DA oversight to Pelonomi Hospital reveals devastation by Nehawu strike
9 March 2023
Note to editors: Please find attached soundbite by Michele Clarke MP. See pictures here, here and here.
The DA’s oversight to Pelonomi Hospital, National District Hospital and Universitas Academic Hospital in Bloemfontein has revealed the extensive devastation caused by the National Education, Health and Allied Workers' Union (Nehawu) strike, which is echoed in public health facilities all across the country.
The DA will write to the Minister of Health, Dr Joe Phaahla, to intervene as a matter of urgency. It is unacceptable that hospital workers and patients’ lives are being risked over a wage dispute. It is further unacceptable that Nehawu Western Cape provincial secretary, Baxolise Mali, reportedly said that it is not the union’s “responsibility to keep people’s lives”.
This deliberate endangerment of lives has already resulted in deaths, according to the Health Minister.