The recent World Cup did wonders for South Africa’s image and the country looked set to reap the rewards, including a marked increase in tourism and international investment. However, we are once again back in the news for all the wrong reasons , especially as the current strike action by civil servants  has begun to turn nasty.

Locally, sympathy for the strikers has waned considerably and public frustration is growing daily as the country’s poor bear the brunt of the strike action and stories of violence and intimidation flood the news.

The strike by about 1.3 million state workers including nurses, teachers and clerks, has shut schools, delayed treatment at hospitals and the delivery of other services to those who have no other alternative than seek government help
In Johannesburg, sick babies were turned away from a children’s hospital, including at least 20 heavily pregnant women, including some already in labour.

Hundreds of volunteers and about 1 700 soldiers are working at public hospitals as some nurses have defied a court order barring essential staff from joining the strike in a wage dispute with the government.

“It’s a sad day when people are turned away from hospitals,” one volunteer told The Times newspaper. “The striking workers intimidate us while we are trying to help. They accuse us of stealing their jobs.”
It’s a very sad day indeed. And unfortunately what it says about us as a nation isn’t very complimentary. One wonders if the government will ever get a handle on the ever-increasing strikes which so negatively affect our reputation and our economy.