{"id":10102,"date":"2020-09-04T00:20:25","date_gmt":"2020-09-04T00:20:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lavozlit.com\/?p=10102"},"modified":"2020-09-04T00:20:25","modified_gmt":"2020-09-04T00:20:25","slug":"german-government-and-volkswagen-populism-and-repression-in-the-south-african-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/workersvoiceus.org\/es\/2020\/09\/04\/german-government-and-volkswagen-populism-and-repression-in-the-south-african-pandemic\/","title":{"rendered":"German Government and Volkswagen: Populism and Repression in the South African Pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"

The German government decided, through the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), together with South African Volkswagen, to support the battle against Coronavirus in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.<\/em>
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\nBy Cesar Neto<\/strong><\/em>
\nThe initiative was presented to the press in June.\u00a0 An important local newspaper reported this with the following headline \u201cVolkswagen converted an old PE factory into a massive Covid-19 hospital in just 7 weeks\u201d.
\nThe media has put a spotlight on this news. After all, in a country where private medicine is predominant, that is, it privileges those who can pay, such news is received with great popular approval.\u00a0 Particularly because the situation in which the main public hospital in the city of Port Elizabeth, where the Volks plant is located, is in a disastrous state.
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\nHow did this selfless help happen?<\/strong>
\n125 million rand (the local currency) or 6.52 million euros were made available, of which the German State contributed 80% and Volkswagen 20%. In addition, the company made a donation of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to health professionals (1).
\nVolkswagen is reported to have purchased PPE for healthcare professionals in the following proportions: 50,000 N95 masks, 65,000 disposable gowns, two million disposable gloves, and 1,000 visors. There are also 200 digital infrared thermometers and 190 devices for monitoring the oxygen content in the blood and the pulse of Covid-19 patients (2).
\nThe other part of the aid was in the granting of space, from a Volks factory that was deactivated, for the construction of an emergency hospital.\u00a0 Volkswagen, according to the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) website, has ceded the premises until March 2021 (3), that is, for less than a year.
\n 
\nUninterested help or marketing move?<\/strong>
\nHistorically, Volkswagen South Africa has demanded an extremely long working day from its workers compared to those in Germany. A study in the year 2000, carried out by the Volkswagen Group\u2019s World Works Council, shows that in Wolfsburg, Germany, the hours per year for each worker was 1,430. Meanwhile, the South African worker worked 1,686 hours per year, or 256 more hours per year.
\nAh this data, some might say, is old! And we say yes, but it is from before the total flexibilization of workers\u2019 rights carried out in the ANC-Cosatu-SACP government of South Africa. This means that today the conditions are even worse and the production days and intensity of work are even greater.
\nWorking class over-exploitation allows Volkswagen in South Africa, and the world, an exorbitant profit rate. This while the \u201cdonation\u201d of 190 devices to monitor the oxygen content in the blood and wrist, the famous oximeters, cost around $20. And the same with the investment to buy 200 digital infrared thermometers that cost from 50 to 70 dollars on the retail market.
\nAs if that wasn\u2019t enough, the auto parts factory that was deactivated, went through a make-up process. And a very poor makeup, where the \u201cthe concrete floor is still marked by yellow lines where machines stood\u201d. (4)<\/p>\n