A group of police officers remain on guard at Bloemfontein’s National Hospital as the wage strike by public servants belonging to the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) intensifies. The police deployment followed reports of intimidation, disruptions, and compromised patient care at public hospitals.
Limited staff that was on night duty at the National Hospital were locked inside the premises this morning. The strike has severely affected major public hospitals in Bloemfontein as it intensified. Several workers wearing the union’s red and white regalia have converged in large numbers at the Pelonomi Hospital and the Universitas Academic Hospital. Some striking union members were at odds with the media at Pelonomi, accusing media representatives of reporting fake news about the strike. The situation is tense.
Striking workers are defiantly continuing with the strike over wages, despite two court orders secured by the government. The Department of Public Service and Administration successfully interdicted the strike from going ahead on Saturday. However, Nehawu lodged an appeal on Sunday and stated the industrial action would go ahead as planned because the appeal suspended the court order.
Nehawu and the state reached a deadlock in wage negotiations after the state unilaterally implemented a 3% salary increase for 2022-’23 in October. The union is demanding a 10% increase plus a R2 500 housing allowance among other demands. Nehawu served the employer with a strike notice on 24 February. The union accused the government of reneging on the final year of a three-year agreement in 2021.
Hundreds of patients were seen returning home as there are no health services rendered at the three main hospitals in Bloemfontein.
