COSATU in KwaZulu Natal is concerned about the negative impact the Trump Administration’s Executive Order on Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid has on jobs in the health sector in the province.

The haphazard implementation of this Executive order is inflicting pain on the poor and has disregarded workers’ livelihood.

COSATU KZN is particularly concerned about the number of jobs that have and are still being lost. Workers have been left stranded. We are also concerned about the negative impact this will have in various sectors and particularly in public health sector. Unemployment in the province of KwaZulu Natal is stubbornly high at around 43%. This move will cause further harm and an increase in unemployment of healthcare practitioners, nurses, doctors, data captures, office administrators, HIV/AIDS Councilors etc.

Clinics and hospitals are being deprived of receiving extra capacity through the Aid, such as doctors, nurses and other deployment of infrastructure to serve the most vulnerable section of our society, in particular rural poor and our communities in townships. This means interventions in curbing the extent of TB, HIV/AIDS and communicable deceases must be abandoned.

As a province we have always held a view that the Aid is mutually beneficial and does not flow in one direction but is a necessary humanitarian intervention in line with one fundamental principle of democracy, that of human rights. We had hoped that it comes as an appreciation of the role the economy of our country and its people have and continue to play in the development of the economies of other countries, including the USA. The notion of America First appears to lack this historical and present global fact.

It is quite concerning that some of the forces who are viewed as most progressive in our country and even, in this province have celebrated the incoming Administration of Donald Trump without even, condemning these Executive Orders which pose serious threats in the lives of our poor people.

It is for this reason we call on our Department of Health MEC to engage all the NGOs, Service Providers, Contracting and Agreement Officers, and Implementing Partners on what other measures could be considered to continue with the services and to protect workers jobs.

We further call on the South African government to engage its counterpart in the US and clarify the status of the Executive order because as it is its ramifications are dire with the employment of workers at numerous NGO’s funded by the US already disrupted.    

We call on all the Contracting Agents Officers and Implementing Partners to respect and observe the labour laws of our country in Implementing these orders. They must be considerate and able to go an extra mile to save jobs and lives.

We call on all COSATU unions in the sector to assist these vulnerable workers and further call on the affected workers to reach out for help.

Issued by COSATU  

Edwin Mkhize (Provincial Secretary)

082 399 7756