Taking it to the streets

If you live in South Africa you will be aware of the Public Servants strike taking place all over the country. These masses of unhappy workers have resorted to acts of public violence and discontent with their salaries and working conditions.

The demonstrating and rioting Public Servants have set out to cause havoc, attempting to block off the N1 North  and N1 South highways. (basically attempting to Block access to and from Gauteng and further affecting the financial sector of Gauteng). However, the police stopped this attempt dead in its tracks as they did not even allow protesters to come close to the highway off-ramps. This is one of the efforts of the police that was successful in curbing the efforts of the unhappy protesters

Public Servants have gone as far as neglecting their oaths taken in the name of their profession. Nurses and doctors have ignored patients in need, often just sending them home regardless of the severity of their illness or wounds. Protesters have stormed hospitals and have harassed patients. Police efforts have been overwhelmed by the sheer size of the protesting mobs. It has been estimated that over 1 million protesters took to the streets this week to show their discontent towards the poor renumeration that they receive.

The education system has been hit hard by the striking Public Servants. Schools have to be closed as mobs have been storming schools and harassing teachers and students. In one incident, a Molotov Cocktail was thrown over a school wall into the grounds of the school. Non protesting teachers either refuse to come to work as they fear for their safety or they use the time to catch up on work and excess preparation.

The Mobs are protesting against their salary increase this year and are asking for a higher salary increase and a R1000 housing allowance. The protesters have every right to express their discontent with their salary increase but the methods that are being used have to be questioned. Violence and harassment along with attempts to interfere with the productivity of the state are not ways to get on he good side of the government officials. Many of the protesters have lost their jobs and even ended up in jail.

There is another side to the story as these Public Servants are often being under paid and struggle to support their families. My mother is a school teacher at a Government Primary School and she does not earn close to enough money to support a family, if her circumstances were different she would be in serious financial trouble. It is because of this that I respect the requests of the protesters, but the way that they have conducted these demonstrations is despicable.

As South African's we are used to protests and they seem to happen around the same time every year. However, the severity and magnitude of these protests seems to increase with every year. If you wish to read more follow the link to Nickolaus Bauer's Closet Capitalist Blog