Public servants in grip of despair

rates reveals that officers of the SAPS are 11 times more likely to commit suicide than the average South African citizen and are five times more likely to commit suicide compared with police suicide rates internationally,” said Mamabolo.

He said the country ranked among the highest in terms of violent crime in the world, and this, as well as other pressing human tragedies, competed for police attention.

South African Police Union (Sapu) spokesperson Lesiba Thobakgale said they were concerned at the lack of mental health support for officers.

“Police officers do suffer from stress informed by the nature of their job as they attend crime scenes which are traumatic, and they don't get debriefed thereafter,” he said.

Teacher unions say mental health should be made a priority, given the stress levels their members have to deal with.

South African Democratic Teachers Union general secretary Mugwena Maluleke said there were no official records of who was on stress leave or had been admitted to rehab to conquer their addictions.

He said in general, many schools had teachers who took long leave to deal with mental health challenges, but this was not documented for confidentiality reasons.

Basil Manuel from the National Professional Teachers Organisation of South Africa said teachers were under a lot of stress, and there were no reliable support systems to help them.

He said violence at schools, large classes with up to 60 pupils in some cases and the ramifications of Covid-19 were things teachers had to deal with every day.

Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa spokesperson Sibongiseni Delihlazo said they had raised the issue of mental health as a matter of urgency with the government, especially when they were in the midst of the pandemic.

He said health facilities were severely understaffed, and many healthcare professionals, not just nurses, had left the medical profession, especially at the height of Covid.

“They are overburdened and do not have any time to recharge, and many leave applications by nurses during Covid-19 were declined on the basis that there was not enough staff. That means those that are at work must be burnt out to death," said Delihlazo.

He said they had not received any support from the government.

“They were depressed because they were losing patients left, right and centre, and this took a huge toll on them, and the psychological effects of this are huge. Why was this happening unabated?”

Delihlazo said previously there were support structures at government facilities, but these no longer existed.

“For instance, you used to have psychologists who were on standby at healthcare facilities and whenever healthcare professionals were going through trying times, the psychologists were around, and they would debrief them on the spot so that they were able to heal and do the work the patients required.”

Delihlazo said only the Steve Biko Hospital in Pretoria beefed up its psychological support during this time.

He said research by the International Council of Nurses found they were either moving to other professions or resigning because of depression and a poor support system in facilities where they worked.

Department of Public Service and Administration spokesperson Moses Mushi said most departments had employee health and wellness programmes. Some departments had internal professionals who provided counselling to staff, while outsourced external service providers usually had a network of professionals to assist employees with mental health issues.

Mushi said departments also had various physical activities like aerobics, soccer and netball to reduce stress and other mental health issues.

He said from January to June this year only 3 362 public servants out of about 1.3 million took “long incapacity leave”, which could be 30 days or more and for a number of ailments.