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WATCH | Wedding couple ‘blessed’ with song by protesters at home affairs amid Nehawu strike

“An incredible and sporadic situation in the context of multiple crises,” said Barry James Mitchell who captured a video of a wedding couple being “blessed” by a song sung by Nehawu protesters outside Cape Town's department of home affairs on Monday.

The protest was organised by the National Education, Health, and Allied Workers' Union (Nehawu) in support of demands for an above-inflation pay increase.

The couple were dressed in all white, the bride still with her veil on, looking to make their marriage official at home affairs when a group of protesters serenaded them and “blessed” their union.

Nehawu is aiming for a three-year multi-term agreement on a salary adjustment plus improvements to conditions of service for employees.

A wedding couple were serenaded by Nehawu members amid a protest outside home affairs in Cape Town on Monday, March 6 2023.
A wedding couple were serenaded by Nehawu members amid a protest outside home affairs in Cape Town on Monday, March 6 2023.
Image: Barry James Mitchell

A strike notice delivered to the department of public service and administration on February 23 warned that government employees would strike if the government did not accede to workers’ demands for a 10% wage increase.

The letter, addressed to director-general Yoliswa Makhasi and signed by Nehawu general secretary Zola Saphetha, served as seven days’ notice of the impending action which will affect all departments and provinces, including the South African Social Security Agency, the Special Investigating Unit and the South African National Biodiversity Institute.

“Our members throughout the country will begin the strike action at 6am on March 6 and the strike will continue until all our demands are met,” Saphetha said in the letter. 

TimesLIVE


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