Development Talk

The civil servants strike has brought learning and health care to a standstill. Photo: Kool_skatkat via Flickr

South Africans are lucky to live in a country that has a Constitution which confers on its citizens many rights and freedoms. However, problems arise when you trample on someone else’s rights in the process of  practising your own.

Currently the members of the National Education Health and Allied Workers Union (NEHAWU), the Health and Other Service Personnel Trade Union of South Africa, the Public Servants Association, Democratic Nursing Organisation of SA and the South African Democratic Teacher’s Union (SADTU) are exercising their constitutional right to freedom of assembly, demonstration, picketing and petition.

These civil servants are on strike to demand a 8.6% increase with a R1 000 housing allowance. But in the process they are denying others their rights.

What about health and education?

According to the Constitution everyone has the right to basic education and further education. However, learning has come to a halt in schools across the country because teachers are striking.  Exams are just around the corner, but the Gauteng Education Department has decided to postpone the preliminary matric exams until the 3rd week of  September.

The Constitution also says that everyone has the right to health care. But health care practitioners are also striking and patients are being neglected. People who are sick, especially children, cannot fend for themselves. The Constitution says that everyone has the right to life and if the lives of these patients are put in danger because of the strike, their rights are being severely compromised.

Volunteers are helping out in schools and hospitals around the country, improving the plight of learners and patients slightly. But a speedy resolution will have to be found for this strike to avoid more rights being trampled on.

What do you think about the ongoing strike? How can it be resolved? Leave a comment below.