The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) has commended the province’s police leadership for their significant efforts in combating violent crime.

However, the union has voiced its disappointment and issued a sharp critique of recent comments made by Provincial Police Commissioner Lt. Gen. Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, who attributed the reduction in government workforce numbers to unions and workers advocating for better wages.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, Cosatu KZN said it “acknowledges and commends” the South African Police Service’s (SAPS) commitment to combating crime across the province. 

Mkhwanazi blamed the country’s rising unemployment rate on trade unions, which he said continually demanded more money from their members.

The union framed Mkhwanazi’s remarks at a Durban stakeholder engagement hosted by Premier Thami Ntuli on crime prevention in the province as misplaced and potentially inflammatory, arguing they risk widening rifts between law enforcement and the labour movement.

“The fight against crime requires resources, commitment, and leadership, and we salute all men and women in uniform who continue to serve under difficult conditions,” Cosatu KZN Provincial Secretary Edwin Mkhize said. 

“However, Cosatu is deeply concerned and disappointed by the Commissioner’s recent utterances… where he blamed reduced government workforce numbers on unions and workers demanding better wages. 

“These remarks are misplaced, out of context, and risk creating unnecessary tension between the labour movement and law enforcement leadership.”

Cosatu framed the staffing crisis as a systemic issue rather than the workers’ fault. 

The union asserted that “the crisis of inadequate staffing and poor resourcing in the police and other sectors of the state is not the making of workers or their unions,” arguing instead that it results from “neoliberal austerity measures” and external fiscal pressures. 

It accused dominant political and economic actors of directing hiring cuts while service demand grows.

The statement connected current wage debates with broader economic inequality in South Africa, claiming the country remains one of the most unequal in the world.

Cosatu contrasted high salaries for Ministers and Deputy Ministers with underpayment for frontline workers – teachers, police officers, nurses, and others – calling the situation a manifestation of “structural inequality, wasteful expenditure at the top, and misplaced priorities.”

“When Cosatu and its allies advanced the struggle for a National Minimum Wage, vulnerable workers were told by business, the Democratic Alliance, and neoliberal forces that we were threatening jobs…

“Our fight for a Living Wage is not about greed; it is about fairness, dignity, and survival in the face of a rising cost of living,” the statement read, emphasising that frontline workers “perform critical work that holds society together.”

The organisation urged reframing the debate from blaming workers to addressing systemic inequities.

thabo.makwakwa@inl.co.za

IOL Politics

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