2 September 2020
The South African Communist Party (SACP) supports the National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union’s (Nehawu’s) action to protect frontline workers in the fight against coronavirus (Covid-19) and ensure that the government honours the public sector collective bargaining agreement.
The SACP salutes the frontline workers for their outstanding work in containing the spread of Covid-19 and treating those infected. Had it not been of the determination of the frontline workers, the number of those who contracted Covid-19 and succumbed to the deadly disease would be higher than it is.
The virus infected 627 041 people in South Africa and killed 71 969 since the first positive case was detected in the country on 5 March 2020. The numbers of those who contracted Covid-19 and succumbed to the invisible enemy include frontline workers. The SACP sends its message of sincere condolences to all the families that lost their loved ones and the frontline workers who paid the ultimate price of their lives in the line of duty to save the lives of others.
A wide range of factors compromised the frontline workers, including corruption and failure to comply with occupational health and safety legislation, regulations and protocols to prevent the spread of Covid-19. In the province of KwaZulu-Natal, for instance, at least two private hospitals became the epicentre of the spread of the deadly virus.
Similarly, at one private hospital in the capital city, Tshwane, in Gauteng Province, neglect led to the spread of Covid-19 that could have been prevented. Profit drives the unacceptable conduct in the private health-care sector. In the public sector, the unacceptable conduct is driven by neoliberal austerity and the corrupt connection - through tenderisation - between private wealth accumulation interests and public service, among others.
The SACP unwaveringly supports Nehawu’s demands for both private and public health-care sectors to comply with occupational health and safety legislation, regulations and protocols to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
The SACP also calls upon the government to honour the collective bargaining agreement for wage adjustments for public service workers. Failing to comply with the collective bargaining agreement is an affront to workers and a source of disruption and industrial instability.
ISSUED BY THE SOUTH AFRICAN COMMUNIST PARTY | SACP
EST. 1921 AS THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF SOUTH AFRICA | CPSA
Dr Alex Mohubetswane Mashilo
Central Committee Member for Media & Communications
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