At least seven people were arrested for public violence in various parts of the country as the National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) protests turned increasingly violent on Thursday.

One of them had thrown faeces on a public building in the Northern Cape.

In KwaZulu-Natal, an ambulance driver has opened a criminal case against a nurse who allegedly punched him on Wednesday while he was transporting a child in critical condition to hospital.

In the Eastern Cape, three protesting health workers had to get medical treatment after they were shot with rubber bullets.

In Gauteng, police had to use stun grenades and rubber bullets to disperse protestors blocking the main entrance and roads leading into Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital in Diepklooof, Soweto.

National police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe said: “In the Northern Cape, one person was arrested in Galeshewe for throwing faeces at the entrance of the home affairs offices.

“A case of malicious damage to property was registered. In the Free State, three people were arrested at Pelonomi Hospital for blocking the main entrance to the hospital. All three have been charged with public violence. In the North West, three females aged 32, 49 and 56 were arrested for public violence. They were found burning tyres along the James Moroka Road [in Potchefstroom].”

The workers are demanding a 10% pay increase. .

KwaZulu-Natal health MEC Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu urged striking healthcare workers to return to work and allow patients to access hospitals and clinics, saying they were placing lives at risk.

“We expected that the leadership of the unions would understand that the majority of healthcare workers are classified under essential services and, therefore, they cannot not be at work,” she said.

“Allow healthcare workers to get to work so they can save lives, and do not stop patients from coming into our health facilities because if you continue to do so, you will have blood on your hands.”

In the Eastern Cape, three protesting health workers were shot with rubber bullets on Thursday, allegedly by security guards in Mthatha.

The workers told Sowetan’s sister publication Daily Dispatch that the armed guards, employed to watch both Mthatha General and Nelson Mandela Academic hospitals, “randomly” fired shots at them while they were protesting outside.

Two of the three workers had already had their wounds treated and bandaged at the general hospital when they spoke to the Daily Dispatch, and were preparing to open charges against the shooters.

The provincial department approached the labour court on Wednesday, asking for a reprieve after allegations of intimidation and violence committed by Nehawu members.

There were a number of reports alleging the union had blocked entrances at several hospitals, including bigger ones like Cecilia Makiwane in East London, Nelson Mandela Academic and Mthatha General hospitals.

Nehawu in the Eastern Cape said it would comply with a labour court order which restricts its members’ protest actions at department of health facilities while also intensifying their strike action, closing down other government departments.

Meanwhile, the Gauteng health department has also obtained a court interdict from the labour court in Johannesburg preventing protesting public healthcare workers from denying patients and non-striking staff access to health institutions.

According to the order, the respondents are “prohibited from doing anything which directly or indirectly obstructs or impedes access to and from the applicant's health facilities across Gauteng province and damaging any property situated on the applicant’s health facilities, whether movable or immovable and regardless of who the owner may be thereof”.

Nehawu national spokesperson Lwazi Nkolozi said they had noted the interdict and their lawyers were studying it.

“We are continuing with our strike and we are continuing with the demonstrations and pickets across the country‚” he said.

“We note that the department of health has gone to court for an interdict but we must also clarify one thing‚ the interdict is not interdicting us against the strike – it says it interdicts [us] from violence and as Nehawu we have not been violent. Our lawyers are studying the interdict and will advise on the way forward on the interdict‚ but the strike continues. – Additional Reporting TimesLIVE and DispatchLIVE