News24 | ANC, Cosatu tackle governance, economic revival, alliance challenges ahead of elections

Cosatu’s parliamentary coordinator, Matthew Parks, said the meeting is part of a routine bilateral engagement that’s held between the alliance partners regularly.

• Senior Cosatu and ANC leaders will meet on Monday afternoon to discuss governance, public service, and economic revival issues.
• The talks are expected to focus on strengthening alliances, and addressing key challenges, such as unemployment.
• The meeting will highlight strategic collaboration between the ANC and Cosatu ahead of the 2026 municipal elections.

When senior leaders of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) meet ANC officials on Monday, the state of governance, public service delivery, and economic revival are expected to be among the key topics of discussion.

According to Cosatu’s parliamentary coordinator, Matthew Parks, the meeting is part of a routine bilateral engagement that’s held between the alliance partners regularly.

“We always discuss the state of government and how to improve public service delivery. We discuss the state of the economy and how we can kickstart it and reduce unemployment and, of course, we are running into the medium-term budget policy statement, and that’s also critical issue. We always look at ways to strengthen and address issues in the alliance,” Parks said.

Asked whether the future of the South African Communist Party (SACP) would be discussed, Parks said the central committee met last month and resolved that the ANC and SACP needed to meet and come up with modalities for the municipal elections.

He added: “That remains a burning issue for us. We had a very difficult election last year and we need to make sure that we have our ducks in a row.”

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With only a year until the elections, Parks said the alliance “needed to get cracking.”

All the issues up for discussion are critical for Cosatu, he said.

“It’s a lot of issues, but it is not the first time that we are raising them. We will continue to raise them,” he added.

In a statement on Monday, ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu said the meeting would take place at Cosatu House in Braamfontein at noon.

“This bilateral engagement underscores the continued strategic alliance between the political and organised working-class components of our national democratic revolution,” she said.