Tshwane protesters out of government offices

The North Gauteng High Court has ruled that it was in the interests of the public that protesters be removed from the offices of the department of health after a three-week protest.

At the beginning of July, a group of Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) went to the Tshwane Metro district office and demanded jobs.

They allegedly forced 200 staff out of their offices and have since refused to leave. In the interdict, the department indicated protesters occupied the offices, foyers and parking bay illegally.

The Gauteng department of health welcomed the court interdict granted by the court against a group
of people who had illegally occupied the offices in the Pretoria CBD for almost two weeks.

“The protesters were finally evicted on Saturday. The unlawful occupation of district offices affected operations as staff had to work at other health facilities across the district,” said head of communications
Motalatale Modiba.

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Modiba said the illegal occupation was reported to the police who were unable to remove the protesters
despite several visits to the building.

“The department then sought a court interdict against the protesters which was granted by Friday for them to immediately vacate the offices and to stop preventing employees from accessing the workplace,” he explained.

Modiba said the protesters demanded to be employed in the district and explained the department
had previously embarked on an extensive consultative process which involved contract employees, unions, and the provincial Treasury.

“The process led to the absorption of 8 619 community health workers on contract into permanent posts.
This process was concluded in July 2020.

“Since the appointments were effected, the department started receiving requests from people claiming to have been CHWs at some point,” he said.

The Democratic Alliance’s health spokesperson Jack Bloom said the interdict took too long.

“The department wasted three weeks because of big disruptions,” he said.

Bloom said the protesters were removed from the offices.

“We will see what happens this week,” he added.

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