Latest news with #ZingiswaLosi
IOL News
22-05-2025
- Politics
- IOL News
All you need to know about Zingiswa Losi: The woman who schooled Donald Trump on South Africa
Zingiswa Losi: The woman who challenged Donald Trump on South Africa. Image: Simphiwe Mbokazi/African News Agency/ANA Zingiswa Losi, the president of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), delivered a pointed response to US president Donald Trump's controversial remarks on South African land reform and violence against white farmers during a high-level meeting at the White House on Tuesday. Losi, the country's first female president of COSATU, joined president Cyril Ramaphosa as part of a delegation aiming to strengthen diplomatic and economic ties between the two nations. Trump used the opportunity to repeat long-standing, debunked claims of 'systematic killings' of white farmers, raising alarm over land expropriation policies in South Africa. She countered his narrative with a clear message: crime in South Africa is a universal scourge, not a racially targeted phenomenon. "The problem in South Africa is not necessarily about race, but it's about crime," Losi told Trump. "Black men and women in our rural communities are just as many victims of brutal crimes as anyone else." Born in 1975 in KwaZakhele, Eastern Cape, Losi began her activism in the anti-apartheid struggle, inspired by her politically active family. She served in the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) from 1996 to 1999 before joining Ford Motor Company in Port Elizabeth, where she became a shop steward for the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA). Her rise within the labour movement was steady. She served as COSATU's second deputy president from 2009 and became its first female president in 2018, securing re-election in 2022. Beyond her union leadership, Losi has played key roles in the African National Congress (ANC) and the South African Communist Party (SACP), championing workers' rights and economic transformation. She is also president of the Southern African Trade Union Coordinating Council (SATUCC), representing unions across the SADC region. On Tuesday, Losi used her platform to call for cooperation, not division. "We are here to say: how do we, both nations, work together to reset, to really talk about investment but also help to address the levels of crime?" she said. IOL Politics Get your news on the go, click here to join the IOL News WhatsApp channel.
The Herald
22-05-2025
- Business
- The Herald
We are here to improve trade and investment relations: Ramaphosa navigates tense talks with Trump
South Africa has a crime problem, not a white genocide problem, and the investments being sought from the US will go a long way in assisting the country in its fight against rampant crime. This is the message the South African delegation led by President Cyril Ramaphosa emphasised during its meeting with US President Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday. Crime dominated the discussions, with South Africa arguing it affected everyone and not just white Afrikaners, some of whom have fled to the US. South African billionaire Johann Rupert, Cosatu leader Zingiswa Losi and agriculture minister John Steenhuisen stood firm, backing Ramaphosa and defending the country against the falsehoods being spread from the White House that there was white genocide in South Africa and that farmers' land was being confiscated. 'We have too many deaths, but it's across the board, it's not only white farmers, it's across the board,' said Rupert. He said the US could help with its technology, especially Starlink, which could be installed in police stations to help the fight against crime. 'We need your help to stop this awful killing, but it's across the board.' Rupert suggested that crime was being committed by illegal immigrants and that South Africans also resorted to crime due to unemployment. 'If we don't get our economy to growth, the culture of dependency and the lawlessness will increase.' Ramaphosa, Losi and Rupert sought to move the conversation, which had become tense, away from white genocide, and called for the US to help South Africa deal with its crime problem by placing resources at its disposal. Ramaphosa was adamant that he and his delegation were in the US to restore relations and foster trade and investment deals. These deals would go a long way in resolving the crime problem in South Africa, he said. 'One of the areas of support is in investments. We've got to grow our economy because through growing the economy we're then able to create more jobs because crime really thrives where there is inequality and unemployment,' said Ramaphosa. Ramaphosa was adamant that trade and investment discussions were what had 'brought us here', signalling that he and his delegation did not come to Trump with a begging bowl and that the relationship between the two countries was 'mutually beneficial'. 'So our main reason for being here is to foster trade and investment so that we are able to grow our economy.'He said the US's support was needed to address these societal problems because criminality thrives when people are unemployed and they have no other hope to make a living. 'So that is what we need to resolve and your support and partnership with us is what is really going to give us a strong capability to move forward,' said Ramaphosa. Losi said they were focused on clinching trade and investment deals. 'At the centre of it all is the importance of growing the economy. We have always emphasised when negotiating on Agoa the 600 US companies that are based in South Africa. As you said, President Ramaphosa, 500,000 jobs will be wiped out. We need more foreign direct investment in our country,' said Losi. 'We are not just talking about those that will lose employment, but we are talking about over 40% of people that are unemployed that will have no hope of ever finding jobs.' Losi added that South Africa needs to deal with its porous borders so that everyone that comes in is documented. Losi also addressed the land confiscation narrative emphasising that there was a willing buyer, willing seller agreement in the country. 'There is a willing buyer, willing seller in South Africa. So there is no expropriation without compensation,' she said.
Eyewitness News
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Eyewitness News
SA's hard-won democracy shouldn't be 'playground for thieving' politicians: COSATU's Losi
JOHANNESBURG - The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) says gains made in the fight for democracy cannot be lost to career politicians with little interest in service delivery and entrepreneurs in business with government for a quick buck. The warning follows what the trade union federation says is an honest assessment of governance as the country marked Workers' Day on Thursday. While strides have been made to ensure fair labour practices, equity, improved wages and safer working environments, COSATU has called on the government to address threats to public institutions. ALSO READ: Representing almost two million public servants, COSATU says weakened public institutions leave workers exposed. COSATU leader Zingiswa Losi says one of the threats is corruption. 'We are very clear as COSATU, that we did not wage a struggle for us to see the democratic state become the playground yamasela (thieves).' The word amasela means thieves and has for years been used to describe and condemn those in power who have unduly benefited from state resources at the expense of South Africans. 'The control of the state is its machinery to eliminate, to eliminate unemployment and inequality, and not to elevate tenderpreneur.' Losi says clean governance is needed to ensure labour rights are protected and labour reforms are fast-tracked.
Eyewitness News
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Eyewitness News
SACP calls for GNU's downfall
MIDDELBURG - The South African Communist Party (SACP) has again spared no criticism over the Government of National Unity (GNU).The SACP and African National Congress (ANC) joined trade union federation COSATU in its annual commemoration of Workers' there are a number of rallies being held across the country, this year's national event is being held in to the podium first to deliver a message of support, SACP general secretary, Solly Mapaila, opened with a jab on a number of political issues."Down with VAT, down. Forward with the NHI, forward. Forward with the implementation of the BELA Act, forward. Down with the GNU, down."COSATU leader, Zingiswa Losi, weighed in on matters of national importance during her address to supporters gathered at the Kees Taljaard Stadium in Middelburg."The budget, comrades, must be progressive and not punishing. It must create jobs and it must tax the wealthy."In his brief address, ANC president, Cyril Ramaphosa, had this to say."Be it the BELA Act, be it the Expropriation Act, all that has happened because of you." The main event has wrapped up.
Eyewitness News
01-05-2025
- Business
- Eyewitness News
COSATU and SAFTU set to lead annual Workers Day commemoration in parts of the country
JOHANNESBURG - Trade union federations COSATU and SAFTU are set to lead the annual Workers Day commemoration in parts of the country on Thursday. The public holiday holds profound significance in South Africa in its fight for fair employment standards, including better working conditions and fair wages. But this year's instalment again comes at a time when socioeconomic challenges shadow progress made in the labour sector. COSATU leader Zingiswa Losi is set to deliver the union federation's annual address in Mpumalanga, joined by African National Congress (ANC) president Cyril Ramaphosa and SACP leader Solly Mapaila in what's also known globally as May Day. In 1986, COSATU called a two-day general strike where more than 1.5 million workers stayed away in a defining moment that brought the apartheid economy to a standstill. The resistance grew in the years to come, with the calls for labour reforms becoming too hard to ignore. But decades later, South African workers are still faced with challenges such as job insecurity, inadequate wages and unsafe working environments. Lobby group Free SA says there's little cause for celebration when the unemployment rate sits at a staggering 31.9%, one of the highest in the world. READ: Workers' Day: Unemployment will continue to worsen under ANC rule, says DA's Steenhuisen Labour unions and some political parties are expected to spend today at a number of rallies with commitments to address what remains undone.
