The APN held another public meeting on 22 August 2026, to commemorate National Women’s Day in South Africa. All four speakers, to a greater or lesser extent, raised points that relate to South Africa’s Constitution. Implied in the contributions made was the question as to the value of this document which is part of the class struggle and class warfare we are engaged in with the South African ruling class. One speaker noted that the conflicts we are experiencing in the country is in fact created by the government: unemployment struggles, housing struggles, gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) struggles and the like. Having reached a point where they can no longer hide their failures and treachery, the next tactic is to place the blame on the victims of their policies and practices. In this, they hold up their constitution as something to be revered and respected; and which must be defended. However, the truth of our situation is that this document is a reflection of the political programme of the rich and powerful. In their propaganda they will always make it appear as if all the oppressed and exploited classes also support their political programme; which they do not.

If there are positive things to be said about this constitution, then inclusion of “positive’’ provisions could only have come through many years of bitter and relentless struggles by the oppressed and exploited masses. Two of the speakers raised the examples of the right to health care and the labour law protections of workers in SA. The question of health care provision is held up as an example of a right that is enshrined in the constitution. But, we must ask, does this written law or right in any way guarantee that there is, or will always be certainty that anyone will be able to actually exercise these rights? The answer is an unequivocal, NO. The recent xenophobic hysteria linked to health care for refugees and migrants serves to remind us of this reality.

If not simply ignored or flouted, these so-called progressive laws referred to can be and are amended in the ruling class parliament. In the APN meeting reference was made to the range of Labour Laws for which amendments have been proposed and that are due for formal enactment. Trade union federations have expressed alarm about these. These are amendments that will effectively roll back benefits and advantages workers have had in the past. Failure of unionised workers to respond to these ruling class attacks inside and outside of their organisations – with or without union bureaucrats – can potentially result in further regression in progressive trade union political programmes. As we can therefore see, the working class, those who create wealth in this country through their labour power, are directly being attacked in the name of the South African constitution.

An alert must therefore be sounded. Working class communities receive political messaging that either blatantly aims to deceive them or sounds progressive but merely deals with the symptoms of real problems; that misleads them. As opposed to these deceptive messages, the APN’s 2026 Women’s Day Month programme calls on communities and workers to organise themselves, for themselves, according to their own independent political programme.