Workers across South Africa are borrowing money to cover groceries, fuel and rent, a financial squeeze that the Congress of South African Trade Unions will confront head-on at its upcoming national congress. From Mitchells Plain to Musina, from agricultural workers to those employed in mines, hospitals and schools, union delegates will assess how inflation, unemployment and stagnant wages are reshaping the lives of ordinary South Africans.
The economic pressures are immediate and severe. Inflation has climbed to 5% in 2026, driven substantially by fuel price shocks stemming from Middle East conflict. Petrol costs have risen 25% while diesel has jumped 50%, with further increases of R2 per litre anticipated for diesel. Electricity tariffs have increased 9%, compounding the burden on household budgets already stretched thin by an unemployment rate of 43.7% and economic growth stuck below 1% for more than a decade.
Workers fortunate enough to hold jobs find their wages insufficient. Many must support unemployed family members while managing their own living expenses. The result is widespread debt, with workers borrowing to cover basic needs and service existing loans. The South African Reserve Bank’s recent repo rate increase threatens to worsen borrowing costs further.
Cosatu’s analysis identifies both immediate relief measures and longer-term structural changes needed to protect workers from economic deterioration. In the short term, the government should reinstate fuel levy suspensions similar to those implemented when international oil prices previously spiked, a measure that successfully contained inflation at the time. The union also calls for honouring a 2018 government commitment to review and reduce the portion of fuel prices attributable to taxation, a step that would inject cash directly into workers’ pockets and stimulate broader economic activity.
Transportation costs consume significant portions of worker income. Metro Rail, despite planned fare increases above inflation, remains cheaper and safer than alternatives. Cosatu argues that expanded public investment in rail modernisation, including signal upgrades to enable faster train travel and reopening of closed lines, would reduce commuter expenses while easing road congestion. Similar support for buses and taxis, particularly critical in rural areas and townships, is essential.
Energy costs represent another major drain on household resources. Eskom’s reliance on tariff increases far exceeding inflation, sometimes reaching 36% annually, has depleted worker wages and contributed to industrial closures and job losses. The utility’s success in ending loadshedding must be coupled with government intervention to address the R120 billion municipal debt owed to Eskom. Moving all customers, including government institutions, to prepaid electricity billing would improve collection and break the cycle of above-inflation rate increases.
Meanwhile, food affordability depends partly on restoring Transnet to full capacity and reducing diesel and electricity costs that drive transportation expenses. Cosatu also urges government and industry to revive domestic fuel refinery capacity to reduce vulnerability to international supply shocks and lower domestic fuel prices.
Employment creation remains fundamental. Government, working with the Unemployment Insurance Fund and development finance institutions, must expand public employment programmes to provide millions of unemployed people with wage-earning opportunities and pathways into the labour market. Discussions should explore linking recipients of the Social Relief of Distress grant to skills training and employment programmes.
Private employers bear responsibility as well. Cosatu calls for an end to retrenchments, a reduction of wage gaps between executives and workers, and payment of living wages sufficient to sustain the consumer demand necessary for economic growth.
Healthcare costs are rising sharply. Medical aid premium increases, such as the 9% hike announced by GEMS for 2026, underscore the urgency of limiting medical tariff increases and accelerating the rollout of universal healthcare through the National Health Insurance.
Education access faces erosion. The National Student Financial Aid Scheme’s income threshold has remained unchanged for a decade, progressively excluding more poor students from tertiary education. Adjustment of this threshold and broader expansion of affordable higher education access are necessary steps.
The union also identifies predatory lending as a pressing concern, calling for enforcement action against loan sharks who violate the National Credit Act and exploit worker desperation. Pension reform discussions must continue, building on the first phase of Two Pot reforms that provided R70 billion in relief to 4 million highly indebted workers while boosting long-term savings.
Cosatu’s approach emphasises that robust engagement at the National Economic Development and Labour Council is essential to develop interventions that simultaneously provide relief to working people, stimulate economic growth and create employment. Whether government and private employers will respond with the urgency that 43.7% unemployment demands remains the question ordinary South Africans are waiting to have answered.