Union officials, in close cooperation with certain political cronies, have for years provided protection to civil servants found to be guilty of dereliction of duty or to have breached the code of ethics.

Disciplinary councils in the civil service are notorious for making decisions under pressure that serve union interests even when cases involve employees facing charges for very serious offenses.

To this day, however, there is a part of the political system that refuses to agree to the sacking of public sector workers found guilty of dereliction of duty or professional misconduct. This is not just hypocritical and reprehensible, it also represents a grave provocation to the thousands of people who have lost their jobs in the private sector not because they did anything wrong but simply because they did not enjoy the protection of strong unions or self-serving politicians.