WORKERS ALL MARCH 

 

WORKERS ALL MARCH HEREBY  MAKE SUBMISSION OF THE PETITION TO DEAPRTMENT OF PUBLIC SECTOR AND ADMINISTRATION, OPSC AND HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION BY ALL WORKERS IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR.

Trade unions  staged mass nationwide protests and marches against the Government Employees Medical Scheme (GEMS) over steep contribution increases that eroded workers' disposable income which this was misdirected to the wrong entity which is Gems and the correct entity to take decision about fund subsidies is DPSA and who is our employer.

1.  The GEMS Contribution Increase:-

·         The Hike: GEMS initially announced a 9.8% member contribution increase for 2026, which followed a heavy 13.4% hike in 2025, creating a cumulative 23.2% jump over two years.

·         The Context: The increases heavily outpaced public sector salary adjustments (averaging around 4% to 5.5%) and national inflation, creating a severe financial strain for lower- and middle-income civil servants. 

·         Adjustments: GEMS marginally adjusted the hike down to 9.5%, and later attempted a reduction to 7.5% effective July 2026. However, the Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) did not approve the reduction to 7.5%, keeping the 9.5% adjustment under active contention.

·         Mobilization: Labour federations organized a National Day of Action and mass pickets but with no positive results coming forth until to date.

·         Action: Thousands of civil servants took to the streets, marching on GEMS head offices (such as Vutomi House in Pretoria) to voice outrage over "fat cat" executive pay and unaffordable premiums but we misdirected the our anger over Gems instead to of confronting DPSA as our employer to withdraw all our subsidies and disband Gems if they continue with this arrogance.

 

GEMS' financial mismanagement, ongoing outsourcing costs, and severe contribution spikes, Public sector workers must unite to drive a strategic resolution that is demanding the "freedom of choice" to port their full government medical subsidies over to open private medical schemes like Discovery Health, Momentum, or procure corporate pharmacy services through chains like Dis-Chem. If GEMS resists structural transformation, as Public Servants,  we are eager to cancel Gems medical aid with immediate effect and demand  bargaining council to withdraw from the founding bargaining council resolution that created GEMS in the first place.

 Unions gave Gems a strict seven days window to respond to the demands but until now, all is treated as normal whilst workers continue to suffer daily.

 

 

 

 

2.  Our rights violated by GEMS and the Employer(DPSA)

 

-       Right to Freedom of Choice & Monopolistic Discrimination (Section 9 of the Constitution): Government policies tie medical aid subsidies exclusively to GEMS membership. Forcing public servants into one specific scheme—while denying the same state subsidy if they choose open market options like Discovery Health, Momentum, or alternative coverage—constitutes unfair discrimination.

-       Right of Access to Healthcare Services (Section 27 of the Constitution): Members report that while premiums are rising, GEMS is simultaneously shrinking benefits, rejecting chronic claims, and forcing reliance on inferior generic drugs. This directly degrades workers' constitutional right to adequate healthcare. 

-       Violation of Fair Labour Practices & Collective Bargaining (Section 23 of the Constitution): Implementing steep deductions through PERSAL without meaningful, transparent consultations with organized labour effectively side-steps the Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC)

-       Breach of the Fiduciary Duties & Original Mandate: GEMS was established under PSCBC Resolution 1 of 2006 specifically as a non-commercial, social-solidarity tool to provide affordable medical cover for low- and middle-income state workers. Behaving like a profit-driven commercial enterprise constitutes a breach of its foundational mandate.

-       Unilateral PERSAL Deductions (Section 34 of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act): Deducting increased medical aid contributions directly from workers' salaries through the PERSAL system without explicit employee consent or concluded collective bargaining agreements violates fair labor practices.

 

 

3.  The Memorandum of Demands:-

We as Public servants we give a strict seven working days to DPSA our core demands:-

1.    Immediate Reversal: The total withdrawal and reversal of the exorbitant 2026 contribution increases. 

2.    Forensic Audit: An independent forensic audit into GEMS governance, financial position, and massive outsourced administrative and managed  procurement practices, and its massive outsourcing contracts (such as payments to Medscheme)

3.      Executive Accountability: The removal of all the Borad members as they are placed or delegated by unions and DPSA and replace them by ordinary employees who may have qualifications to run gems to the benefit of all public sector employees.

4.     Bargaining Accountability : A complete review of unilateral benefit restrictions (such as changes to the Tanzanite One option) and a return to - meaningful collective bargaining through the PSCBC.

5.    Decoupling the Subsidy (Freedom of Choice): Demand that the Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC) amend the current resolution so that the 66% employer medical subsidy applies equally to any accredited medical aid scheme chosen by the employee.

NOTE!

-       Office of the Public service Commission and Human rights commission we hereby request your intervention on our BCEA , Section 23 of the constitution, breach of foundational mandate and Section 9 of the constitution as they are chapter 9 institution since our unions seem to enjoy the suffering and exploitation on us.

 

-       All Public sector employees are hereby requested to sign this Petition to be submitted to DPSA, OPSC and Human Rights Commission. We only want this matter be finalised in the next coming three months.