NEHAWU EASTERN CAPE STATEMENT ON THE CURRENT VIOLENT PROTESTS IN THE NELSON MANDELA METRO
Khaya Xaba (Khaya@nehawu.org.za)
|
|
NEHAWU National Education Health & Allied Workers Union
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARIAT
E-Mail: ecadmin...@nehawu.org.za |
Eastern Cape Province
10 St James Road Southernwood P.O. Box 977 East London , 5200
Tel: (043) 743 2876 (043) 722 2923/2370 Fax:(043) 7438623 or -------------------0866520485 Website: www.nehawu.org.za |
MEDIA STATEMENT – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEHAWU EASTERN CAPE STATEMENT ON THE CURRENT VIOLENT PROTESTS IN THE NELSON MANDELA METRO
Friday May 28, 2021
The National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (NEHAWU) strongly condemns the inability of the Eastern Cape provincial government to resolve the violent protests currently taking place in the Nelson Mandela Metro.
As NEHAWU in the province, we call on the provincial government and the MEC responsible for Safety and Liaison to urgently intervene in resolving the protest which is strongly affecting our members and workers including community members as well. This situation needs to return to normality as a matter of urgency in order to guarantee the safety of community members, our members and workers.
Our members and workers at the Motherwell Health Care Centre were forcefully removed from their work stations by the protestors. This action has resulted in patients being left unattended and the hospital being closed.
We believe that people have a right to strike or register their dissatisfaction but the criminal and violent activities which include destroying community infrastructure and attacking members of the community and our members is unacceptable and must be strongly condemned.
This violent situation needs to be resolved urgently, because currently workplaces are operating with skeleton staff which puts more strain on our members in understaffed institutions.
This situation is also affecting the examination processes that are happening in the education sector, in both basic and higher education institutions and students are affected negatively as they rely on public transport which has been disrupted.
Furthermore, the offices of the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) and Social Development are also closed and these offices that are servicing the elderly, children and the disabled. What we find infuriating is that some managers are threatening to make deductions from our members and workers’ salaries for missing work because of the protests. Moreover, other managers are forcing workers to sign annual leave for missing work.
We call upon these managers to refrain from such intimidation and harassment of our members. We further encourage our members to immediately report such occurrences to the union.
For any further clarities please contact NEHAWU Provincial Secretary,
Comrade Mlu Ncapayi, at 0723743806/063 685 1923 or the Provincial Deputy Secretary, Comrade Sweetness Stokwe at 063 685 1904.
This message contains information which is confidential, legally privileged, and protected by law. It is intended only for the use of the intended recipient. Interception thereof is therefore illegal. If you are not the intended recipient, you may not peruse, use, disseminate, distribute or copy this message or any file attached to this message. Should you have received this message in error, please notify us immediately by return e-mail. Views and opinions expressed in this e-mail are those of the sender unless clearly stated as being that of NEHAWU.
Disclaimer
The information contained in this communication from the sender is confidential. It is intended solely for use by the recipient and others authorized to receive it. If you are not the recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution or taking action in relation of the contents of this information is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful.
This email has been scanned for viruses and malware, and may have been automatically archived by Mimecast Ltd, an innovator in Software as a Service (SaaS) for business. Providing a safer and more useful place for your human generated data. Specializing in; Security, archiving and compliance. To find out more Click Here.