Deputy President Paul Mashatile has urged South Africa’s trade unions to take a leading role in the country’s shift towards artificial intelligence, calling on organised labour to champion policies that keep workers at the centre of technological change.
Addressing the eighth National Congress of the Federation of Unions of South Africa (FEDUSA) in Johannesburg on Wednesday, 14 October, Mashatile described AI as both a test and an opening for the labour movement. He said unions that anticipate change and equip members with skills, protections and a voice in the digital economy would help shape that future, while those that fail to do so risk allowing technology to deepen inequality and exclusion.
He said unions must prepare to negotiate over workplace data, technology-driven restructuring and access to upskilling and reskilling, and must be able to represent people in informal, digital and other insecure forms of work. The call comes as the labour market weakens. Statistics South Africa’s Quarterly Labour Force Survey shows the official unemployment rate rose to 33.6% in the second quarter of 2026, from 32.7% in the first.
South Africa’s Labour Market, Q1 vs Q2 2026
| Indicator | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Official unemployment rate | 32.7% | 33.6% |
| Unemployed people | 8.2 million | 8.5 million |
| Employed people | 16.7 million | 16.7 million |
| Youth unemployment (15-34) | 45.9% | 47.4% |
Source: Statistics South Africa, QLFS Q2 2026
The number of unemployed people rose by 345,000 in the quarter, while employment fell by 16,000. Year on year, manufacturing shed about 100,000 jobs, according to Stats SA. Mashatile noted that the economy contracted by 0.2% in the second quarter, with mining, manufacturing and trade under pressure, and said achieving faster growth and job creation on a scale that cuts poverty and inequality remained the country’s most urgent task.
He also challenged FEDUSA to consider whether institutions built to advance workers’ interests were still serving that purpose. Despite progressive labour laws, he said, the labour market still shows inequalities of race, gender and disability, particularly at senior management level, and legislation alone will not deliver transformation. He placed the onus on employers to tackle unequal recruitment, pay disparities and weak skills development, and on unions to monitor whether employment equity plans produce results. Transformation, he argued, should be visible in the structure of the economy rather than in formal compliance.
On the cost of living, Mashatile said electricity had become increasingly expensive, weakening energy-intensive industries such as steel, ferroalloys and chemicals and straining household budgets. Government is reviewing the electricity pricing policy to balance the needs of vulnerable households with security of supply and industrial competitiveness. It is also targeting poor maintenance, theft and weak revenue management in municipal distribution so that paying customers do not carry avoidable losses.
FEDUSA is one of South Africa’s recognised national union federations, representing workers in a wide range of public and private sector industries. Its congress theme centred on reclaiming workers’ dignity, power and justice through what it terms conscious unionism. Mashatile said the theme placed obligations on all social partners: competent and accountable administration from government, responsible investment and fair employment from business, and democratic, ethical leadership from labour.
He said government must show through its actions that it takes labour’s concerns seriously, by creating opportunities for young people, protecting existing jobs, making electricity more affordable and expanding industrial production. He added that South Africa’s democratic settlement was built on the belief that negotiation could resolve differences, and that this conviction needed to be renewed in practice.