook, study, and live in darkness. Renaming the practice does not change its lived impact.

Workers Are Subsidising Private IPPs Through Eskom

One of the greatest distortions in public discourse is the claim that Eskom is inherently expensive because it is publicly owned. In reality, Eskom’s cost pressures are significantly driven by its obligation to purchase power from private Independent Power Producers (IPPs) at far higher rates than its own generation costs. Evidence presented by trade unions and energy analysts shows that IPPs sell electricity to Eskom at prices exceeding R2.00 per kWh, while Eskom’s internal generation costs have historically been a fraction of that amount.


These contracts are structured on “must-buy-first” terms and lock Eskom, and by extension the public, into long-term financial commitments running into more than a trillion rand over two decades.

The cycle is clear: Eskom buys expensive private power, costs escalate, tariffs rise, and workers are forced to pay. This is not genuine market competition. It is guaranteed profit for private capital, funded by the public. Profits are privatised while losses are socialised.

Big Business Gets Discounts, The Poor Get Punishment

While households face relentless tariff hikes, energy-intensive corporations receive
preferential treatment. NERSA has approved major tariff discounts for large industrial users, including price reductions subsidised by the state.

This creates a deeply unequal structure: mining and smelting corporations receive relief, IPPs enjoy guaranteed profits, townships face continued supply cuts, and workers absorb escalating electricity bills. The class character of the electricity system is laid bare; itprotects capital while punishing the poor.

Women Carry the Crisis

Energy injustice is not experienced evenly. When electricity becomes unaffordable or supply is interrupted, the burden shifts disproportionately onto black working-class women. They are forced to stretch shrinking household budgets, cook without appliances, manage food spoilage, and shoulder the unpaid labour required to sustain households under crisis conditions. The energy crisis is therefore not only economic, but it is also racialised and gendered in its impact.


SAFTU DEMANDS
• An immediate reversal of household tariff hikes and an end to load reduction practices that target working-class communities.
• We call for a halt to the unbundling of Eskom and the privatisation trajectory embedded in IPP-first procurement.

• A full public audit of all IPP contracts and associated subsidies.
• A progressive tariff structure in which big business pays more while poor households are protected.
• South Africa’s renewable energy expansion must occur under democratic, public ownership led by Eskom, not through profit-driven privatearrangements.

Electricity is a public good, not a commodity for profit extraction.

When electricity prices rise by over 600%, tariffs are set to increase by nearly 30% in three years, IPPs are subsidised, mining corporations receive discounts, and townships continue to face supply cuts, it cannot be claimed that the electricity crisis has been resolved. Eskom has not “turned the corner” for the majority, only for the wealthy.

SAFTU will continue to mobilise workers and communities to resist this neoliberal energy regime and to fight for a just, publicly owned, and affordable electricity system that serves the needs of the people rather than private profit.

Issued on behalf of the SAFTU General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi.
For media inquiries, contact the National Spokesperson at
Newton Masuku;
Newtonm@saftu.org.za
066 168 2157
Media Officer
Asive Dyani
0719019564