Striking Out

Since last week I have been muttering to anyone who will listen that this is not a public service strike – this is a coup d’état and the irony is that the ANC supporters and voters are supporting this coup and the teachers, nurses, et al are throwing their weight behind this endeavour without thinking that it is not actually about them.

And today we hear that the defence force may be downing tools as well and joining the strike. And the strikers still think this is about them!

To be candid, I have no sympathy for the nurses and teachers or other public servants. They are constantly on their soap boxes moaning about the pittance they earn, that they want a liveable wage. This same song has been sung for as long as I can remember. And we believe it - this song about the pittance - and we say things like “yes they should be paid more ” and "shame, the deserve more".

Well ask yourself – how much more should they be paid. I know damn well that my liveable wage is nowhere close to the Oppenheimer’s or the Trumps so how much do I need every month?

I also know that the successes coming out of schools are dismal. Ditto hospitals, ditto Dept of Home Affairs, ditto SAPS etc etc. So how much do they deserve for their very dismal performance?

There are figures being bandied about that 80% of our schools are dysfunctional. Even if that figure was 50% it is still of lot of teachers and principals who are not doing their jobs. The performance indicator is there for all to see - at least 50% of our matric pupils fail the final exam. I am yet to see these schools and teachers trying, in their own small environments, to make things better. Do they deserve more money? Is more money going to make them do their jobs better. I think not. And the same can be said for the hospitals – how many dysfunction hospitals do we have? They are filthy, short of suppliers, when something is broken it doesn’t get fixed, there is no nursing to speak of. So I have to ask the same question as I did with the schools…is more money going to make them do their jobs better, do they deserve more money? I think not.

The people working in these various establishments have allowed and contributed to the decay in their institutions. And I don’t see them caring all that much. But they think the strike is about them and that they will get more for the lousy jobs they are doing. Well, the strike is not about them and I hope to goodness they find themselves out of jobs so they can see how most of SA lives.