The SANDF has confirmed that it has been deployed to assist in hospitals due to the strike action by workers affiliated to the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union.
THE SANDF has confirmed that it has been deployed to assist in hospitals due to the strike action by workers affiliated to the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu).
In a brief statement, SANDF spokesperson Brigadier General Andries Mokoena Mahapa said the SANDF has deployed military health-care practitioners from the South African Military Health Services following a request for assistance by the Department of Health (DOH) due to the strike action by workers affiliated with Nehawu across the country.
“The military health-care practitioners were deployed on Wednesday, March 8, 2023, to hospitals as determined by DOH and will remain deployed as may be required,” Mahapa said.
He said that the National Disaster Management Act of 2002 provides deployment of SANDF personnel to a national organ of state for the rendering of emergency services.
Nehawu had vowed that as of Monday it would intensify its strike action which began last week.
The union is demanding a 10% salary increase, of which 3% was granted last year, and a R2,500 housing allowance for workers.
The secretary-general of Nehawu, Zola Saphetha, said they wanted to demonstrate to the government the seriousness of their requests. Saphetha said there had been a concerted effort to underplay the role and significance of public servants, who were at the coalface of service delivery.
Saphetha said the government continued to show public sector workers the middle finger and displayed high levels of arrogance by disregarding their plight even during the ongoing facilitation process at the Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council. Hence the strike would continue until the government acceded to the workers’ demands.
Since the start of the strike, there has been chaos at health institutions, with many patients left abandoned. Some have been unable to see their doctors, while others have been unable to obtain their chronic medication.
Striking workers blocked the entrances to health facilities and investigations are under way to determine whether four people who died last week did so as a result of the strike.
Meanwhile, the Department of Public Service and Administration welcomed the return to the bargaining council by unions that had initially opted to stay out of the ongoing negotiations. The government is concerned about protests that are currently ongoing in the country and are taking on a nature that is not reflective of defending democracy and human rights, the department said.
