/ 22 August 2010

Zuma criticises violent strikers

Zuma Criticises Violent Strikers

President Jacob Zuma has criticised violent striking
public servants, saying that ugly scenes seen during the strike would tarnish the country’s image.

‘Even during the campaigns against the apartheid government we did not prevent nurses from going to work,” said Zuma.

He was speaking during the reburial of former Umkhonto weSizwe soldier Jerry Khuzwayo in Ngilanyoni outside Pietermaritzburg.

Zuma said the scene of a woman giving birth on the “streets” was not a good image for the country.

A Durban woman gave birth in a car park on Friday after she was prevented from entering three public health institutions.

Striking public servants shut down schools, blocked roads and barricaded hospitals in protests which have become increasingly violent.

Zuma said during the stayaway campaigns against the apartheid government, hospitals were treated as essential services and nurses were allowed to work.

The barricading of hospitals during strikes was foreign to the African National Congress, Zuma said.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions, an ANC alliance partner and the Independent Labour
Caucus (ILC) announced a nationwide strike on Tuesday after their members rejected the government’s offer of a 7% salary increase and a R700 monthly housing allowance.

The unions are demanding a 8,6% increase and a R1 000 housing allowance.

Zuma said the public would not sympathise with the strikers if they disrupted people’s lives.

SANDF extends deployment
The SA National Defence Force has extended the deployment of its medical teams to strike-hit hospitals across the country, a spokesperson said on Sunday.

SANDF spokesperson Siphiwe Dlamini said in a statement multi-disciplinary teams of the SA Military Health Service were now working at 32 hospitals around the country.

These included the Natalspruit, Chris Hani Baragwanath, Helen Joseph, Kalafong and George Mukhari and Steve Biko hospitals in Gauteng.

In the North West, teams were deployed at the Brits Hospital, Bophelong in Mafikeng, and the JT Tabane Hospital in Rustenburg.

In Eastern Cape, military help was provided at the Dora Nzinga and Livingstone hospitals, while in KwaZulu-Natal teams were deployed to the King Edward III, Mahatma Ghandi Memorial, Chief
Albert Luthuli, Prince Mshiyeni and Stanger hospitals.

In Limpopo, medical teams were sent to the Van Velden, Polokwane, Lebowakgomo, St Rita’s and Maphutha-Malatji hospitals, and to the Bongane, Katlego and Pelonomi hospitals in the Free State.

The seven hospitals in Mpumalanga where military staff were deployed were Witbank, Tonga, KwaMahlanga, Mapulaneng, Rob Fereira, Ermelo and Themba hospitals.

No teams were deployed to hospitals in the Western and Northern Cape.

“Depending on the request a medical team may consists of doctors, nurses and emergency healthcare practitioners,” Dlamini said. – Sapa