NEHAWU statement on government’s decision to move the country to Covid-19 lockdown Level 3
25 May 2020
The National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union [NEHAWU] notes the statement by President Cyril Ramaphosa announcing the decision by the National Coronavirus Command Council to move the country to Level 3 of the Covid-19 lockdown levels from the 1st June 2020 as part of government’s Risk Adjusted Strategy.
The announcement of the downgrade takes place amidst growing numbers of infections and mortalities. As things stand, there 22 583 positive cases identified and 429 deaths while testing continues to take place on a daily basis. These numbers necessitates that more stringent and effective plans to combat the spread of COVID-19 are put in place as a matter of urgency. The national union calls for more screening and testing to take place especially in townships and rural areas so as to ascertain the true extent of the spread of the virus.
More still needs to be done in arresting and containing the spread of the virus especially on frontline workers who are the bedrock of our national response and our first line of defence. NEHAWU will urgently engage government to make it illegal for employers to compel workers to work without Personal Protective Equipment [PPEs].
We welcome government’s approach of protecting the health of our people while also protecting people’s jobs and livelihoods. We are in favour of the two pronged approach that seeks to kick-start the economy while also putting measures in place to provide access to healthcare during the pandemic. The coronavirus has caused unprecedented damages to the economy coupled with an unacceptable number of deaths, job losses, and loss of personal income of millions of our people. In this regard, we support our federation, the Congress of South African Trade Unions [COSATU], in calling for a bold and decisive supplementary budget that must be driven by the motive to retain jobs and kick-start the economy. Moreover, we hope that the Minister of Finance will use that opportunity to do the right thing and make money available to honour the last leg of Resolution 1 of 2018 especially clause 3.3 as signed at the bargaining council.