Pictures

On Saturday 24 June doctors, professors, matrons, churchgoers and social movements joined hundreds of NEHAWU members in a march through Soweto to Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in support of demands for increased staffing, for funds to be allocated to the CHB Transformation Project, and for management to be given the authority necessary for proper management of the hospital.

The march constituted the launch of the union's Public Service Delivery campaign, and combined the national demands of the campaign with issues of specific concern at Chris Hani Baragwanath. It was led by the union's President, General Secretary, Vice-President and provincial leadership, as well as by the COSATU Assistant General Secretary and Provincial Secretary.

 

The march was preceded by intensive mobilisation. Union organisers held many meetings with members at the hospital, at other hospitals and at all the union regions in Gauteng. In addition, trade unionists engaged in the kind of broad alliance building not seen since the 1980s -meeting with doctors at the hospital and at the Wits University Medical School, with church leaders and the social movements such as the Anti-Privatisation Forum and the Soweto Electricity Crisis Committee. In doing so NEHAWU has tapped into a broad public concern that the public health system in South Africa is failing its citizens. In the process of mobilising, a Chris Hani Baragwanath Support Committee was established, which may provide the basis for further campaigns over public health.

 

 
To view more pictures, click here.