Our leaders must do what’s right

SOUTH Africa’s lockdown, imposed from March 26, was intended to “flatten the curve” of the Covid-19 infection rate and allow the government time to prepare our hospitals so they wouldn’t become overwhelmed.

We were so successful that last Sunday, President Cyril Ramaphosa relaxed restrictions to such an extent that the economy is almost entirely open, on the proviso that we dare not lessen our vigilance because of the threat of subsequent waves of infection.

How we manage this depends on our behaviour and – critically – the government’s ability to track and trace new infection clusters as they emerge.

Yesterday, though, the National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) staged a snap go-slow at the National Health Laboratory Service, to highlight the continued staff shortages at the vital institution and that its members (and others) are working with insufficient personal protective equipment (PPE).

Nehawu says it did so because the government has refused to attend to this – and to implement a salary agreement agreed last year.

If the government refuses to meet union leaders, Nehawu is threatening to go on a full strike, rendering tracking and tracing impossible, and impacting health care in clinics and state hospitals.

Nehawu members have been at the forefront of the fight against Covid-19, literally putting their lives on the line and working long hours. They should be getting bonuses just for that. Instead, they’re being forced to fight to right a wrong against them, when the government appears unable to act resolutely against those accused of looting the hundreds of millions of rand the government set aside to source vital PPE.

You can’t blame Nehawu for losing patience.

We need leadership. Tough and resolute, as befits the crisis that faces us. Give Nehawu what it wants – and prosecute the profiteers. The problem is that leadership has been in as short supply as the PPE our health workers so desperately need.