Alcohol is not to blame for shortages of hospital beds, government is

15 July 2020

The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) continues to be dismayed by the callousness and heartlessness, of the government and its response to the covid-19 pandemic. Since the lockdown was implemented in March, it has become patently clear that the ANC-led government continues to drive an anti-black, anti-poor and anti-working class agenda and it has failed to take deliberate action to protect the masses.

Its goal, even during these times, is to protect the interests of the wealthy elite, at the expense of the masses. We are faced with a devastating global pandemic which has infected approximately thirteen million people worldwide, and more than half a million have died. South Africa is recording twelve thousand new cases everyday - that’s 500 cases per hour and more than four thousand people have died since the lockdown. As a union we have lost beloved friends and comrades to the virus. Workers, especially those on the front line across all sectors, continue to be the most exposed to infection and the risk of death.

Government has confirmed that it expects that between 40 000 and 50 000 deaths will occur this year alone from covid-19 pandemic. It is disgraceful that during this time, healthcare workers are still complaining about shortages in Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), and their calls for these crucial items continue to fall on deaf ears. They are exposed to shocking working conditions, whilst suffering dire shortages of medication. Health workers are forced to risk their lives in order to save the lives of others, whilst being denied risk allowance or tax breaks. But our overpaid pampered Members of Parliament are working from the comfort and safety of their homes.

Alcohol is not to blame for shortages of hospital beds, government is!

The tribute to healthcare workers is hollow. It means nothing to thank workers for their sacrifices, when they are fighting a war against a virus, and there are massive shortages in staff, protective gear, medication and facilities. We are told because of alcohol hospital beds are running out! This is not true.

These shortages are a direct result of the failed macro-economic policies, championed by the ANC government, despite dire warnings from us as NUMSA, that these policies would fail dismally, and result in increased suffering for the masses. We have consistently warned, both when we were within the alliance, and after we left, that pushing GEAR and the National Development Plan would be disastrous for the poor and the working class. We now sit with expanded unemployment rate which has risen to 39.7 per cent, and the highest levels of inequality in the world, and poverty levels are set to skyrocket even further.

The neo-liberal policies which the government is obsessed with, called for drastic cuts in government spending, and as a result, many state owned nursing schools were closed. Furthermore, decisions were taken to reduce costs on primary health and health care services which is why today we do not have enough facilities to adequately treat this virus. Alcohol is not to blame for shortages of hospital beds, government is!

But the greatest failure is undoubtedly the fact that government has failed to nationalize all private hospitals, particularly now, at this time, when government is predicting that a staggering forty to fifty thousand lives will be lost from the virus. Their deaths will have been as a direct result of the negligence of the state. In the address made by President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday night, he said the following:

“We have the power within ourselves, working with each other, to limit the damage that this virus does to our people, our society and our economy.”

It is clear that government is choosing the easy way out and is exonerating itself from any responsibility to intervene to reduce infections and deaths. By saying the power ‘is within ourselves’ it is effectively washing its hands of any responsibility, and places the burden of preventing the disease squarely on the individual.

This government has shown once again that it has no solutions for the working class. Instead of building hospitals, they are busy preparing one million graves in Gauteng, and the looting of public funds continues unabated. Ten million rand was wasted on purchasing ambulance scooters in the Eastern Cape, which are nothing more than glorified wheelbarrows. The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has been tasked with investigating the looting of monies from the COVID-19 fund.

At the same time, workers are struggling to get paid their money from the UIF’s Temporary Relief Scheme (TERS). The level of incompetence demonstrated by administrators in the payment of these monies has been extreme to say the least, forcing workers at Tau Lekoa mine, and other companies to take to the streets in protest against hunger. Our SOEs are collapsing because of maladministration and corruption and government, and in particular the Department of Public Enterprises, failed to intervene.

Workers at SA Express have been unpaid since February and government has refused to help them in any way, even though as the shareholder, they are directly responsible for the collapse of the airline. While the masses are dying from hunger or coronavirus in high numbers, ANC political deployees, and their capitalist cronies in the private sector, continue to feast like vultures on the carcasses of the poor and the working class!

We condemn this government for accusing the working class for the exponential rise in infections and deaths. By insisting that “we have the power within ourselves” and then moving on to blame the masses for not social distancing, wearing masks and staying at home, government is shifting the blame onto the masses for its disastrous and deadly failure to protect its citizens from infections and deaths, by its pathological adherence to neoliberalism and austerity policies.

For 26 years the ANC government has refused to uproot the racial distribution of economic and social opportunities in this country, thereby condemning the vast majority of the population – which is African and Black - to a life of drug and alcohol abuse, and extreme violent crime including rape and GBV. Because the government refused to uproot the racial distribution of economic and social opportunities in this country, and chose instead to consistently defend the wealth of its financial backers, South Africa has become the most unequal and thoroughly impoverished country in the world, with unemployment today fast running towards 50%.

We condemn, unreservedly, all crimes and especially violent crimes including rape and GBV. But, we reject with the contempt it deserves the demonization of the working class as drug and alcohol abusers, as rapists, as the causers of GBV and all such evils in society. We view some parts of the President’s speech as advancing the stereotypical racist demonization of the African and Black working class!

To make matters worse, they unilaterally banned alcohol, with no regard whatsoever for how this will impact on workers in the sector. they have made no plans for workers to receive salaries or some kind of income whilst the ban is in place. How will workers in the sector survive, especially when the TERS relief scheme is set to come to an end this month.

NUMSA Demands the following:

The most crucial course of action must be to protect the public at large against further infections and deaths. In order to do this effectively we must do the following:

All private hospitals and healthcare providers must be nationalized in order to ensure that everyone can access treatment for COVID-19 and testing for the virus must be free. The Spanish government did this at the height of the infection rate in order to protect its citizens. The Spanish government also prohibited the dismissal of workers and its Labour minister, Yolanda Díaz from the Communist Party of Spain (PCE) declared that companies cannot use the health crisis as an excuse to fire workers.

In South Africa we have seen an unprecedented number of companies retrenching workers as a result of the lockdown, and government has not lifted a finger to intervene. We demand that the government declare that it is illegal to fire workers during the pandemic, and there must be a moratorium on retrenchments.

We condemn the Department of Health for allowing taxis to load at 100% capacity and to claim that commuters can prevent the spreading of the virus by simply opening windows. This is a sick but deadly joke. By allowing taxi operators to fill the taxi to capacity, government is effectively turning these vehicles into mobile coffins because the virus will spread exponentially across the length and breadth of this country.

They have a duty to subsidize the taxi industry and ensure it operates within the load capacity to guarantee safety during this period. It is the only transportation sector which carries the bulk of the Black and African working class to and from work, and yet for more than two decades, government has steadfastly refused to support and subsidize this sector. Some taxi owners behave as a law unto themselves - workers in the taxi sector have not been formalized and continue to suffer the worst kind of exploitation because they have no protection. They too are being sent to their deaths with the 100% load capacity. The pandemic has made the need to formalize this industry and introduce progressive and modern public transport standards extremely urgently.

Finally, we demand compliance with health and safety regulations in the workplace. The infection rate is rising because employers are failing to adhere to the regulations to create a safer working environment. We demand stiff penalties for transgressions and regular inspections.

Workplaces must be shut down and deep cleaned if infections arise, and those who are positive or exposed must be placed under quarantine or isolation, while on full pay. The virus is happening to all of us, and we should do everything in our power to protect our communities.

We need a government that will put people at the center of its policies, not one which continuously and unashamedly sells out the masses and the working class for the benefit of greedy corporate bosses.

Aluta continua!

The struggle continues!

Issued by Irvin Jim, NUMSA General Secretary, 15 July 2020