Editorial: What we have become? | Nothing can ever justify the level of cruelty meted out on the poor by Nehawu, one of the largest affiliates of trade union federation Cosatu – the supposed voice of the working class
There were images of rubbish strewn around at health facilities that can ill-afford to be unhygienic; there were stories of strikers blocking entrances and turning away ambulances with emergency cases on board; patients unable to have essential operations; snaking queues of people unable to access clinics and hospitals for chronic medications; and – tragically – unnecessary deaths.
If previous public sector strikes were anything to go by, the leadership of the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union should have anticipated that the strike action would get ugly and should have taken appropriate steps to prevent it descending into an attack on poor people’s access to healthcare.
The situation was summed up by Democratic Nurses Association of SA spokesperson Sibongiseni Delihlazo, who said the strike and associated violence had rendered many healthcare facilities “dysfunctional”. He spoke of patients who were not being fed or given medicine, night shift staff locked inside hospitals, corpses unattended in wards and emergency transfers halted because ambulance drivers were intimidated.
While not absolving government’s responsibility for the situation, SA Medical Association chairperson Mvuyisi Mzukwa condemned the lack of ethical leadership by Nehawu members, who were “putting the lives of healthcare professionals and the public at risk”.This is the point: We empathise with the dedicated and hardworking health workers who work under intolerable conditions and are not being adequately compensated.
Nevertheless, nothing can ever justify the level of cruelty meted out on the poor by Nehawu, one of the largest affiliates of trade union federation Cosatu – the supposed voice of the working class.In times of uncertainty you need journalism you can trust. For 14 free days, you can have access to a world of in-depth analyses, investigative journalism, top opinions and a range of features. Journalism strengthens democracy. Invest in the future today. Thereafter you will be billed R75 per month.
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