SAFTU

26/10/2026

SAFTU CONGRATULATES PRESIDENT LULA ON HIS VICTORY: A PEOPLE DEFEND GAINS THEY CAN SEE – 26 October 2026

The South African Federation of Trade Unions congratulates President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on his re-election and salutes the Brazilian workers, poor people, Indigenous communities and all those who mobilised to defend their democratic and social gains.
Lula won 51.8% of the vote, defeating Flávio Bolsonaro by nearly 4.4 million votes. His victory is a setback for the right-wing forces seeking to consolidate power across Latin America and bring the region closer to the agenda of US President Donald Trump. It gives Brazil the opportunity to continue advancing an independent voice for the Global South.

This election was not simply a vote for a political personality. It was a struggle over land, livelihood, dignity and the direction of development. Brazil’s Indigenous communities had particular reason to fear a Bolsonaro victory. Lula’s government restored the process of recognising Indigenous territories, established a Ministry of Indigenous Peoples and appointed Indigenous leaders to senior positions. By November 2025, his administration had approved 20 territories covering about 2.5 million hectares.

These advances are incomplete, and Indigenous organisations continue to demand faster demarcation and stronger protection. But the return of territorial recognition gave communities something concrete to defend.
Land reform also matters to Brazil’s landless rural workers and small farmers. Lula’s government says 266,000 families have been included in its agrarian reform programme during this term through new settlements, recognition of land claims and regularisation. The Landless Workers’ Movement continues to criticise the pace of reform, while insisting that access to land is essential to democracy and food sovereignty.

Workers and poor families also had material gains to defend. Between 2022 and 2024, about 17.3 million people moved out of poverty. In 2024 alone, 1.9 million people moved out of extreme poverty, while 24.4 million left severe food insecurity. Brazil’s employed population reached a record 103.3 million in 2024, and the number of unemployed people fell by 1.1 million from the previous year. Lula’s government raised the minimum wage in real terms and introduced income-tax relief for people earning up to R$5,000 a month. These gains did not end inequality or insecurity, but they were tangible improvements that ordinary people could see in their lives.

The contrast with South Africa is stark:
Brazil: gains people mobilised to defend
South Africa: setbacks and growing demoralisation

Indigenous territorial recognition resumed, with new areas approved and Indigenous people given a place in government. Agrarian reform included hundreds of thousands of families, though movements continue to demand more.
Land restitution and redistribution remain painfully slow. The promise of land reform has not transformed ownership or rural livelihoods at the scale required.

About 17.3 million people moved out of poverty between 2022 and 2024; 24.4 million left severe food insecurity.
Poverty and hunger remain widespread. SAFTU has cited estimates that 17 to 20 million people skip meals daily, while unemployment and inequality remain entrenched.
Employment reached a record 103.3 million in 2024; unemployment fell by 1.1 million that year.

Mass unemployment, deindustrialisation and retrenchments continue, while many people rely on insecure and precarious work.
Real minimum-wage increases and tax relief for lower earners put more income into workers’ hands.

Austerity and rising living costs erode working-class incomes and constrain the public services people depend on.
People could point to gains in land, food security, income and employment while demanding that Lula do more.
The ANC’s support fell from 69.7% in 2004 to 40.18% in 2024. In 2024, only 16.29 million people voted out of a voting-age population of roughly 40 million. About 23 to 24 million eligible adults—nearly three in five—did not participate.

South Africa’s democracy is losing legitimacy because millions have become demoralised by promises that were never fulfilled. The low participation in 2024 was not simply voter apathy. It reflected a profound loss of confidence that the political system can change people’s lives. The GNU was formed through the parliamentary process, but its parties cannot claim the active electoral support of a majority of eligible South Africans.

The ANC’s decline is a crisis of delivery, political identity and credibility. It has moved to the right, and there is little meaningful difference between its economic programme and that of the DA. Both accept the central logic of austerity, market-led reform and a growing role for private capital, while workers and the poor bear the costs. The ANC has weakened its claim to offer a distinct pro-poor alternative. This is compounded by the widespread perception that corruption is entrenched across the political establishment.

The DA and other right-wing parties did not make their gains in a vacuum. The ANC’s failures and its convergence with the DA opened the space they now occupy. Many former ANC supporters have become demoralised: some stayed at home, while others voted for different parties. When people see no meaningful difference in economic direction and lose confidence in the integrity of those in power, they can conclude that voting will not improve their lives.

Brazil’s election offers a lesson for South Africa. Workers, poor families and Indigenous communities defended Lula because they had material gains to protect, even as they continued to demand more. A movement cannot rely indefinitely on its history or its promises. It must show people that their lives are changing.

South Africa needs a decisive break with austerity and neoliberalism: a programme that redistributes land and wealth, creates decent jobs, raises living standards, rebuilds public services and confronts corruption. Democracy will regain legitimacy when people can see and feel progress—and when workers and the poor have something real to defend.

⛔️🔥🔥 Lula’s victory is a huge kick in the teeth against Zionists, fascism and American imperialism. It is also a victory for workers in Brazil and across the world. Great victory for all freedom fighters ✊🏼✊🏼✊🏼✊🏼✊🏼

25/10/2026

https://saftumedia.blogspot.com/2026/10/saftu-calls-on-south-african-and.html

The South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) supports the Istanbul Declaration adopted by dockworkers’ unions at their international...

24/10/2026

SAFTU Statement of Solidarity with Brazil’s Workers and People

Brazilian workers, Indigenous Peoples, landless families and all those who have struggled for dignity and social justice must come out in their millions to defend the gains won through years of struggle.

Lula da Silva’s first two terms showed that government action can improve the lives of working people. Between 2003 and 2010, Brazil’s minimum wage rose substantially in real terms and more than 15 million formal jobs were created. Bolsa Família extended income support to millions of poor families, helping reduce poverty. His governments also advanced the recognition of Indigenous territories and measures to support landless families. These achievements did not end inequality or complete the struggle for land and justice, but they changed lives and gave millions greater security and opportunity.

Under Lula’s current government, Brazil has restored a policy of real increases to the minimum wage. It rose to R$1,518 in 2025, including a 2.5% increase above inflation, and to R$1,621 in 2026. The income-tax exemption has also been expanded to cover people earning up to R$5,000 a month. Brazil’s annual unemployment rate fell to 5.6% in 2025, the lowest in the statistical series that began in 2012. Employment reached a record 103 million people, while average real earnings rose. These gains matter, even as workers continue to face informality, precarious work and inequality.

Indigenous land demarcations have resumed after years of paralysis. By the end of 2025, the government reported that 20 Indigenous territories had been formally homologated since 2023. Agrarian reform has also been revived: in 2023, nearly 50,600 families were incorporated as beneficiaries, and the Terra da Gente programme was launched to expand access to land. Brazil’s return below the UN hunger threshold in 2025 marked further progress in the fight against hunger and poverty. Yet many families remain landless, and Indigenous communities continue to defend their territories and rights.

These gains are hard-won and remain incomplete. A Bolsonaro victory would put them at risk. Jair Bolsonaro’s previous government replaced Bolsa Família with Auxílio Brasil, approved no new Indigenous land demarcations and promoted measures that threatened Indigenous territories. That record gives workers, poor communities, Indigenous Peoples and landless families every reason to mobilise against a return to that politics.

A Bolsonaro government would also draw Brazil closer to the reactionary agenda associated with Donald Trump: anti-worker, anti-poor and favourable to billionaires and the powerful. Brazil has proud traditions of solidarity and internationalism. It must join the peoples of the world in their anti-imperialist struggle, not be drawn into the imperialist agenda of the powerful.

SAFTU stands in solidarity with Brazil’s working class and popular movements. We call on workers, trade unions, Indigenous Peoples, landless families, students and communities to unite and mobilise in their millions. Defend the gains. Deepen them. Build a Brazil where wealth and land serve the people, and where every person can live and work with dignity.

22/10/2026

SAFTU demands that government:

* Increase municipal funding in real terms to match municipalities’ responsibilities, infrastructure needs and climate-related pressures.
* Protect and expand access to free basic water and electricity, with safeguards against unaffordable charges and disconnections.
* Fund the maintenance and repair of existing infrastructure, including wastewater treatment plants, water systems, roads and electricity networks.
* Build capable, accountable municipalities through properly staffed and skilled public services.
* Ensure smart meters support fair revenue collection and reliable services, rather than compelling poor households to pay for what they cannot afford.
* Reject the privatisation of essential municipal services and ensure public-private partnerships do not raise costs or weaken public accountability.
* Raise revenue through progressive taxation, including a wealth or solidarity tax, and confront illicit financial flows and corporate tax avoidance.

22/10/2026

Local government is still being starved of resources

The Minister describes local government receiving 10% of the Division of Revenue as a significant milestone. But a larger share of the total budget does not mean municipalities will have the resources they need. AIDC’s analysis shows that real spending to local government is projected to increase by just 1.1% over the medium term.

This is austerity at the point where people experience the state most directly. Municipalities face rising demands and the deepening effects of the climate crisis. Water shortages, sewage spills, failing wastewater treatment plants, deteriorating roads and unreliable electricity are already part of daily life for many communities. A headline allocation will not reverse this crisis if funding does not keep pace with the cost of maintaining infrastructure and providing basic services.

SAFTU is particularly concerned by the planned expansion of smart-meter programmes, including an additional R3.5 billion over the medium term. Meters may assist with managing infrastructure and billing, but they must not become a mechanism for forcing households that cannot afford to pay to disconnect themselves from electricity and water. These are essential services everyone needs to live with dignity.

The expansion of smart meters alongside greater reliance on public-private partnerships risks deepening the commercialisation and privatisation of municipal services. When government fails to provide sufficient funding, it shifts the costs onto poor households or opens the door to private control. That is the neoliberal response to municipal crisis; it does not solve the crisis.

22/10/2026

Austerity fuels division; cuts to Home Affairs worsen the problem

The MTBPS is completely inadequate in providing relief to the majority of people in South Africa. With unemployment, poverty and the cost of living already placing millions under severe pressure, this failure risks deepening the socio-economic crisis and fuelling greater divisions and tensions in society.

In this climate, xenophobic forces will seek to blame foreign nationals for hardships rooted in unemployment, inequality, poverty and the failure of the state to provide adequate services. SAFTU rejects that scapegoating. Migrants are not responsible for deindustrialisation, mass unemployment or the government’s economic choices.

At the same time, government proposes to cut the Home Affairs budget by 6.5% in real terms over the medium term. This further weakens the state’s capacity to manage immigration and border administration, enforce the law and hold employers accountable for exploiting undocumented workers. South Africa needs a capable, properly resourced Home Affairs department that can manage migration effectively and humanely. Cutting its real budget while social and economic pressures intensify is irresponsible.

SAFTU demands affordable food and transport, protection for grants and pensions, properly funded public services, and a wealth or solidarity tax to help meet people’s needs. Government must put people before profit.

The MTBPS also relies increasingly on public-private partnerships and private capital to deliver infrastructure and services. That is not a programme for transforming the economy or building public capacity. Public investment must serve communities, support industrial development and create decent jobs. Essential services must meet human need rather than guarantee private returns.

22/10/2026

The Minister is chasing lizards while the big crocodiles go untouched

The Minister highlights enforcement against illicit trade in alcohol and to***co. Tackling that trade matters, but the focus is strikingly narrow. The Minister is chasing lizards while leaving the big crocodiles untouched: illicit financial outflows, trade mispricing, tax-dodging schemes and the shifting of profits to avoid tax.

The MTBPS offers no serious redistribution strategy. There is no wealth tax or solidarity tax, and no increase in corporate taxes, even as social instability grows and the wealth gap remains entrenched. The government seeks more revenue from workers and consumers while avoiding the question of how the wealthiest individuals and corporations should contribute to meeting the country’s urgent needs.

SAFTU demands a progressive tax system that makes the wealthy and large corporations pay their fair share. Government must confront illicit financial flows and tax avoidance with the same urgency it claims to bring to other forms of illicit trade. Public resources must be raised from those with the greatest ability to pay and directed towards jobs, services and social protection.

22/10/2026

Austerity means less public spending per person

The public spending squeeze is already clear. In 2024/25 rand values, real public spending per person is projected to fall from R34,607 in 2019/20 to R26,496 in 2026/27—a decline of about 23%. By 2022/23, real spending per person had already fallen back to its 2008/09 level. This is what austerity means in practice: fewer resources per person for the services and support communities rely on.

The hardship is stark. Expanded unemployment, measured by Stats SA’s LU4 measure, stands at 46.3%. Nearly 66.7% of people lived below the upper-bound poverty line in 2023; that poverty line is R2,962 per person per month in 2026. A nutritious food basket costs R6,459.83, while food for one child costs R970.27 a month—far above the R580 Child Support Grant. Workers, pensioners and unemployed families are forced to choose between food, transport and basic services.

22/10/2026

AUDIO] SAFTU Spokesperson Newton Masuku's reaction to the MTBPS tabled by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana.

22/10/2026

SAFTU rejects neoliberalism and austerity: a budget that deepens the crisis

The Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) continues to impose neoliberalism and austerity on a society already being torn apart by unemployment, poverty and inequality. These policies reinforce the same economic structure that has driven deindustrialisation, a bloodbath of job losses and persistently low growth. They shrink the public resources needed to meet social needs, while leaving the concentration of wealth and economic power largely untouched.