Police arrest over 100 community health workers and activists staging peaceful night vigil outside Free State Health MECs office
BLOEMFONTEIN, 10th July, 04H00: Over 100 community healthcare workers and Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) members were arrested during the early hours of this morning by police in Bloemfontein following a night vigil sit-in at Bophelo House, the head office of the Free State Department of Health. The vigil started last night. The group, mostly elder women, have been taken to Park Road Police Station in Bloemfontein. They had been relieved of their duties as community healthcare workers without any notice and attempts to engage decision makers have been fruitless. A TAC leader in the Free State was assaulted by police during the arrests and has bruises to his face.
The community healthcare workers staged the sit in after months of trying to engage Malakoane and his officials. They had previously demanded a meeting with Free State MEC of Health Benny Malakoane following a sit in at Bophelo House on 27th June. Earlier written requests have also led to zero. Both Magashule and Malakoane have consistently ignored the plight of the community health workers. This latest sit-in signalled the start of a campaign of civil disobedience in the Free State to demand that Malakoane be removed from his position given the desperate state of the health system in the province.
Those taking part in the sit-in were exercising their constitutional right to speak out against the failings in and collapse of the Free State health system. The TAC condemns the police for the excessive use of force in arresting the peaceful protesters. The TAC have sent an urgent request to ANC Secretary General Gwede Mantashe for an urgent meeting and will also be contacting National Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi.
Please follow @TAC on Twitter and #FSHealthCrisis for continuous updates from the scene in Bloemfontein.
Statement issued by Anele Yawa, TAC General Secretary, July 10 2014
UPDATE 1:
Timeline of crackdown on Free State activists & healthworkers
This is a timeline of events over the last 24 hours of the Free State civil disobedience by activists and healthcare workers. This will be posted on our website and updated www.tac.org.za. You can also follow our twitter feed for live updates @TAC #FSHealthCrisis
27 June 2014
Community health workers gather at Bophelo House in Bloemfontein, the headquarters of the Free State Department of Health. Their contracts had not been renewed and they had not been offered an explanation. A meeting with a health official leads to an agreement that a meeting with Health MEC Benny Malakoane will take place within seven days (see media statement here).
3 July 2014
The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) releases the results of a fact -finding mission across the province. It is established that there is a health care moratorium in the province with massive stock-outs, shortages and system collapse. There is a call for the Health MEC to be fired. In addition the TAC make the following demands:
- Premier Ace Mashagule must remove Benny Malakoane from his position as MEC of Health in the Free State. If Mashagule is not willing to do this, we call on the ANC's national leadership to intervene.
- Recently dismissed community healthcare workers must be reinstated with immediate effect.
- A turn-around plan for the provincial health system must be developed as a matter of urgency. It is essential that this turn-around plan be led by committed and qualified people - and not the current MEC.
- The secretariat of the Provincial AIDS Council must be moved out of the Department of Health so as to ensure independence and more effective civil society engagement.
- The Free State Department of Health must come clean about its financial problems. The public has a right to know how the Department is spending money - especially in the midst of a crisis like the current one (see media statement here).
The Mail & Guardian publishes a feature further exposing the health system collapse in the province.
9 July 2014
18h00
Over 100 Community Health Workers (CHWs) and TAC activists from across the province start a peaceful vigil outside Bophelo House in an effort to draw attention to their plight. The TAC announces the commencement of a civil disobedience campaign (see media statement here).
19h30
Reports of MEC Malakoane phoning CHWs, warning them that they will be arrested if they participate in the protest action. He demands the names of those attending the protest.
23h30
Police presence increases significantly and they start negotiating with CHW and TAC leadership. Lawyers placed on stand-by.
00h40
Further police back-up arrive on the scene and protestors are ordered to disperse or face arrest.
01h00
Police tell protestors they have been sent by the Health MEC Benny Malakoane.
01h30
Police move in and start arresting male CHWs and male TAC activists, including TAC leader Macobane Morake who is punched in the face by one of the policemen (TAC has a photograph of the policeman who was not wearing a name tag).
02h00
Arrested protestors are taken to Park Road police station
03h20
Police send back-up transport to take arrested protestors to police stations including Mangaung police station. Women, many elderly are now also arrested and taken to police stations.
04h00
Radio 702 conduct an interview with TAC Free State Chairperson Sello Mokhalipi who is on the scene.
04H20
Police hold protestors with no update on whether they are being charged.
05h40
Protesters are told they are being charged for taking part in an illegal gathering.
06h00
TAC in the Free State mobilise members to picket outside the police stations until CHWs and activists are released.
Matshidiso Monaheng appointed as CHW spokesperson 0717318367.
09h00
Legal support organised and travel to Bloemfontein to negotiate the release of CHWs and activists.
12h00
An attorney in Bloemfontein gets confirmation from the investigating officer that the group will be brought in front of the Magistrate tomorrow morning. At this court appearance they will be formally charged. They will apply for bail at this stage.
13h15
Another 50 TAC members are arrested for picketing outside Bophelo House and taken to Park Road police station. They are forced inside police vans.
13h25
The TAC phone ANC General Secretary Gwede Mantashe. He indicated that he does not see it as his responsibility to deal with ANC leadership in the Free State.
Community health worker facts
BACKGROUND
The challenges facing community health workers (CHWs) include, but are not limited to, uncertain and irregular employment status.
CHWs are paid inadequate and meagre salaries, exposed to general poor working conditions, restricted access to particulars of employments, unregulated working hours and other violations of the Constitution, including relevant labour and other laws.
A substantial number of complaints have been received by the TAC from CHWs in various parts of the country, particularly Gauteng, Eastern Cape, North-West and Mpumalanga.
CHWs are contracted directly by the Department of Health (DoH) in the Eastern Cape whereas in Gauteng and other provinces they are largely employed through Non Profit Organisations (NPOs), with the role of government being limited to the provision of the necessary funding to the relevant NPOs to sustain the project.
In this regard NPOs concluded service provider agreements with the Gauteng DoH. The funding is supposed to be provided on a quarterly basis but, in practice, this is done in a haphazard and irregular manner.
As a result CHWs often remain unpaid for months during what is generally referred to as "dry seasons," which impacts negatively on health service delivery. There is therefore an urgent need to standardise the CHW programme to allow for its effective management and monitoring.
The umbrella term "Community Health Worker" (CHW) embraces a variety of community health aides trained and working in the communities from which they originate. These include home-based carers; lay counsellors; care-givers; outreach carers working in South Africa's health and social systems. These are further divided into facility based voluntary counseling and HIV testing (VCT) and adherence counselors, TB/Directly Observed Treatment Supporters ("DOTS") and HIV home based carers or more generalist CHWs.
CHWs continue to be directly incorporated into various governmental plans, which among others include the National Strategic Plan on HIV, STIs and TB, 2012-2016 ("NSP"), the Tuberculosis Strategic Plan for South Africa, 2007-2011 ("TBSP") and the HR Framework.
The circumstances under which CHWs are expected to perform leave them vulnerable to poor working conditions, including illness, crime, financial instability, and uncertainty regarding their supportive role within the health care system.
CURRENT SITUATION
The Department of Health (DoH) has emphasized that out of the estimated 70 000 CHWs, only 40 000 will be formally employed as part of the Ward Based Outreach Teams included in the new policy.
There are no clear timeframes as to when the DoH will eventually absorb the CHWs - as of November 2013 only 9 000 CHWs had completed phase 1 of training.
Many CHWs are currently unemployed with no communication on what their fates are.
The DoH is developing a policy that deals with the CHW challenges. A draft policy has been circulating since last year.
UPDATE 2:
FREE STATE UPDATE: WE WILL NOT RETREAT!
10th JULY JOHANNESBURG - Over 150 Free State community health workers (CHWs) and Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) activists, arrested during the early hours of Thursday, remain in detention tonight at various police stations in Bloemfontein despite attempts to secure their release.
Those arrested while staging a peaceful night vigil at the Free State Department of Health headquarters Wednesday night, will appear in the Bloemfontein Magistrates court tomorrow (Friday) morning.
The TAC would like to reiterate the following:
- The vigil was peaceful.
- It is our right to stage such a protest.
- We are demanding that charges for gathering illegally be dropped.
Those arrested, including many middle-aged and elderly women who have served the health service for years, spent the entire Thursday in holding cells at various Bloemfontein police stations. They are hungry, cold and in need of critical medication for various conditions such as HIV, TB, diabetes and hypertension.
Since the arrests the TAC and those being detained have received support from a number of organisations including:
- Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (DENOSA)
- Hospersa
- Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU)
- Amnesty International
- Right2Know
- South African National AIDS Council Civil Society Forum
- SECTION27
- Sonke Gender Justice
- Budget and Expenditure Monitoring Forum (BEMF)
- Rural Health Advocacy Project (RHAP)
- People's Health Movement
- Eastern Cape Health Crisis Action Coalition
- World AIDS Campaign
- Studies in Poverty and Inequality Institute
- Sonke Gender Justice
- Alternative Information Development Centre (AIDC)
- Rural Rehab South Africa
- Professional Association of Clinical Associates in South Africa (PACASA)
The community healthcare workers and activists staged the sit in after months of trying to engage MEC of Health Benny Malakoane and his officials. They had previously been promised a meeting with Malakoane following a sit in at Bophelo House on 27th June. The meeting did not happen. Earlier written requests also came to nothing. Both the Premier of the Free State, Ace Magashule, and Malakoane have consistently ignored the plight of the community health workers.
The TAC is appealing to people to attend the court hearing tomorrow in solidarity with our struggle for quality health care and the right of all citizens to stage peaceful protests. We will not retreat from defending people's right to health care.
Details of the court hearing:
Bloemfontein Magistrates Court
8.30 am
Corner St. George's and President Brand Streets
Statements issued by the Treatment Action Campaign, July 10 2014
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