The South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) congratulates President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on his re-election and salutes the Brazilian workers, poor people, Indigenous communities and all those who mobilised to defend their democratic and social gains.
Lula won 51.8% of the vote, defeating Flávio Bolsonaro by nearly 4.4 million votes. His victory is a setback for the right-wing forces seeking to consolidate power across Latin America and bring the region closer to the agenda of US President Donald Trump. It gives Brazil the opportunity to continue advancing an independent voice for the Global South.
This election was not simply a vote for a political personality. It was a struggle over land, livelihood, dignity and the direction of development. Brazil’s Indigenous communities had particular reason to fear a Bolsonaro victory. Lula’s government restored the process of recognising Indigenous territories, established a Ministry of Indigenous Peoples and appointed Indigenous leaders to senior positions. By November 2025, his administration had approved 20 territories covering about 2.5 million hectares. These advances are incomplete, and Indigenous organisations continue to demand faster demarcation and stronger protection. But the return of territorial recognition gave communities something concrete to defend.
Land reform also matters to Brazil’s landless rural workers and small farmers. Lula’s government says 266,000 families have been included in its agrarian reform programme during this term through new settlements, recognition of land claims and regularisation. The Landless Workers’ Movement continues to criticise the pace of reform, while insisting that access to land is essential to democracy and food sovereignty.
Workers and poor families also had material gains to defend. Between 2022 and 2024, about 17.3 million people moved out of poverty. In 2024 alone, 1.9 million people moved out of extreme poverty, while 24.4 million left severe food insecurity. Brazil’s employed population reached a record 103.3 million in 2024, and the number of unemployed people fell by 1.1 million from the previous year. Lula’s government raised the minimum wage in real terms and introduced income-tax relief for people earning up to R$5,000 a month. These gains did not end inequality or insecurity, but they were tangible improvements that ordinary people could see in their lives.
The contrast with South Africa is stark:
Brazil: gains people mobilized to defend South Africa: setbacks and growing demoralization
Indigenous territorial recognition resumed, with new areas approved and Indigenous people given a place in government. Agrarian reform included hundreds of thousands of families, though movements continue to demand more. Land restitution and redistribution remain painfully slow. The promise of land reform has not transformed ownership or rural livelihoods at the scale required.
About 17.3 million people moved out of poverty between 2022 and 2024; 24.4 million left severe food insecurity. Poverty and hunger remain widespread. SAFTU has cited estimates that 17 to 20 million people skip meals daily, while unemployment and inequality remain entrenched.
Employment reached a record 103.3 million in 2024; unemployment fell by 1.1 million that year. Mass unemployment, deindustrialization and retrenchments continue, while many people rely on insecure and precarious work.
Real minimum-wage increases and tax relief for lower earners put more income into workers’ hands. Austerity and rising living costs erode working-class incomes and constrain the public services people depend on.
People could point to gains in land, food security, income and employment while demanding that Lula do more. The ANC’s support fell from 69.7% in 2004 to 40.18% in 2024. In 2024, only 16.29 million people voted out of a voting-age population of roughly 40 million. About 23 to 24 million eligible adults nearly three in five did not participate.
South Africa’s democracy is losing legitimacy because millions have become demoralized by promises that were never fulfilled. The low participation in 2024 was not simply voter apathy. It reflected a profound loss of confidence that the political system can change people’s lives.
The GNU was formed through the parliamentary process, but its parties cannot claim the active electoral support of a majority of eligible South Africans.
The ANC’s decline is a crisis of delivery, political identity and credibility. It has moved to the right, and there is little meaningful difference between its economic programme and that of the DA. Both accept the central logic of austerity, market-led reform and a growing role for private capital, while workers and the poor bear the costs.
The ANC has weakened its claim to offer a distinct pro-poor alternative. This is compounded by the widespread perception that corruption is entrenched across the political establishment.
The DA and other right-wing parties did not make their gains in a vacuum. The ANC’s failures and its convergence with the DA opened the space they now occupy. Many former ANC supporters have become demoralised: some stayed at home, while others voted for different parties. When people see no meaningful difference in economic direction and lose confidence in the integrity of those in power, they can conclude that voting will not improve their lives.
Brazil’s election offers a lesson for South Africa. Workers, poor families and Indigenous communities defended Lula because they had material gains to protect, even as they continued to demand more. A movement cannot rely indefinitely on its history or its promises. It must show people that their lives are changing.
South Africa needs a decisive break with austerity and neoliberalism: a programme that redistributes land and wealth, creates decent jobs, raises living standards, rebuilds public services and confronts corruption.
Democracy will regain legitimacy when people can see and feel progress and when workers and the poor have something real to defend.
A statement was issued on behalf of SAFTU by the General Secretary, Zwelinzima Vavi.
For media inquiries, contact the National Spokesperson at
Newton Masuku
newtonm@saftu.org.za
0661682157
Media Officer
Asive Dyani
0719019564
