Civil servants strike erupts into violence
Source: Agencies |
August 20, 2010, Friday
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POLICE fired rubber bullets on protesting teachers throwing bricks and stones, nurses tore down a hospital gate and the government sent army medics into hospitals as a nationwide civil servants' strike for higher wages took hold in South Africa yesterday.
On the second day of the strike, the government ordered the army medical corps to treat patients abandoned by medical workers.
A defense department spokesman said army medical staff were deployed to several hospitals around Johannesburg and KwaZulu-Natal on the east coast after the health minister, Aaron Motsoaledi, requested assistance.
The medical teams are accompanied by soldiers in case of a violent reaction from strikers.
Earlier yesterday teachers in the red T-shirts of their union scattered as police fired to stop them from blocking a stretch of highway during a protest in Johannesburg.
At least one officer was seen being taken from the scene bleeding from the head. Nomusa Cembi, spokeswoman for the South African Democratic Teacher's Union, said six teachers were wounded.
There was also scattered violence outside some hospitals.
Nurses tore down a gate at one Johannesburg hospital and striking workers were keeping their non-striking colleagues and patients from entering hospitals around the country.
The indefinite strike was also delaying trials because court stenographers were not at their desks.
Unions are demanding an 8.6 percent wage increase and a 1,000 rand (US$137) housing allowance. The government is offering 7 percent plus 700 rands. It said it could not afford to offer more.
South Africa has been hit hard by the global recession, losing 900,000 jobs last year.
On the second day of the strike, the government ordered the army medical corps to treat patients abandoned by medical workers.
A defense department spokesman said army medical staff were deployed to several hospitals around Johannesburg and KwaZulu-Natal on the east coast after the health minister, Aaron Motsoaledi, requested assistance.
The medical teams are accompanied by soldiers in case of a violent reaction from strikers.
Earlier yesterday teachers in the red T-shirts of their union scattered as police fired to stop them from blocking a stretch of highway during a protest in Johannesburg.
At least one officer was seen being taken from the scene bleeding from the head. Nomusa Cembi, spokeswoman for the South African Democratic Teacher's Union, said six teachers were wounded.
There was also scattered violence outside some hospitals.
Nurses tore down a gate at one Johannesburg hospital and striking workers were keeping their non-striking colleagues and patients from entering hospitals around the country.
The indefinite strike was also delaying trials because court stenographers were not at their desks.
Unions are demanding an 8.6 percent wage increase and a 1,000 rand (US$137) housing allowance. The government is offering 7 percent plus 700 rands. It said it could not afford to offer more.
South Africa has been hit hard by the global recession, losing 900,000 jobs last year.
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