Social workers strike continues in the north
“It’s one thing to protest to demand one’s rights but another to place the lives of the vulnerable in harm’s way.”
Striking social development workers should not be allowed to place the neediest and most vulnerable members of society at risk, the DA has said.
This comes after the DA learned social workers in Ga-Rankuwa and Soshanguve had dumped children in their care to join the strike, which has now entered it second week.
According to reports, social workers reportedly blocked entry to Rearabilwe centre in Ga-Rankuwa and Father Smangaliso Mkhatswa centre in Soshanguve since last Thursday.
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As a result, children do not have access to food or the ability to take their HIV medication.
DA Gauteng shadow MEC for social development Refiloe Nt’sekhe said while the DA supported the rights of social workers to protest for better wages, the ill-treatment of those placed in their care could not be condoned.
“This inhumane treatment must be condemned in the strongest sense,” said Nt’sekhe.
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“What we wish is for them to go back to the negotiating table to find solutions. It’s one thing to protest to demand one’s rights but another to place the lives of the vulnerable in harm’s way,” she said.
Gauteng department of social development MEC Nandi Mayathula-Khoza said her department was working hard to solve the problem.
“We’re putting a more refined plan in place to ensure our children’s basic needs are provided for and staff not on strike can go back to work,” said Mayathula-Khoza.
She said she had visited four centres, including Rearabilwe and Father Smangaliso Mkhatswa, to assess the effect the strike has had on them.
“We found frightened and hungry children – some as young as three-years-old, abandoned by striking social workers,” she said.
Mayathula-Khoza said the children were so frightened and had not eaten for days.
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“There are HIV-positive children who need to take their medication, which they do not have,” said Mayathula-Khoza.
“These are orphaned and abandoned children, and from backgrounds of abuse.”
A staff member at Rearabilwe centre said: “Police have been helping us, dropping off a few food parcels every now and them.”
Mayathula-Khoza said: “These children have not changed their clothes for days. There’s a child at Ga-Rankuwa Rearabilwe who is HIV-positive, who could not get his antiretroviral medicine.”
“There were three children who suffered from diarrhoea. The staff had to use home remedies. We are glad there have not been fatalities.”
Mayathula-Khoza appealed to all residents, particularly those with social work skills, to volunteer their services at the centres.
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