South Africa's schools, hospitals sputter back to life after strike

Sep 7, 2010, 9:46 GMT

Johannesburg - Public schools and hospitals in South Africa swung back into action Tuesday as 1.3 million nurses, teachers and other public service workers returned to work after a 20-day strike.

On Monday, the workers' unions announced they were suspending their strike while continuing to canvass their members on a new proposed wage deal.

The workers gave themselves 21 days to consider the government's offer of a 7.5 per cent wage increase, which falls short of their demands of 8.6 per cent but is a significant improvement on the state's starting offer of 5.2 per cent.

As nurses trooped back to their stations in clinics and hospitals and teachers began trickling back to their classrooms the sense of relief at the strike's suspension was palpable.

'We think the situation is coming back to normal,' Nkosiyethu Mazibuko, spokesman for Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto township near Johannesburg told the German Press Agency dpa.

The hospital, like many others, had been forced to radically scale back treatment during the strike and focus on treating the most urgent cases, creating a backlog in surgeries and treatment of patients with chronic conditions.

Schools were also regaining an air of normality, although the news that the strike was off had yet to reach all teachers.

Ernest Mokoena, a final year student in Ivory Park township about 30 kilometres north of Johannesburg, said only a handful of teachers had showed up for work.

'I think we're going to start properly tomorrow,' he told dpa.

Mokoena, who sits his matriculation exams in October and November, muddled through the past few weeks by studying with his friends.

'Believe me it was hard studying alone (without teachers),' he says. 'I am relieved it's over.'

The strike could be back on in three weeks if the workers reject the deal, but analysts considered that unlikely.

Many workers had already begun to slip back into work over the past week, to avoid losing more pay after the state vowed to dock their wages.

Analysts say the strike cost the country 20 billion rand (2.8 billion dollars)