2020 SOZIALPOLITIK.CH VOL. 2/2020 – ARTICLE 2.3 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18753/2297-8224-158 X Decent Work for All: Rethinking Decent Work in the Context of South Africa Edward WEBSTER 1 , Carmen LUDWIG 2 University of Witwatersrand, JLU Gießen Abstract The authors argue that there is a need to rethink what a commitment to decent work would mean in the context of South Africa, a country with a large number of long term unemployed. Drawing on their experience of researching work in South Africa, they highlight the relevance of the agency of workers for the progressive realisation of a decent work agenda. The lukewarm response of the government to the diagnostic tool designed to measure decent work led the authors to reframe decent work in a positive way as an organising tool to recruit vulnerable workers into a broader, more inclusive movement of working people. Keywords: decent work, South Africa, trade unions, ILO, informal work, critical en- gagement Introduction: The Debate on Decent Work in South Africa The winning slogan of “decent work for all”, used by the ruling African National Congress (ANC) in its campaign in the 2009 general election, marked a peak in the use of the concept of decent work in South Africa. While the demand for better working conditions is deeply rooted in the struggle for democracy in South Africa, the use of the concept of decent work in the policy discourse of the government is relatively new. It was first used at the second Growth and Em- ployment Summit in June 2003 where, to address the challenge of employment, the govern- ment, employers and trade unions made a commitment to “work for more jobs, better jobs and decent work for all” (Mbeki 2003: 3). Although a number of agreements were reached to improve the quantity and quality of em- ployment at the Growth and Employment summit, post- summit progress was slow. Of 1 Edward Webster is a distinguished research professor at the Southern Centre for Inequality Studies and research associate and founder of the Society, Work and Politics Institute at Witwatersrand University Johannesburg (Edward.Web- ster@wits.ac.za). 2 Carmen Ludwig is a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Political Science at the Justus-Liebig-University Giessen and a former research associate at the Society, Work and Politics Institute at Witwatersrand University Johannesburg (car- men.ludwig@sowi.uni-giessen.de).