Written by Fundizwi Sikhondze
The Swaziland
Democratic Nurses Union (SWADNU) delivered a petition in at the Cabinet and Ministry
of Health (MOH) offices in Mbabane on Friday 03 June 2021. The issues giving rise to
the petition are the non-availability of nurses, the chronic lack of medicine
in health care facilities around the country, the lack of security in health
care facilities as well as the public’s right to quality public healthcare.
The petitions came after several months of their engaging the government and deriving no results from those engagements. For instance on
Tuesday 26th April 2022 the leadership of the SWADNU, led by
President Welcome Mdluli and Secretary General Mayibongwe Masangane, went to
the Cabinet offices in Mbabane where they demanded to see the Prime Minister to
brief him about the health crisis in the country. At that time the President of
SWADNU was interviewed by the Times of Eswatini and said that 410 nurses had
their fixed term contracts elapsing at the end of March 2022 and the government
had not moved quickly to immediately renew them. He further added that besides
the 400 plus nurses awaiting contract renewal at home there were other shortages
of about 205 nurses due to retirement and death that the government was also
failing to fill.
The president
further said that they had continuously engaged the MOH on these issues however
they had not seen concrete progress, in terms of implementation, from these
engagements. It can be added that , judging from comments attributed to the MOH's Director of Health
Dr Vusi Magagula on the Sunday Observer (May 29th) where SWADNU
President Mdluli was decrying the fact that they were rehiring completely new
people in the positions left vacant in March 2022 instead of rehiring the
nurses whose contract elapsed in March 2022 as per engagements that had taken place with the government.
Dr Magagula arrogantly stated that as far
as they are concerned (as the MOH) they will hire as they please. He was quoted to have said
“It is the prerogative of the employer to pick which employee to hire and of
what calibre the employer wants”. Dr Magagula further refuted that their
ministry had reached an agreement with SWADNU regarding engaging health workers
on a permanent and pensionable basis after their fixed term contracts had
elapsed.
In his address at the cabinet offices during the delivery of the petition President Welcome said nurses have now run out patience and can no longer hide the shame they feel about going to work only to write prescriptions for patients to go and purchase medication from the private pharmacies. Further ,repeating the allegation made previously, that there are health facilities that have had to stop operating because of the lack of personnel after fixed term contracts were not renewed beyond March 2022, when their fixed term contracts ended.
The President, lastly, issued a promise that if their petition got ignored by the Prime Minister they will submit more come back to protest at the Prime Ministers' office ,this time with the entire membership of SWADNU and NAPSAWU.
The petition delivery was also attended by the President of the National Public Service and Allied Workers Union (NAPSAWU) Oscar Nkambule together with other national as well as local leaders of NAPSAWU. In his address President Nkambule emphasised what was happening in the public sector was an injustice especially in the face of the recent announcement that armed forces will be recruiting personnel soon. He then called for a people's government that will ensure that it prioritises the needs of public service instead of the needs of a few.
SWADNU Secretary General Mayibongwe Masangane read a petition with the workers demands. The petition was then handed to the representative of the Principal Secretary in the Prime Minister's office and another petition was handed over to the MOH.
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