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Cape Town - Skilled South Africans, especially nurses, who choose to work abroad have been accused of being unpatriotic, says Terry Bell in his latest Labour Wrap. He strongly disagrees and, in any event, says he supports the expression attributed to English essayist Samuel Johnson, that “Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel”.
Bell notes that if patriotism means giving unquestioning support to a country, right or wrong, there is every reason to be a “proudly unpatriotic South African”. He says he understands not only why skilled people leave, but also what benefits their expatriate labour often brings to South Africa. In two cases of which he is personally aware, nurses working abroad provided the wherewithall to enable their families better to survive.
As a result, in one case, of a close personal friend, a son became a chartered accountant and in the other, a leading media personality. Patriotism is, therefore irrelevant, says Bell; it is local pay, conditions and the economic situation that matter.
However, he notes that the issue of public sector pay is a hot topic, as evidenced by the responses to his Labour Wrap and Inside Labour column on the subject. These ranged from “inane non-arguments to sensible contributions”. And there was also a heartfelt plea to look into apparent poor training and poor pay for paramedics.
But a recurrent theme was: what about ministerial and parliamentary pay and perks? Contributors who raised this issue appear to regard ministers and parliamentarians overall as civil servants, says Bell. He feels this is valid, since, at both national and provincial level our supposed representatives are elected to serve us.
As a result of the responses received over the past week, he will attempt to deal with the various issues raised and, in particular, with the wage and welfare gap the exists and has grown over the years within the business of government.
Add your voice to this and /or the big labour debate or simply ask Terry a labour question.
* Terry Bell is a political, economic and labour analyst. Views expressed are his own. Follow him on twitter @telbelsa.
