A video clip of a doctor who was arrested by an attacking health worker at a Mpumalanga hospital last week is making the rounds on social media, showing the doctor almost asleep on the work table in an almost fetal position as he looks ready to protect himself. files and, most importantly, his cell phone that the mob demanded.
A voice can be heard demanding that he delete something from his phone (probably a video of the workers standing in front of him). They finally capture her and manhandle her as a way to force her out of her office.
Ironically, the attackers demanded that he delete the video from his cellphone because “he didn’t have permission to record it”, as if the person who recorded his ordeal at the hands of the workers had permission to do so.
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Although faces and voices are clearly recognizable from this short clip, none of the striking workers will be brought to book for their treatment of a doctor who is only doing his job. But most importantly, the incident recorded in the video was not an isolated incident.
This has been the nature of SA union wage protests. If there is no violence or intimidation, the protest is considered “soft” or ineffective. And the only responsibility the union takes for the violent behavior of its members is to “condemn the act of thuggery in the strongest possible way to non-peaceful protest” – and this.
The case was closed and the protesting thugs continued their mission of intimidation to make the strike or wage protest “successful”.
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In left-wing union circles, it is considered ahistorical and quite insulting to characterize the bullying behavior shown by violent striking workers as criminal and bullying, because workers striking for decent wages cannot be criminalised. And that’s where the trouble starts.
Avoiding calling a spade a spade doesn’t change what it is. What happened to the doctor was criminal. The history of protest in South Africa is what shapes the nature of protest today. And during the apartheid era, violent protests were inevitable because the state itself had trained police forces to meet peaceful protests with a guaranteed violent response.
So it goes without saying that when people take to the streets to protest expect some form of violence.
But that era has passed and the right of South Africans to protest peacefully is protected by the constitution. At some point in South Africa’s democratic development, a line should have been drawn at violent protest.
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During the looting of July 2021, it is not enough that goods are stolen from shops, wholesalers and factories, there must be burning and destruction.
It is not enough to protest against the delivery of services without burning down the municipal building where people expect to receive help.
When students protested against the poor administration of free education, they had to throw stones at the security guards because the community had made protests effective only when violent. It is high time that people realize that protest actions that prevent health professionals from doing their job are criminal.
When patients are prevented from accessing health facilities by protesting workers, it is thuggish behavior.
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Only when the right words are used to describe criminal behavior and thuggery will the nature of the protests change to reflect the kind of society that all South Africans are fighting for: a society free from intimidation and harassment – even when protesting.