COSATU statement on the pending retirement from Cabinet of the Minister for Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC), Ebrahim Patel
24 May 2024
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) thanks Minister Patel, a proud son of the trade union movement, for his service not only to workers in his 3 terms as Minister, but the nation at large. Minister Patel was deployed to Cabinet, under the banner of our ally, the African National Congress. Comrade Patel has run his race. He has done workers and the nation proud. We are grateful for his service.
Minister Patel grew up as the son of a clothing worker, a member of the Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers’ Union (SACTWU). He has remained true to his roots in his tour of Cabinet. During his tenure at Economic Development and later DTIC, he ensured labour had a seat at the table during critical negotiations affecting the lives of workers; he put in place through various programmes, the foundations for a more equal economy; and solidified the social partnership between government, business and labour that is key to growing the economy, creating jobs, and slashing poverty and inequality.
COSATU is particularly proud of the victories workers have achieved under the leadership of Minister Patel, President Cyril Ramaphosa and the ANC administration, including:
- Rolling out the Employee Shareholder Ownership Programme that has enabled over 553 000 workers to own shares in their companies, thus boosting their wages.
- Parliament’s recent passage of the Companies Amendment Bills requiring greater transparency in company ownership to tackle corruption and money laundering but also for companies to disclose the wage gap between the highest and lowest paid employees as part of pushing the private sector to reduce their stark wage gap.
- Using the Competition Act’s public interest clause to negotiate fairer deals for SMMEs, value chains, workers’ jobs and ownership opportunities during mergers and acquisitions of large companies.
- Developing more than a dozen industrial master plans, bringing together government, business and labour to tackle blockages and unlock growth in key jobs rich sectors, ranging from poultry to sugar, from clothing and textiles to auto-manufacturing. Today we are seeing the fruits with the major retailers increasing their stock of locally produced clothes by 50%, the production of locally produced vehicles increasing by 25% over the past few years and support given to thousands of emerging sugar farmers from Mpumalanga to KwaZulu-Natal.
- Major new multi-billion Rand investments in motor manufacturing plants from Tshwane to Kariega, to TV and fridge manufacturing from Ladysmith to Atlantis.
- Strategic interventions and support from DTIC to protect and nurture local factories, from clothing to textiles, not only saving but also creating thousands of badly needed jobs.
- Ensuring that billions of Rands of South African mineral, vehicle, clothing and agricultural exports to the United States under the African Growth and Opportunities Act were secured and that the conversation was shifted during a very difficult geo-political period, to how AGOA can be strengthened to promote fair labour practises, and economic growth and jobs across South Africa and Africa.
- Negotiations to put in place the African Continental Free Trade Area that will unlock massive export opportunities for South African industries to the continent and create greater economic linkages that boost development in the entire region.
- Rooting out corruption that had become entrenched at the National Lottery Commission and is now resulting in the arrests of the implicated and the attachment of assets.
Minister Patel has come a long from the hardened streets of Parkwood, raised by a single mother. His journey has traversed various chapters of the liberation movement from a student activist at the University of Cape Town, to pounding the streets for the United Democratic Front, to playing a critical role in building SACTWU into a formidable champion of workers’ rights, to negotiating fairer deals for working class communities in Cabinet.
Whilst Ebrahim Patel, may not be young enough to qualify as Tintswalo, his remarkable journey from growing up in difficult times on the Cape Flats, to negotiating on behalf of the African continent for trade deals that uplift millions of working class families, is one that not only would his mother be proud of, but that SACTWU and the broader trade union led by COSATU are humbled by.
This is a good story, and one that has been made possible by the African National Congress. It is these stories, that give hope to COSATU and are inspiring workers across South Africa to turn out in their millions on May 29th to return the ANC to office to continue building that better life for all.
Issued by Matthew Parks, Acting National Spokesperson & Parliamentary Coordinator, COSATU, 24 May 2024
