Army not deployed to ‘break’ strike, says Lekota
THE army was not the apartheid military machine of old deployed in the streets and townships to quell dissent.
That was the message from Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota yesterday when he told the National Council of Provinces that the deployment of troops during the public sector industrial action was not aimed at “breaking” the strike.
Speaking in the debate on his budget vote, he said the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) was an “instrument of our democratic government” and existed to protect the territorial integrity of the country and its people.
“When the SANDF is deployed to secure health and training facilities during the … strike, it is not intended to break the strike.
“Rather, it is carrying out its constitutional mandate ‘in support of the people’ to ensure that workers performing an ‘essential service’ are protected, and where that essential service is not functioning adequately, to protect life,” he said.
“Just as the SANDF will be deployed to protect workers and their right to strike, so they (will) be deployed to protect schools, hospitals, patients, teachers and pupils who are judged to be at risk,” he said.
In the National Assembly, ID leader Patricia de Lille accused the government of negotiating in bad faith and suggested it use the extra revenue collected over the past three years to top up their offer. “By refusing to pay civil servants a decent wage, you are destroying your own vision of a developmental state.”
She suggested the two sides settle on a pay hike of 9%.
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15 Juin 2007 à 15:33 dans
- zsandf (anglais)
