S. Africa Plans to Rehire Fired Hospital Aides

The government said Monday that it will rehire more than 1,700 blacks fired for striking at a hospital in the black township of Soweto. The dispute had threatened to inspire sympathy walkouts elsewhere.

Police reported scattered incidents of rioting around the country but no new fatalities after one of the bloodiest weeks in 15 months of rioting against the white-minority government’s apartheid racial policy. Official accounts listed at least 52 deaths last week.

The decision to rehire the dismissed student nurses and auxiliary workers came hours after a judge ruled that the initial mass firing at Baragwanath Hospital was illegal. Richard Goldstone, a provincial high court judge, ruled that cases must be reviewed separately.

Baragwanath, in the sprawling black township of Soweto outside Johannesburg, has nearly 3,000 beds and a staff of almost 10,000.

Chaos at Hospital

It was reported to be in chaos for much of the 10 days after the dismissals. Army reservists were called up to replace the 940 student nurses and more than 800 cooks, cleaners and other non-medical staff.

Black unions had threatened to strike other hospitals if the workers were not reinstated.