LABOUR FEDERATIONS CHALLENGE EXCLUSION FROM GOVERNMENT-BUSINESS GROWTH INITIATIVE
South Africa’s organised labour movement has publicly objected to its absence from a newly expanded government-business partnership designed to drive 3% economic growth, create jobs and attract investment. The criticism exposes a fundamental governance tension: whether major economic policy decisions should flow through bilateral state-corporate channels or through the country’s established multi-stakeholder institutions.
President Cyril Ramaphosa launched phase 3 of the business-government partnership last week, framing it as an urgent response to South Africa’s employment crisis. The initiative targets growth above 3% and one million additional jobs by 2030, focusing on energy, transport, logistics, mining, agriculture, tourism and infrastructure. Ramaphosa emphasised the scale of the challenge: 8.5 million people are without work, and roughly 300,000 new job-seekers enter the labour force annually. Below 3% growth, he said, new entrants outpace job creation; above it, jobs compound.
The partnership structure itself has become the flashpoint. Labour organisations argue that workers, who will bear the consequences of policy decisions most directly, have no formal seat at the table where those decisions are made.
Zwelinzima Vavi, general secretary of the SA Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu), stated that while his federation supports genuine measures to end mass unemployment and rebuild infrastructure, the exclusion of organised labour from a programme whose central objective is “growth and jobs” is indefensible. He characterised the arrangement as “Operation Vulindlela at its most advanced,” referring to the joint Presidency-Treasury initiative launched in October 2020 to accelerate structural reforms.
Vavi’s core complaint centres on institutional access and decision-making power. Business, he said, enjoys direct institutional access to the president, ministers and senior officials through the partnership, while organised labour holds no equivalent position. South Africa already has an established institution for social dialogue: Nedlac, the National Economic Development and Labour Council, where government, organised business, organised labour and community representatives are supposed to engage as social partners. A government-business bilateral, Vavi argued, must not become an alternative economic decision-making centre that sidelines Nedlac and working-class communities.
“Our position is that business cannot enjoy privileged access to the state and a privileged role in shaping the country’s economic trajectory while organised workers are excluded,” Vavi said. He called for genuine social dialogue and a genuine social compact, not a government-business compact presented as representing society as a whole.
The Federation of Unions of SA (Fedusa) offered qualified support for the government-business relationship while echoing the exclusion concern. Acting general secretary Ashley Benjamin said organised labour should have a formal role in governance, design, monitoring and implementation, particularly in mining, agriculture, tourism, infrastructure, energy and logistics. He stressed that job creation must not come at the expense of workers’ rights or result in unsafe, unsustainable employment.
Meanwhile, Cosatu, the ANC-aligned labour federation, expressed frustration at being overlooked. National spokesperson Zanele Sabela said the federation had repeatedly asked why organised labour was excluded and had warned against undermining Nedlac. “They blue-ticked us,” she said, referring to messages read without response. The National Council of Trade Unions (Nactu) went further, calling the exclusive partnership “a conspiracy against workers” and arguing that an economy excluding organised labour cannot function.
President Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Vincent Magwenya, when contacted, said there are regular consultations with labour within Nedlac and through direct engagements. He characterised the business partnership as “project-specific and focused on resource mobilisation.”
Business Leadership South Africa CEO Busi Mavuso defended the partnership, arguing that a government committed to reforms coupled with a business partner committed to implementation drives investment. She cited private investment exceeding R360 billion in renewable energy projects and commitments of more than R20 billion to port and rail projects. Phase 3, she explained, operates on three tiers: concluding reforms in energy and transport-logistics; focusing on mining, agriculture, tourism and infrastructure where South Africa has competitive advantage; and addressing confidence multipliers including crime, corruption and Johannesburg’s governance.
The governance dispute reflects deeper ideological divisions. Deputy President Paul Mashatile told Nedlac’s annual summit three years ago that ideology sits at the centre of social partners’ inability to forge a social compact addressing unemployment and low growth. Government, business, labour and community blocs hold different views on the trajectory South Africa should take.
Nedlac spokesperson Moipone Molete countered that the partnership was birthed through the economic reconstruction and recovery plan, which Nedlac social partners crafted and the president later endorsed in parliament. She said Nedlac regularly receives progress updates and provides inputs, stating the body is not left out of the process.
South Africa’s unemployment rate rose to 33.6% in the second quarter of 2026, up from 32.7% in the first quarter and the highest since the second quarter of 2022. That figure sharpens the institutional question at the heart of this dispute: which governance arrangements, bilateral or multi-stakeholder, are best placed to produce policy responses capable of making a dent in mass joblessness.