16 Days Campaign in North West 30- 11 - 06

COSATU North West Sixteen Days of Activism Programme launched on 27th November 2006 at COSATU Provincial Office

The Congress of South African Trade Union in the NW province launched its Sixteen Days of Activism programme on 27th November 2006. It will run from 27th November to 10th December 2006.

In order to understand the extend of the problems COSATU agreed with other civil society organisations to visit the rural clinics, provincial hospitals, police stations and Department of Justice.

Our visit to this government institution is to check and confront challenges faced by our poor women and children a a result of round the regular number os incidents in which women and children are poorly handled by the Department of Safety and Justice.

Our programme is more to target in particular the Departments of Home Affairs, Justice, Health, Safety and Security and Social Services, and also the farmers who continue to practice racism, victimising and abuse women and children by using cheap labour.

Our programme is informed by the following:

There is no implementation of the Anti- Retroviral Treatment programme to the poor communities, particularly in rural areas. To get access to the free medical treatment they must travel over 120km or more.

When our children or women are abused or raped the matter gets reported to the police station and it will wait for Department of Justice for over three months for investigation, even if the perpetrators or culprits are identified.

Our poor children and women are struggling to get the support grant, due to the poor service by the Departments of Home Affairs and Social Services.

Our children and poor women are raped and killed by people who cannot be identified even by the same Department of Home Affairs who issue wrong identity documents, with wrong surnames and wrong photos.

Our hospitals are still running without water and electricity, e.g. Lehurutshe hospital.

Our provincial leadership will also visit the orphanage places of safety and assess the impact of Social Security. The people of North West will re-call that COSATU, with SANGOCO, in November 2005 marched to the Crossing Shopping Complex in Mafikeng to mobilise people to donate clothes and food to the orphans and that was a success. Over three hundred orphans received clothes.

We therefore call upon the people of North West to support COSATU's programme to visit all rural clinics, provincial hospitals, Departments of Justice and Safety and Security to defend the rights of our women and children. We also call to the people of North West to support our march, which will be held on 1st December 2006 to the Premier's office to demand the full distribution of ARVs to the entire province, including rural communities

It is COSATU's view that the time for the implementation of programme on the above matters is long overdue. We need implementation, not programmes. Our people are dying everyday due to lack of medications and poor service by our government, including those who are in power to implement.

During the NEHAWU/COSATU Public Service Delivery Campaign it was clear that government is doing very little to support public servants, there is a lack of equipment, poor management of the HIV and Aids Programme, including people waiting for the ARVs for more than two or three weeks for the medication.

For more information feel free to contact the COSATU North West Provincial Secretary Solly Phetoe on 082 304 4055.