Victims of the current public servants’ strike, heavily pregnant women, are being turned away from South African hospitals.
Independent Online reports that at least 20 heavily pregnant women, some already in the middle of labour, were turned away from the Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital in Johannesburg on Monday.
The women, along with with mothers with sick infants, arrived at the hospital to find the gates locked and staff, including essential nursing staff, protesting nearby. They simply ignored a court interdict granted to the government instructing essential staff to return to work.
Security guards at the entrance to Rahima Moosa turned away the women, saying there was no one on the premises to help them, while protesters blocked other entrances to the hospital.
Escalate
The Citizen reported that South Africans should brace themselves as the public servants strike is poised to escalate this week, building up to a mass march on Thursday.
Innocent people have already died, babies in some hospitals have been left cold and hungry, and pupils, including matrics, have lost out on crucial time in classrooms. A number of schools in the Ridge area have been affected in the past few weeks; a number of schools opted to play it safe and close their doors, rather than compromise on the safety of their students and teachers.
The government has obtained a court order forcing essential health services personnel to end the strike. Even maverick ANC Youth League President Julius Malema entered the fray, urging strikers not to resort to violence or prevent doctors from helping sick patients.
The Health Services Personell Trade Union of South Africa (Hospersa) said yesterday that its non-essential services workers would continue to strike.
Collateral damage
A teacher from Cape Town, writing anonymously in the City Press newspaper, defended the strikers’ conduct: “This is war. Sadly, in any war there is collateral damage. It is painful and sickening that nurses have to abandon their posts and refuse to treat children and those suffering. But what choice have they been left with?”
The Guardian (UK) reported that a number of high level doctors, including KZN Minister of Health Dr Sibongiseni Maxwell Dhlomo and National Health Minister, Aaron Motsoaledi, have been volunteering at local hospitals. Motsoaledi rolled his sleeves up and stitched up the wounds of at least a dozen stab victims during a night shift at Chris Hani Baragwanath hospital in Soweto.
More strike news
The Mail and Guardian Online reported on Tuesday that the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has threatened a total shutdown of the economy with a secondary strike if the government fails to settle its dispute with public-service workers by next Thursday.
“We call on all workers to intensify their action. Every Cosatu-affiliated union must on August 26 submit notice to their employers to embark on a secondary strike,” general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said on Tuesday.
“So by next Thursday if the current strike is not resolved, the entire economy of South Africa will be shut down.”
– Ridge Correspondent
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4 Comments
This is completely and utterly sick and very disappointing!
Is it not our democratic right as a South African to have healthcare and education? Why then are people like this ALLOWED to strike?! Court interdicts mean nothing to these people – they need to be arrested, and then fired! Not only are the future leaders of South Africa being kicked out of their schools due to these protests, but people are DYING! Innocent people who trust doctors and nurses to do the job they took an OATH to do! Does the Hippocratic oath mean nothing?
It is honestly despicable, and people like this will drag our country down – we will ALWAYS be third world because of them!
Government must take action immediately! Either by cutting their fat salaries, car allowances, housing allowances, helicopter allowances and giving these workers an increase, or by arresting and firing the lot!
hear hear! sam for president!
Is it not our democratic right as South Africans to have healthcare and education?
Nope, the only “democratic right” we have is to exercise our franchise from time to time.
We do however have plenty of constitutional rights. These are also frequently ignored by the government and private individuals themselves.
Court interdicts mean nothing to these people – they need to be arrested, and then fired!
I am sickened at the fact that these people dare call themselves “public servants”. The word servant (in the non-derogatory sense) means that you are willing to help those in need of your assistance at all costs! No amount of money should render any reason to abandon your obligation and choice of being a public servant.
As blunt as this may sound, teachers and nurses go into these proffessions knowing that the salary is dismal and difficult to fight for. Those who AREN’T on strike, are the ones working out of passion and not just treating it as a monthly salary!
I am disgusted at the state our country has gotten to again – after such a rise during the World Cup. Was that all just a ploy to impress the rest of the world and rake in all the money…only to strike and take advantage??
You should all be ashamed of yourselves!