Bloemfontein - At least 117 community health workers will appear in the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court on Monday for allegedly taking part in an illegal gathering, the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) said.
The groups, supported by TAC activists, were arrested last year after staging a sit-in at the provincial health head quarters in Bloemfontein. The protesters, whom mostly were elderly women, had held a series of protests against the department before their arrest in July last year.
“The protests were against the poor state of the public health system in the Free State, their conditions of employment and the decision by Free State MEC of Health, Benny Malakoane, to effectively terminate their employment without warning,” said TAC’s Lotti Rutter.
They made their first court appearance in July 2014, and were released on a warning and instructed to be in court again in September 2014.
Rutter said requests from TAC to the National Prosecutions Authority (NPA) to drop the charges against the health workers were rejected.
ANA