Africa-Press – South-Africa. The Western Cape government was granted an interdict on Friday against public servants affiliated with the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu).
The Cape Town Labour Court granted the health and social development departments an interdict against the strike.
The order states that all Nehawu employees, as well as those on behalf of Nehawu, must stop striking.
“The respondents (Nehawu) are interdicted, restrained and prohibited from doing anything which directly or indirectly obstructs, barricades or impedes access to and from the health department’s offices at Khayelitsha District Hospital (KDH) Mitchells Plain, Eerste River, Gugulethu and across the province,” the order states.
“The respondents are interdicted, restrained and prohibited from damaging the applicants’ (social development and health departments) properties, whether movable or immovable, situated at or around the mentioned properties and across the Western Cape,” it said.
The order prohibits protesters from acting in any manner directed at inciting, touting or provoking employees at any properties of both departments.
They have been interdicted from coming within a radius of 200 metres of all properties.
The department sought a court interdict after four days of protest action, primarily isolated to the Khayelitsha area, which caused some disruption of healthcare services at KDH and the Michael Mapongwana Community Day Centre.
During this period, 45 critical patients were transferred from KDH to other nearby hospitals.
Nehawu and several other public servant unions have been locked in a wage dispute with the government.
The health department said in a statement on Friday the protest action was still ongoing across the country, but it would continue to call on the striking members to respect clients’ human right to access healthcare services and to allow staff to care for the ill and vulnerable.
“We have an established good relationship with labour unions, which has enabled us to put the lives of our patients first and not to prevent anyone from accessing healthcare. As an additional safety measure, the Departments of Health and Wellness and Social Development has also been awarded an interdict against Nehawu’s illegal strike action by the Labour Court,” it said.
This week, protests took a harrowing turn after Nehawu-affiliated health workers targeted ambulances and blocked access to essential healthcare facilities.
Social development department staff were threatened this week by Nehawu protesters.
MEC for social development Sharna Fernandez’s spokesperson, Monique Mortlock-Malgas, told News24 that offices in Gugulethu and Athlone were forced to close on Friday due to the strike action.
“Clients in Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain could not access our services as a result of the protest. We could not get our vehicles out to do any assessments or home visits in these areas,” she said.
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