At a media briefing,  held in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, on Sunday by all of its senior elected leadership, NEHAWU  General Secretary, Zola Saphetha, noted that last week all Provincial health departments, except the North West, had brought successful interdicts against strike activities that threatened health services and that “we called on our members to work within the framework of the law.”  

However, NEHAWU’s five-page statement was completely silent on the issue of harm to patients and the system. 

Responding to claims made by the Health Minister that at least four patients had died, Zaphetha said “it’s unfortunate to lose life, but we reserve our rights to establish the truth [of whether this was due to the strike]. The union must be given space; once it’s known publicly what happened we can respond.”

“We are depicted as a union that has created a genocide, we are the opposite of that.”

NEHAWU’s President Mike Shingange built on this claiming that reports of deaths and other harm was “propaganda to turn the public against us.”

He said the union’s anger was “not at the recipients of public health services, but at the state as an institution.” 

Shingange said “part of our demands is to try and strengthen the health system” noting that “very few public services are fit for purpose” as a result of budget and staff cuts. He said the health workforce is “traumatized and frustrated” by what they have gone through and that workers were “demoralized and demotivated.”

“We are happy with the response to the strike; we have been suffocated for such a long time; when are we allowed to defend ourselves?” he asked.     

In its defence, NEHAWU harshly criticized the attacks on collective bargaining by the government. “At stake is not just the wage dispute of 2022/23 – it is also collective bargaining given the unilateralism that is now prevailing in the public sector.”

Zaphetha said that at the end of last week, NEHAWU had again entered into negotiations with “the employer” at the Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC), with an intention to try and reach a settlement, but – despite willingness by the Minister of Public Services and Administration Noxolo Kiviet “to resolve the impasse” – these negotiations had been scuppered, something that was blamed on the inflexible and intransigent position of Finance Minister, Enoch Godongwana.

On Monday the Labour Appeal Court is also due to hand down judgment on NEHAWU’s appeal against an execution order by the Labour Court that had interdicted the strike “on the eve of its commencement last week.” NEHAWU seems to anticipate it will lose this appeal, as it promises to “immediately meet our lawyers for legal recourse to be considered.” 

Meanwhile, health workers, and doctors, in particular, are extremely fearful of what a second week of disruptions and intimidation will bring.

Over the weekend the Minister of Health, Dr Joe Phaahla, informed a group of health workers that a team of SA Military Health Services personnel had just arrived at Thelle Mogoerane Hospital (in Johannesburg) “to give highly needed medical support, mainly nursing.” According to the Minister, “they left Klerksdorp-Tshepong complex earlier today once there was stability.”

Phaahla said he would “welcome practical suggestions about how to protect health services which take into consideration the challenges created by the Constitutional architecture … amongst these is the semi-federal nature of functions such as health, basic education, and others.”

The overall impression is that health users are being crushed between the demands of the unions and the intransigence of the government. Who exactly is to be held responsible is cold comfort for a person needing emergency medical care. There are moves afoot by patient advocacy groups to persuade (and if necessary compel) the union to guarantee safety and access to treatment for patients and other health workers. DM/MC