The article below was originally published at the end of August, South Africa’s so-called “Women’s Month”. Since then, the crisis of violence against women in South Africa has once again been brought into sharp focus […]
Weizmann Hamiliton of the Marxist Workers Party, the CWI’s South African affiliate, attacks President Ramaphosa’s pro-capitalist policies on the SABC (South African Broadcasting Corporation) 7 June 2026 programme ‘It’s Topical’ on the topic ‘Public response […]
…and what can be done to end the problem and rebuild pan-African working people solidarity? On 30 May 2026, the Democratic Socialist Movement (CWI Nigeria) and the Marxist Workers Party (CWI South Africa) organised an […]
For a National Day of Action against xenophobia! Saftu must set a date for the reconvening of the Working Class Summit The xenophobia sweeping across the front pages of the media in South Africa and […]
Trade unionist and soldier of the working class with a lifelong commitment to socialism We express our deepest condolences to his wife, Suzanne, his former wife Trish, his children, his family as a whole, including […]
From Socialism Today, magazine of the Socialist Party (CWI England & Wales). Seventy years ago on 26 June 1955 around three thousand people assembled in a field in Kliptown, just outside Johannesburg. They were gathered to […]
Mass protests broke out in Luanda, the capital city of Angola, on 28 July, in one of the latest popular protests in Africa against poverty and oppression. At the behest of the International Monetary Fund, […]
In November, a crisis at the Stilfontein mine in the North West province of South Africa, 145 km from Johannesburg, began making international headlines. Up to 4,000 ‘zama zama’ mineworkers had been purposefully trapped underground by […]
Protests have rocked Mozambique since ‘preliminary’ results of presidential and legislative elections held on 9 October declared the ruling Mozambican Liberation Front (Frelimo) the winner. Mozambique can be added to the growing rollcall of neocolonial […]
What way forward for the working class? There has been a wailing and gnashing of teeth of biblical proportions on both the left and right of the ideological and political spectrum over what the newly […]
In a shattering rejection, the ANC, elected in an atmosphere of heady euphoria with an overwhelming 62.7% majority in 1994 to mark the end of white minority rule and apartheid in South Africa, has been […]
The 2024 elections, more than any other in the democratic era, have highlighted, on the electoral plane, the sharp polarisation between the classes. The elections will be completely dominated by parties that, whatever their political […]
Interview with Weizmann Hamilton On January 11 and 12, 2024, the United Nation’s International Court of Justice (ICJ) heard the South African government’s case accusing Israel of carrying out “genocidal acts” in Gaza. On 26 […]
After the 23rd and 24th August 2023 elections for the president, legislators and councillors, the Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU–PF) retained power, continuing its 43-year old reign since independence in 1980. The Zimbabwe Electoral […]
The inferno at the end of August that claimed the lives of 77 people, the majority burnt beyond recognition, is one of the worst indictments not just against the City of Johannesburg (CoJ), but the […]
A general election is due in South Africa in 2024. It will be the seventh since the hated apartheid system of racial oppression and segregation was dismantled. Across South African society it is viewed as […]
One of Italian Communist Antonio Gramsci’s most quoted phrases is his 1930 statement in the ‘Prison Notebooks’: ‘The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born; […]
The amendments to the Employment Equity Act (EAA) signed into law by President Cyril Ramaphosa and due to take effect on 1st September 2023, has given rise to a new flare up of racial tensions. […]
The African National Congress December conference re-elected Cyril Ramaphosa as party leader for a second five-year term. He will therefore almost certainly lead the ANC into national elections in 2024. Although Ramaphosa remains ‘the most […]
On 10 November the first national strike against the ANC-government’s assault on public sector pay took place. The Public Service Association (PSA), representing 230,000 of South Africa’s 1.2 million public sector workers, downed tools for […]
STRIKE AGAIN IN SEPTEMBER! NAME THE DATE NOW! RECONVENE THE WORKING CLASS SUMMIT BEFORE THE END OF THE YEAR – SET A LAUNCH DATE FOR THE WORKERS PARTY The South African Federation of Trade Unions […]
There can be no tribute more fitting to the martyrs of Marikana than the South African Federation of Trade Unions’ planned National Shut Down on 24 August 2022 which is attracting support across the workers’ movement. A […]
The note of optimism and determination of the declaration issued at the end of the South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) Second Congress in May will be greeted with a sense both of relief […]
The temperature of the class struggle is rising. 2022 has already seen a whole number of strikes in mining, metal, manufacturing, on farms, and in the public sector. Some have been brief skirmishes as workers […]
The majority of people have reacted with horror at the violent death of Elvis Nyathi, stoned and burned to death by a murderous mob in Diepsloot, South Africa. According to his wife, the mob had […]
In recent months the Marxist Workers Party has taken part in a series of discussions with activists from eSwatini. The comrades are at the forefront of the struggle against the Mswati-dictatorship which erupted in a […]
The attempted suspension of the South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) secretary-general, Zwelinzima Vavi, by National Office Bearers (NOBs) who are members of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) sponsored Socialist […]
Over the last several months protests have rocked eSwatini. The masses have taken to the streets to end the dictatorship of King Mswati III with greater militancy than ever before. In two waves of protests […]
South Africa’s 2021 local government elections (LGE21) outcome marks the end of an era. For the first time since 1994, the African National Congress (ANC), the “party of liberation”, has crashed below 50%. The working […]
The Marxist Workers Party (CWI South Africa) stands in solidarity with the steel and engineering workers who began national strike action on 5 October. This action on pay is being led by Numsa, the dominant […]
Mining profits are booming. June saw the biggest trade surplus on record. The banks are paying dividends to shareholders again and StatsSA reports that the economy is 11% larger than thought. But unemployment has reached […]
The 23 June Summit of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) agreed to the deployment of a military force to northern Mozambique. This was the belated response of the regional elites to an armed insurgency […]
On 21 July Marxist Workers Party members visited Zone 3 of Katlehong, Gauteng. We had learned through the media of the brilliant work of residents to defend their community from rioting and looting, in particular, […]
Since the imprisonment of former president Jacob Zuma, South Africa has witnessed the most widespread unrest in decades. Tens of thousands of the poor, the destitute, and the hungry have raided supermarkets and shopping malls […]
On 29 June the South African Constitutional Court found former-president Jacob Zuma guilty of contempt of court. He has been sentenced to fifteen months in prison without the possibility of appeal. Less than 48-hours later, […]
On 12th and 13th June 2021, the South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) will reconvene the Working Class Summit (WCS). The WCS was first convened in 2018, in line with a resolution adopted at […]
Student protests have dominated headlines over the past two weeks in South Africa. The brutal and senseless killing of Mthokozisi Ntumba by police as he exited a clinic, unwittingly stepping into a confrontation between protesting […]
The ANC presidency of Jacob Zuma (2009-2018) saw already widespread corruption reach unprecedented new heights in South Africa. The media coined the term “state capture” to describe Zuma’s growing brazenness in appointing ministers and other […]
On top of last year’s PPE-corruption scandal, the African National Congress (ANC) government has made a complete fiasco of vaccine procurement and roll-out. In general, South African capitalism is proving itself incapable of dealing with […]
The 7 October general strike called by Cosatu (Congress of South African Trade Unions) came against the background of an all-out assault on the working class by the ANC (African National Congress) government and the […]
On the 12th of October, workers on the ANC government’s slave-labour Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) continued their struggle for permanent jobs and a living wage. Hundreds of EPWP workers took part in a day […]
The Marxist Workers Party (CWI South Africa) published an Open Letter to the South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) in three parts on 18 August, 22 August and 24 August, ahead of Saftu’s upcoming […]
Symbolic protests by left activists took place on 1 August in South Africa because of a growing feeling that something must be done. The country has been in lockdown for over four months but we […]
On 17 June workers marched in Johannesburg, South Africa, demanding permanent jobs and a living wage of R12,500 ($700). Over 200 braved the severe winter cold snap gripping the country and the continuing lockdown restricting […]
The cost of the Covid-19 industry-wide shutdown is being passed to workers in unpaid wages, compulsory leave, and retrenchments. Comair has followed SAA and SA Express into business rescue. Cabin crew and pilots are under […]
Two mile queues for food parcels. Corruption and patronage in their distribution. Shops being looted. Schools vandalised and burned. Collapsing household income. Confusion over accessing social grants. Tens-of-thousands of arrests and fines. Harassment, beatings, and […]
There is growing concern over police and military brutality in the enforcement of South Africa’s twenty-one-day lockdown regulations. Videos have circulated on social media of soldiers beating up and kicking residents in informal settlements, forcing […]
The 26 March countrywide lockdown South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, announced in an emergency attempt to contain the spread of the coronavirus, has been hailed as the decisive intervention the pandemic required. Worldwide the number […]
The Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) is the South African ANC government’s slave-labour scheme. Workers are paid as little as R2,000 per month, for full-time work. The minimum wage in South Africa is R3,500. […]
The outcome of the South African Airways (SAA) strike is a victory. The Cabin Crew Association of South Africa and National Union of Metal Workers of South Africa (NUMSA) deserve the applause of all aviation […]
South Africa is going through its most serious economic crisis of the democratic era. What this crisis shows, probably more than any other before it, is that there is no solution on a capitalist basis. […]
The empty seats at the National Sports Stadium in Harare at the official funeral ceremony for Robert Mugabe on 14 September, spoke volumes about the views of the Zimbabwean people. The circumstances of Mugabe’s death […]
Over the past month, capitalism has once again bared its barbaric underbelly in South Africa in a wave of xenophobic violence. Thirteen have died, so far. Struggling small businesses, foreign national and South African alike, […]
The rape and murder of Cape Town student Uyinene Mrwetyana was the final spark that lit a new wave of protests demanding an end to violence against women. She was killed by a Post Office […]
The 2019 general elections will be seen, in time, as the most important one since the advent of democracy. For the first time since 1994, on 8 May this year, less than half the voting […]
A three day general strike in Zimbabwe was set in motion on 14 January in response to the deteriorating economic situation in the country. Called by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) and local […]
The Workers and Socialist Party (WASP), the South African section of the CWI, held a National Committee meeting, in Johannesburg, at the beginning of September. Delegates discussed the working class responses to the attacks of […]
• Support Saftu’s action on 25 April • Unite the working class in a campaign of rolling-mass actions • Capitalist parties will give us laws for the bosses – workers’ need their own party […]
With the passing of Winnie Nomzamo Madikizela-Mandela, the African National Congress lost arguably the most beloved and certainly one of the greatest of the leaders of her generation.
Inside two months following his election as ANC president at the party’s December 2017 national conference, Cyril Ramaphosa has realised the ambition he reportedly set himself whilst still at high school according to a close […]
After the most tumultuous run-up to any conference in ANC history, watched across the world, with over a thousand journalists in attendance, and the markets moving up in anticipation of the results, Cyril Ramaphosa has […]
The takeover of power by the Zimbabwe defence force is a military coup in all but name. It represents a turning point in post-independence Zimbabwe and the almost certain end of Mugabe’s reign. The military […]
The assassination of Lesotho Defence Force Chief, Lt-General Khoantle Motsomotso, on 5 September, by two fellow-officers and former-allies, themselves, in turn, killed by Motsomotso’s bodyguards, is unfortunately not a shock in a country where assassination […]
In celebrating Zuma’s victory in the motion of no confidence vote, the majority of the ANC parliamentary caucus has confirmed the contempt in which they hold the majority of the people in SA, particularly the […]
The constant smell of smoke from the burning wood fires in the townships, as residents attempt to keep warm from the freezing winter nights in their flimsy tin shacks, is just one of the reasons […]
Political situation demands the launch of a mass workers’ party. The cabinet reshuffle Jacob Zuma announced, like a thief in the night, at 12am, on 31 March, 2017, is the most audacious act of factional […]
Capitalist politicians use xenophobia to divert attention from failures of profit system. Over the past two months a new ‘wave’ of xenophobic violence threatened to engulf South Africa. Isolated attacks against foreign residents and foreign businesses […]
State tries to crush worker-student unity in struggle for free education. Two leading activists of the #OutsourcingMustFall movement, both members of the Workers and Socialist Party (WASP), are facing legal harassment for their role in […]
Socialist mass workers party needed. The 3 August municipal elections and the student protests have confirmed our perspective following the Marikana massacre: “The battle lines [have been] drawn for colossal struggles to come … the […]
Struggle for free education. The second round in the struggle for free education is underway. Campuses across the country were shut-down on Tuesday as protests began against the ANC government’s announcement that universities would be […]
ANC polls less than 60% for first time since end of apartheid
Mass revolt shakes the regime to its foundations
Build a socialist mass workers’ party for a government of the working class
Build a socialist mass workers party for a government of the working class
#OutsourcingMustFall campaign becomes point of reference for the working class
For the mobilisation and support of all students, permanent workers and communities across Tshwane
Solidarity needed
ANC leadership shaken by electrifying ten days
Struggle for free education now!
‘Deals protect profits not jobs’ – for nationalisation under workers control
Not a stone has been left unturned on the political landscape
Build a country-wide socialist civic movement. Fight for jobs, houses and services for all
Expulsion opens new chapter in working class struggle
South Africa’s metalworkers union in discussion with WASP and CWI
Rebuild the trade union movement on socialist principles!
For political and class independence – Struggle, solidarity and socialism!
Dire position of South African capitalism and inequality adds momentum towards creation of workers’ party
Authorities deploy heavily armed response
Industrial action must take forward call for a new workers’ party
Forward to a living wage – end labour broking
Significant step forward in the struggle for a living wage for all
The ANC victory, WASP and the EFF.
Building a bridgehead to a new mass workers’ party
WASP campaigning material available on pdf
On Saturday 29 March the Workers and Socialist Party launched its 2014 election manifesto at a rally in Katlehong, Gauteng
Moses Mayekiso, inaugural general secretary of NUMSA heads electoral list
Panel debate on socialism including Workers’ and Socialist Party (WASP), and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) representatives
Time for a new socialist trade union federation
Campaigning for WASP socialist alternative at May polls
Seize the historic opportunity of the 2014 elections
Historic decision to cut ties with the ANC
Heroically leading ANC to power but struggle tragically into dead end
During a recent radio show, Weizmann Hamilton (DSM and WASP) outlined the perspectives on re-building a powerful workers’ movement and a new mass working class party in South Africa.
On August 16, the anniversary of the police massacre of striking workers at the Lonmin platinum mine in Marikana, over 5000 mineworkers gathered on ‘the mountain’ where their comrades had been shot down one year […]
Both capitalists and working class prepare for unforeseen turmoil
Workers, Communities and trade unionists unify their struggle
This year’s CWI Summer School, held in Belgium this week, began with an inspirational account of the recent dramatic developments of workers’ struggle in South Africa, the important participation of the Democratic Socialist Movement (CWI […]
A victory for the whole working class
An injury to one is an injury to all
Workers and Socialist Party calls for one-day-general strike
A surprisingly devastating critique of the ANC’s failure to ensure ‘a better life for all’; BBC2 April 24th and online
The launch of the Workers & Socialist Party was the direct outcome of the struggles of the mineworkers of South Africa throughout the course of last year.
“A political party has been born in the aftermath of the Marikana mine massacre – the Workers’ and Socialist Party (Wasp)”, media report
Launch surpassed all expectations
“You cannot buy the bravery of the South African mineworkers: no surrender!”
Hundreds-strong meeting hears speeches from visiting CWI members
Hardening solid gold
Statement on the retrenchment threats by Anglo America n Platinum and Harmony Gold
Representatives from miners’ strike committees, community groups, trade unions and left organisations met to discuss development new Workers & Socialist Party
Mass protest at court – urgent solidarity needed
South African press announces founding of Workers’ and Socialist Party
WASP will now mobilise support for the party
The background to the wave of miners’ strikes across South Africa and how this movement is showing the way forward for workers and the poor across the country
Interview with miners’ leader Hoshoko Letshoba
The class struggle in South Africa is far sharper than in many countries. Socialist consciousness is far higher among the powerful, industrial working class.
International Solidarity needed
National Strike Coordinating Committee launched on 13 October
Spread of committees needed to prepare for general strike
Step towards national coordinated strike action
The struggle for a new mass workers’ party with a socialist programme
The “Joint Strike Coordinating Committee” of all mines on strike in Rustenburg calls for a march next Saturday to confront the government. It argues for a general strike for a national living wage of R12,500 […]
Mine workers’ strikes boosted by success at Lonmin – coordinating committee needs solidarity
“We are inspired to continue the fight in the mines which continue to resist our united action.”
ANC leadership has shown since the massacre that the gulf between it and the masses is now unbridgeable
ANC (Afrika Ulusal Kongresi) yöneticileri bu katliamladan bu yana, kendisiyle kitleler arasındaki uçurumun şimdi hiç kapatılamayacak kadar olduğunu gösterdi.
Massacre of South African miners and Betrayal of the ANC
Press reports on impact of Democratic Socialist Movement (CWI)
CWI solidarity actions continue as struggle rumbles on
Murder and attempted murder charges against miners detonates a volcano of rage
Reports of CWI-organised lobbies in Ireland, Israel, Austria
“This is not our government”
Protesters in front of embassy demand end of killing and support the miners
South African police massacres striking workers at Marikana – call for protest action
200,000 march across South Africa
Cosawu union won application to represent about 700 workers
Labour broker workers march to Minister of Labour for permanent jobs
ANC retains big majority but political authority weakened
After striking for the right to elect their own shop stewards the workers are attacked by both – the mine- and trade union bosses!
Desperate economic situation exacerbated by world capitalist crisis
On Wednesday 20 October, the workers of the Mine Line/TAP Engineering factory in Krugersdorp, just outside Soweto, started an occupation of their workplace to stop the former owner from stripping the factory of machinery and […]
Appeal for solidarity
Solidarity needed!
Break the Tripartite Alliance – For a mass workers’ party on a socialist programme
Say no to job cuts and poverty wages!
DSM demands: General Strike to support public sector workers
Longer strike may follow after negotiations on Thursday
More than 41,000 police have been mobilised to deal with World Cup security.
5,000 sacked miners on strike
Cape Town is having its biggest moment ever, or at least since the afternoon Nelson Mandela spoke to the masses from the balcony of City Hall hours after being released from 27 years in jail.
South African riot police fired tear gas on hundreds of security stewards protesting against wage cuts, 90 minutes after the match between Germany and Australia in Durban.
The Conference of the Democratic Left (CDL) is an initiative to bring together left organisations, social movements and activists to confront the disastrous social, economic and political crisis in South Africa.
Tinkering or transformation?
Let them eat cake – the ugly backdrop to the beautiful game
Solidarity urgently needed!
New government comes up against militant action
As class polarisation continues, black working class voters vest their hopes in Zuma …for now!
No solution on offer from Africa’s elite
Africa’s oldest liberation movement headed for split
Workers feel their power
Courage of masses in face of social catastrophe and brutal repression
Anti-immigrant attacks – a warning to working class
Mass unemployment, hyper-inflation and poverty
Does Zuma’s triumph mean victory for the working class?
The most significant strike since the ANC came to power.
Suspension of action cannot hide magnificent display of public sector workers’ power
Huge popular support for action puts ANC government under pressure
Whilst the government arrogantly insisted that anything above 6% was unaffordable, a commission on remuneration recommended that the president’s salary be increased by 57% and those of ministers by between 30% and 50%!
State thugs crackdown on protests
The struggle for social liberation continues
International solidarity plays role in victory
Demonstrations and clashes reminiscent of apartheid era
Coalition formed to fight job losses and poverty
Strike action shows workers are not prepared to see wealth polarization continue
Militant action needed to stop "jobs holocaust"
Following Zimbabwe’s 31 March general election in which the ruling Zanu-PF party won a "landslide victory," President Robert Mugabe has unleashed armed police against street traders and shanty town dwellers.
Trade unionists and youth should not support either ANC leadership factions
For the third election in succession, the Robert Mugabe-led Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) has thwarted the will of the people and retained power through rigged elections. This time it obtained a ’landslide’ – […]
After biggest ever public sector strike
Black South African workers’ leader and fighter for socialism
Thursday 27 May the Socialist Student Movement at the Westville campus of the newly "merged" University of KwaZulu-Natal organised a march against the exclusion from financial aid of hundreds of students.
While South Africa is celebrating the 10th anniversary of the end of the Apartheid regime, students at Wits University in Johannesburg are protesting against cuts in university funding and cuts in student bursaries.
But lower poll indicates growing alienation
ANC has failed the masses – Time for a new party of the working class
The economic situation around here is disasterous. Official figures for inflation are 340% but economic analysts say that the actual figure is over 400%. The government tampers with figures in order to hide the seriousness […]
The entire labour movement should be outraged by the draconian actions of the National Office Bearers (NOBs) of the Chemical Paper, Printing Wood and Allied Workers Union.
In 1996, hardly 2 years after the ANC was elected, the leadership, having long since buried the Freedom Charter, abandoned the Reconstruction and Development Programme, replacing it with the neo-liberal capitalist Growth, Employment and Redistribution […]
By brute force, Robert Mugabe’s regime has for the moment survived the longest and most successful stay-away in Zimbabwe’s history. The ‘Final Push’, called by the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), did not topple Mugabe, […]
Report of Democratic Socialist Movement conference, 5-6 October 2002
On 22 September, the Social Democrats and Greens succeeded in defending their government position in the national elections but with a very small majority.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has called a two-day general strike for 1-2 October, to protest against the ANC government’s privatisation programme.
The last day of the Earth Summit completed the humiliation of the ANC government in what it had hoped would be its finest hour. ‘Civil society’ delegates walked out in disgust, Colin Powell was shouted down […]
ANC government harassment and sabotage cannot stop 30,000 marching. On Saturday 31 August, anti-globalisation activists were joined by thousands of workers, the unemployed and landless, who marched from the poor township of Alexandra outside Johannesburg […]
Cosatu’s announcement yesterday that it has lifted the suspension on the anti-privatisation programme and will be calling a two-day general strike on the 1st and 2nd October, is a direct result of the impact of […]
The struggle against privatisation in SA has entered a qualitatively new stage. At the end of August Cosatu will be holding a two-day general strike to protest against the government’s plan to privatise the Electricity […]
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