By Johnathan Paoli
Cosatu has welcomed the Constitutional Court’s landmark ruling affirming the unconstitutionality of the Municipal Systems Amendment Act, saying it marks a decisive victory in the long-standing legal battle led by the federation and its municipal affiliate, Samwu.
“This was a gross and shamefully unconstitutional assault on the right of freedom of political association and expression of not only municipal workers, but in fact all workers. If it had been allowed to stand, it would have been a gross undermining of the Constitution,” said Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) parliamentary coordinator Matthew Parks.
At the heart of the ruling is the court ‘s agreement with a 2023 Labour Court judgment, which found that a blanket ban on all municipal employees from holding office in a political party constituted a gross violation of the constitutional right to freedom of political association and expression.
The ruling, handed down on Wednesday, declares section 71B of the Act, specifically the inclusion of the term “staff member”, to be unconstitutional and invalid.
The judgment is retroactive to November 2022 and renders all disciplinary actions, including dismissals issued under the challenged provisions, invalid.
The law introduced sweeping prohibitions on political participation by municipal workers, extending a previously limited restriction, originally meant for senior municipal managers, to all 350,000 employees in local government.
This shift was driven by last-minute changes during the legislative process in the 6th Parliament, which was influenced by the SA Local Government Association, despite no compelling evidence or justification for such a broad encroachment on workers’ rights.
Initially, the Act sought to prevent conflicts of interest among top municipal managers who might use political influence to undermine governance structures.
Cosatu and Samwu accepted this narrow, targeted limitation.
However, the eventual version of the law included every category of worker, from cleaners and security guards to electricians and administrative staff, regardless of whether their roles bore any relevance to political decision-making.
Despite the clear implications of the Labour Court’s ruling, municipalities across the country continued to issue threatening letters to employees, demanding that they resign from any political positions or face dismissal.
“If it had been allowed to stand, it would have been a gross undermining of the Constitution. This would have been a slippery slope to later be extended to all public servants, parastatal employees and eventually private sector workers,” said Parks.
“It would have been a dangerous eroding of our hard-won democracy. This would be something that Cosatu and affiliates will never allow.”
Samwu’s secretariat said while it welcomed the judgment, it could not overlook human cost of the amendment.
“Many workers were forced into an impossible choice: give up their right to participate in the democratic process, or lose their jobs. Some municipal workers were removed from their positions, others were discouraged or even barred from standing as candidates in elections,” it said in a statement.
The union would now intensify its efforts to ensure that workers who were unfairly dismissed or pressured to resign, were reinstated or appropriately compensated.
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