Strike chaos closes hospital
PROTEST STOPS WORK: UNPAID PERFORMANCE BONUSES IS THE ISSUE
Blocked patients from entering premises and spread rubbish all over the building.
There was chaos at Charlotte Maxeke Hospital in Johannesburg yesterday as angry workers protested over the nonpayment of performance bonuses. They congregated inside the hospital, barring people from entering the building, including patients.
One witness said: “Doctors are not being allowed to work. All exits have been blocked. “The situation is untenable.” There were several unconfirmed reports throughout the day of staff riots leading to locked wards and people being locked in the facility’s basement.
“Workers were throwing garbage bins on the floor and chanting and singing,” said South African Police Service (Saps) spokesperson Captain Elliot Tshivhase.
He said police were keeping watch over the situation.
“The situation has normalised and Public Order Police, as well as the metro police, are monitoring the situation,” he added.
Allegations that protesting workers had barged into an operating theatre during an operation could not be confirmed.
Tshivhase said no arrests had been made and there was no damage to the property.
National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) deputy provincial secretary Gracia Rikhotso said workers had been protesting for the past three days because the health department had not paid performance bonuses to qualifying employees for the 2016 and 2017 financial years.
“Workers have rejected the Gauteng department of health’s lacklustre response to the memorandum of demands, which was handed over to the department and the office of the premier during a march on March 16,” she said.
Rikhotso highlighted that the protests affected service delivery, urging the department to pay the performance bonuses.
“We are calling on the department of health to immediately begin engaging labour on a plan to implement pay progression and performance bonuses for the 2017-18 financial year,” said Rikhotso. The situation at the hospital was calmer later yesterday afternoon, but waste from the overturned rubbish bins was still strewn across hallways in the hospital.
All nonemergency procedures were cancelled.
Workers were demanding a meeting with Gauteng MEC for health Dr Gwendoline Ramokgopa.
There were similar disturbances last month for the same reason.