The Southern African Clothing & Textile Workers' Union (SACTWU) is South Africa's largest trade union organising textile and clothing workers. It also organises footwear, leather and retail workers.

Sactwu has about 120 000 members, the majority of which are weekly paid or blue-collar workers. It is estimated that 66% of members are women.

Most of SACTWU's members are engaged in the formal economic sector although SACTWU has recently initiated programmes to organise workers in the informal and homework sectors. SACTWU's membership is found in all nine South African provinces with the majority in the greater Cape Town and Durban areas. The members are serviced by approximately 60 union officials stationed in 20 union offices spread throughout the country. SACTWU's General Secretary is Ebrahim Patel and its first vice-President is Violet Seboni.

SACTWU is registered in terms of the country's Labour Relations Act (Act No 66 of 1995).

It is affiliated to the Congress of South African Trade Unions(COSATU); and the International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers' Federation (ITGLWF).

Through trade liberalization in the 1990s, the membership of the union was decimated. Thousands of workers lost their jobs as factories were liquidated and closed or were forced to retrench. Through organizational renewal and recruitment campaigns, SACTWU has managed to increase its membership over the past few years. It expects this trend to continue in the future.

Traditionally South Africa's clothing and textile industries are based in the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. This is then also where most of SACTWU's members are based. SACTWU is the largest trade union in the Western Cape and in KwaZulu-Natal. As with COSATU, SACTWU's highest decision-making body is its National Congress, held every three years. At this Congress, shop stewards from SACTWU's five regions (Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape, Gauteng and Central (Free State and Northern Cape)) debate and decide the future direction of SACTWU.

SACTWU has other decision-making bodies which deal with important decisions in the periods between Congresses. These are the National Executive Committee and the National Coordinating Committee.

SACTWU's five regions and its branches have similar structures which deal with decisions of relevance to each province and area.

Aside from its 'traditional' trade union roles such as representing its members in their interactions with their employers, SACTWU has played a key role in representing its membership by engaging with national government over matters concerning the economic performance of the textile, clothing, footwear and leather industries.

SACTWU's officials are represented on numerous bodies, including:

• The governing body of the International Labour Organization (ILO)


• The Executive Committee of the National Economic Development and
• Labour Council (NEDLAC)


• The Millennium Labour Council (MLC)


• The governing body of the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA), and


• The Executive Committee of the Sectoral Education Training Authority (SETA) for the clothing, textile and leather industries