About five members of the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) sustained injuries and were taken to the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto for treatment after police used rubber bullets to disperse striking workers at the hospital’s main entrance.  

“A police captain asked what we were going to do about the shooting of our members. That’s how arrogant they were,” a Nehawu member said at the entrance to the hospital on Thursday. 

“We have embarked on an indefinite strike action which started on Monday, 6 March,” Lehlohonolo Tseeke, a shop steward at the Bheki Mlangeni District Hospital in Soweto, said from the hospital entrance on Thursday. 

“The issues that we are fighting for are, first, you will remember that last year when we were negotiating salary increases for this financial year the employer decided to unilaterally implement the 3%.  

“So, now we are still demanding the 10%. This strike is about the unresolved dispute.”  

He said the unresolved wage dispute stretched back to October last year. Tseeke said members’ pressing issues included the 10% wage increase, a R2,500 housing allowance and the issue of the employer “funding our children’s education”. 

Giving an update on what to expect for the day, Tseeke said at 12 noon at the Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC), the employer would meet the four trade unions which rejected the 3%: Nehawu, the South African Policing Union (Sapu), the Democratic Nurses Organisation of South Africa (Denosa) and the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru). 

“We got a tip-off that a team from the central office will come and meet the leadership,” Tseeke said. 

“Now we want to register again that our strike is peaceful. We are not beating people. We are not intimidating anyone. Employees decide on their own volition to join our forces out there.”  

Entrance to the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital blocked during the Nehawu protest on 9 March 2023 in Soweto, South Africa. (Photo: Gallo Images / Papi Morake)

Nehawu members protest outside Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital on 9 March 2023 in Soweto, South Africa. (Photo: Gallo Images / Papi Morake)

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Tseeke applauded other unions that he said joined of their own volition. 

Tseeke responded with anger to the police shooting of strikers at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital.  

“Now, we are not going to tolerate the brutal force from the employer because our strike is peaceful,” Tseeke said. “This thing will now fuel anger from the workers, which is something we have been trying to suppress.”

The use of force in the form of rubber bullets was not limited to the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital. Earlier on Thursday, Daily Maverick reported that private security guards fired rubber bullets at striking workers at the entrance to the Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital in Mthatha, injuring four. 

Read more in Daily Maverick: “Strikers shot with rubber bullets at Mthatha hospital” 

“They shot at our members for burning a tyre,” one Nehawu member told Daily Maverick on Thursday afternoon. 

Daily Maverick was told on Thursday morning that on Wednesday a high-ranking hospital official went to the Bheki Mlangeni Hospital and threatened to fire striking workers.  

“We condemn her actions and we are saying no staff member will be expelled,” said Tseeke, adding that the union would open a case of intimidation against the official. 

Another Bheki Mlangeni Hospital shop steward, Bongani Khanyile, condemned DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Health Jack Bloom’s utterances. 

“On Wednesday, Jack Bloom portrayed the workers and shop stewards of the Bheki Mlangeni Hospital as vigilantes and arrogant people.  

“We have never had any violence here at Bheki Mlangeni. Our strike has been peaceful. As you can see, there is not a single police van despite the fact that this hospital is close to the local police station,” Khanyile said. 

“I’m not sure what they are referring to. I don’t recall using that specific term, but there is certainly intimidation as per my media statement,” Bloom responded on Thursday.  

The strike has continued despite a court interdict preventing the union members from obstructing the delivery of healthcare to patients.  

And on Thursday at a media briefing, Health Minister Joe Phaahla said four patients had died as a result of the strike action. The union disputed this and said patients die in clinics and hospitals around the country daily. DM  

Gauteng SAPS were contacted for comment but did not respond by the time of publication.