General strike hits South Africa

The strike of nearly 1 million public service workers began on June 1. It involves 17 unions, including teachers, nurses and other civil servants. They came out in support of a demand for an across-the-board increase of 12 percent, plus increases in health and housing benefits.

Schools and hospitals have been forced to close. On June 8, armed soldiers and police were deployed at schools and hospitals around the country. According to the Mail & Guardian , soldiers wearing bulletproof vests and armed with R4 automatic rifles joined police at Kalafong Hospital.

In an attempt to intimidate workers, Public Service Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi of the ANC obtained an interdict from the Labour Court forbidding workers in essential services from joining the strike. This included the water industry, the courts and correctional services, emergency health provision, nursing and medical, and paramedics. Fraser-Moleketi immediately declared that essential workers who did not return to work by June 4 would be summarily dismissed. She told the BBC, “Our recognition of the right to strike...does not cover essential service workers.”