Ebrahim Harvey | A history of violence: Poor Nehawu leadership fails to win public support for strike

While no strike is ever a Sunday picnic, the question of violence and intimidation by strikers, especially in areas considered essential, such as public hospitals, is not only legally and morally unacceptable, but was unwise for the unions themselves, argues Ebrahim Harvey. 

The strike by the National Health and Allied Workers' Union (Nehawu), which ended on Wednesday, probably received more media coverage than any other major issue in South Africa over the past two weeks. This critical analysis of that strike consists of various elements that need to be properly appraised to understand what happened and why.

Firstly, a bit of history is very important. The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), of which Nehawu is an affiliate, has been in an alliance with the ruling African National Congress (ANC) government since our watershed elections in 1994, together with the South African Communist Party (SACP). Over that period, as a result of the dramatic decline of some sectors of the economy, such as mining and related manufacturing industries, including textile and clothing, the public sector unions became dominant in Cosatu.