Unhealthy state of affairs: Nehawu members protest outside Bheki Mlangeni Hospital in Soweto on Wednesday. Photo: Fani Mahuntsi/Gallo Images
According to Adam Smith, liberty “is at the heart of capitalism, and at the heart of liberty lies commitment to the good of humankind”. This liberty not only speaks to those who own the means of production, it also refers to the workers, the human capital.
In Smith’s view, “liberty means that every man, as long as he does not violate the laws of justice, is left perfectly free to pursue his own interest his own way …” Moreover, Smith expressed the belief that liberty “reduces hardship by reducing living costs for the poor, but also enables the poor to develop skills, move about freely, and bring their work into competition with others …” Of course, we are all aware that workers are not at liberty for their labour to compete under the guise of the free market. The fact of the working poor is a common phenomenon and wages tend to fail to meet the demands and needs of the workers. There is also the illusive power to determine the cost of one’s labour under free market fundamentalism, for such is a one-sided affair, benefiting only those who own the means of production.
William Robinson’s work shows us the extent to which global capitalism has led to a crisis of humanity. Capitalism has violated its fundamental principle of the common good; even exploitation has been justified under the guise of profits being reinvested for expansion meant to increase employment opportunities. However, what we have been witnessing in society is the expansion of wealth inequalities.
Neoliberal capitalism has also violated the promise of enhancing the lives of the poor. The crisis has manifested in the precarious existence of the working class (those employed, unemployed or outside the labour market). According to 2022 data, 18.2 million South Africans live in extreme poverty. Workers feel they are living under conditions of slavery and high rates of inflation have not been matched with compatible wage increments.
According to Expastian, a family of four’s estimated cost of living is R43 639 a month, yet the average income for an entry level nurse in South Africa is R21 240, before taxes. Payscale also indicates the average salary for teachers in South Africa, depending on qualifications, experience and place of work. Level 1 teachers (who are paid the least) earn less than R20 000 a month and, even if they were single, their income does not come close to covering the cost of living for a single person whose estimated monthly expenses are R22 280 a month.
The demands made by unionists are valid as the entire country suffers, especially as a result of inflation.
Despite this, when the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) opted to block entry to hospitals, especially public hospitals which service poor black people, who have no alternatives, we must begin to reflect on the ethics of protest in the context of valid demands by workers.
On Wednesday, a woman who was in labour was barred from entering the hospital in Sebokeng, Gauteng. She ended up going to a nearby private hospital, where she was refused access to services because she did not have medical aid or health insurance and her family did not have the financial means to pay for the baby to be delivered there.
At the heart of this nightmare was a horrifying intersection of class, gender and race — reinforced by Nehawu. There is no denying the importance of trade unions in light of the divide-and-conquer tactic of capitalism. Friedrich Engels argued that trade unions are important because they “direct themselves against the vital nerve of the present (capitalist) social order”.
Moreover, in confidence and trust in the proletariat, Karl Marx argued for a working class revolution and believed that the working class could successfully overthrow the bourgeoisie by “ridding itself of all the muck of ages and becoming fitted to found society anew”. Key to this revolution is mass participation as a means of extending popular democratic leadership of the workers. Apart from class antagonism, and the violence that sustains it, the everyday consciousness of oppression constitutes the muck of all ages.
And the task of founding a new society entails addressing the crisis of humanity that capitalism, especially global capitalism, has yielded. However, given what we have witnessed in the past few days, especially with some patients succumbing and pregnant women being turned away, we note that capitalism has not only led to a crisis of humanity but the working class is also engulfed by the crisis of ethics of protest. What are the ethics of mass mobilisation against the state when the collateral is innocent people who are the most marginalised in society?
The incidents in the health sector over the past couple of days reflect the Nehawu protestors’ lack of ubuntu. A tool meant to be a weapon against the ruling class has been turned on the masses, who are being harmed in the process. Unfortunately, at this particular moment, Nehawu is showing us that it has no capacity to build society anew for its members. By risking the lives of sick people and turning away women in labour, they emulate the neoliberal ethic manifesting through self-interest and collective selfishness.
It remains mind boggling that, at the moment of realising a woman is in labour and needs to access a hospital, what becomes more important is a labour struggle devoid of humanity, geared at achieving the 10% wage increase demand at any cost, rather than striving to get the demands met without endangering and harming the lives of the most vulnerable.
What should be differentiating the workers from the bourgeois state is the proximity to the masses, who are crucial for a socialist democratisation. Aren’t the workers imbued with a moral responsibility to safeguard the interests and well-being of the masses who have also been transformed into a class that serves as an ally against capital? (See Marx’s Philosophy of Poverty.) It is the masses that Marx promised us would rise up for the collective class struggle and revolution yet the Nehawu workers’ actions seem not to deviate from those of capitalists states that always resort to violence and violation to sustain hegemony and achieve the goals of capital’s self-interest.
It is also ironic that the violation of the right to healthcare for the pregnant women who were turned away from Sebokeng Hospital also occurred on the 8 March which is International Women’s Day.
Cintia Frencia and Daniel Gaido reminded us of the socialist origin of International Women’s Day. “In agreement with the class-conscious political and trade union organisations of the proletariat of their respective countries, socialist women of all nationalities have to organise a special Women’s Day which must, above all, promote … female suffrage. This demand must be discussed in connection with the whole women’s question, according to the socialist conception.”
Socialist conception included the advocacy for mothers and children to be socially assisted. What happened with women in labour being prevented from accessing the hospital is indicative of what happens when a labour movement is devoid of feminist consciousness and principles.
Socialist feminists have worked tirelessly to make us understand the intersections of patriarchy and capitalism and the misfortune of a worker consciousness devoid of socialist feminist ethics. The results are what we witnessed this week. This serves as a call for trade unions to reflect deeply about the important work of infusing socialist feminism and transcending the liberal feminist trap of the numbers game.
If Nehawu and other trade unions fail in this task of substantive and qualitative gendered revolution within the workers’ struggles, then we cannot trust workers to truly found society anew, distinct from the remnants of the capitalist patriarchal order.
Dikeledi Mokoena holds a PhD in Political Science. She is a lecturer, researcher, facilitator and a public speaker.