Cosatu commemorates Workers’ Day and May 1, 2003 tragedy

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) will commemorate Workers’ Day along with the 20th anniversary of the tragic passing of 51 municipal workers on the 1st of May in 2003.

Workers from Northern Cape were on their way to a Workers’ Day rally in QwaQwa, when their bus plunged into the Sol Plaatje Dam on the outskirts of Bethlehem in the eastern Free State.

The president of the federation Zingiswa Losi is set to deliver the keynote address and African National Congress (ANC) president Cyril Ramaphosa will also deliver a message of support.

The Cosatu National Rally day will be held at the Bethlehem showgrounds in the Free State.

Cosatu Provincial Secretary, Monyatso Mahlatsi says, “We will be honouring their lives and making sure that their memories remain with us. We will start at town hall with the briefing of the leadership, and go to Sol Plaatje Dam to unveil the  plugs that we have put to honour those workers.”

“One of the key issues that we will be putting across is the issue of municipalities that are not functioning properly therefore affecting our members both as workers and citizens, ” says Mahlatsi.

Ramaphosa to deliver keynote address at commemoration of Workers’ Day