SOWETAN | Protests no licence to impunity

The right to strike is protected by the constitution and legislation to ensure that workers can embark on industrial action without dismissal.

Protests are therefore important elements of collective bargaining and are used by employees to put pressure on employers to accede to their demands or defend their interests.

However, incidents of violence, intimidation and threats during strikes or protests, if not addressed, seek to diminish the importance of this right that is one of the pillars of a democracy.

Unfortunately in the past three days we were again reminded of what happens when the exercise of the right to protest is taken too far.

With health services being disrupted across the country due to a strike by National Health, Education and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu), reports emerged that patients were being denied medical care in hospitals. This is a life-threatening situation.

There were further reports of blocking of roads leading to major health facilities with rocks, intimidation of fellow healthcare workers, doctors, and even threats of violence.

In Gauteng yesterday, the department of health called on law enforcement to deal with the protesters who were preventing patients from accessing health facilities, including clinics. Similar scenes were also reported in other provinces across the country including in Stanger Hospital, KwaZulu-Natal, where strikers were alleged to have assaulted paramedics and attempted to remove an injured child from an ambulance.

These acts by striking Nehawu members not only seek to delegitimise their strike action but must be condemned as abhorrent and criminal. To protest and seek to be heard is one thing but trying to strike fear in the minds of patients and fellow healthcare workers cannot be tolerated.

We must not look away but stop this slide towards anarchy by holding the union leaders accountable. Our police have a duty to arrest those who engage in criminality and ensure the safety of all citizens including patients and non-striking healthcare workers and doctors.

It is also concerning that the people who would deny patients access to health would be the same ones who took oath to save lives.

We agree that there are a lot of things that need to be addressed in public health regarding the conditions of work of nurses, support staff and doctors. What they cannot do though, is use violence, intimidation and threats to raise their grievances. They must respect the rights of others to seek essential medical care and be served.