Download PDFIt has been a full year since the first recorded coronavirus case in South Africa. To mark this day, Health Minister Dr. Zweli Mkhize last night opened the first ever Angel Wings awards in Durban, where he conferred awards to 12 recipients. Mkhize saluted healthcare workers, thanking nurses and doctors for their service and sacrifice on the frontline during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Insultingly but not surprisingly, the Health Minister did not recognise or even mention the Community Healthcare Workers (CHWs) across the country who have played a crucial role in this time. Neither is it surprising that Mkhize praised the Angel Wings Foundation, for their “solemn distinction and means of symbolising the immense gratitude we have…”
The ANC government has chosen to prioritise and praise the big players in the private sector, and encouraged the ‘charity of all South Africa’s citizens’ as a solution to the deadly pandemic. This continued loyalty to neoliberalism has meant that many, many CHWs on the ground continue to struggle with a lack of adequate personal protective equipment, and continue to serve their communities as ‘volunteers’. All while government continues to enforce budget cuts to key health and social infrastructures that are undeniably necessary if we are to ever eradicate the virus in South Africa completely.
The victory of Gauteng CHWs last year has injected renewed vigour into the struggle of CHWs across the country as CHWs from the Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga, North West and all the other provinces are demanding the same. As we intensify and link up these struggles, let us also remember that it is intertwined with working class communities’ battle for quality public healthcare, and the broader struggle for working class independence.
Aluta continua!
This article was submitted on 05 March 2021. You may republish this article, so long as you credit the authors and Karibu! Online (www.Karibu.org.za), and do not change the text. Please include a link back to the original article.
