Africa Forward Summit: The Buyer Has Come to the Seller

On Workers’ Day 2026, the typical white worker still stands far above the typical black African worker in a labour market built through conquest, land theft and racial rule

The country presents a clear illustration of how a weak social foundation constrains industrial development and reinforces structural inefficiencies but we can change that

Section 9 of the Constitution and section 6 of the Employment Equity Act (EEA) prohibit unfair discrimination on a wide range of grounds, including race, gender, religion and culture

When workers are divided by political loyalty to competing parties, they cannot effectively unite against employers during wage negotiations

Our high unemployment rate is not incidental. It is the outcome of decisions taken, priorities set and in some cases, the absence of decisive action across institutions responsible for shaping economic and labour market outcomes

The road that lies ahead will not be easy. Let us walk it together with unwavering commitment to the total emancipation of the working class

As the country marks another May Day, the central question is not nostalgia for an earlier media moment. It is whether democratic communication can still make workers visible in ways equal to their continuing role in shaping South African society

South Africans should ask a simple question: what does it mean to celebrate workers in a country that keeps producing unemployment?

This Workers’ Day, the position of every South African should be to support reform that extends protection to vulnerable workers, recognises exploitative employment practices, strengthens enforcement, protects benefit contributions, improves parental leave, confronts harassment and gives workers meaningful remedies

Recently, a proposed amendment announced by the Tshiamiso Trust — set up to disburse compensation — now threatens to shut out even more former mine-workers with the disease from compensation they were promised after a successful class action

In a country where leadership fears dissent and where the spoils system defends itself through intimidation and force, patronage is often mistaken for patriotism. It is therefore necessary to clarify the distinction

South Africa’s experience is not unique. Across Africa and beyond, progressive forces have historically united, often overcoming ideological and organisational differences to achieve common national objectives