The Sunday Mail
Veronica Gwaze
In a major volte face within a few hours, the Zimbabwe Nurses Association (ZNA) continues to eat humble pie with a latest desperate manoeuvre to seek audience with the Presidium and apologise over their ill-advised strike recently.
This comes after ZINA last week made another climb-down by withdrawing a High Court application that challenged Government’s decision to fire about 5 093 nurses.
The association is now seeking further engagement with Government after conceding that they were in the wrong at a time the 5 000 nurses have reapplied for their jobs and have been recruited back to work.
The ruinous strike, which started on April 16 and was called off after five days, led to a disruption of health services with indications of a political hand. The nurses disregarded an agreement they had reached with Government instructing them not to down tools during a meeting mediated by ZNEF.
After the strike, Government through Vice President Constantino Chiwenga moved in firing all nurses who had taken part in the industrial action before directing them to re-apply for consideration into health practice.
ZINA then approached the courts seeking a reversal of the dismissals, an action the nurses have dropped.
In a ZNEF communication memo dated April 21, which The Sunday Mail is in possession of, ZINA acknowledged to have breach the agreement with Government by embarking on an industrial action regardless of the consented standings. The communication reads: “…thank you for facilitating dialogue between ZINA and Government with intention of averting an industrial action, which unfortunately started on 16th April 2018 regardless of your consented effort.”
ZINA pleaded with ZNEF to either facilitate another meeting with the Government or directly convey their apologies for distracting health services resulting in the loss of jobs for 30 percent of the nurse workforce.
“We are kindly asking you once more to facilitate another meeting between ZINA, Minister of Health and Honourable Vice President Comrade C.Chiwenga or alternatively to convey our apologies for the disruption of Health services, which have taken place so far due to the collective job action by nurses,” reads part of the letter signed by ZINA President Smangaliso Mafa.
The association further extended its apologies to the Presidium and the entire population for the interrupted services caused by the strike.
“Our sincere apologies goes to the Honourable Vice President Comrade C. Chiwenga , His Excellency Comrade E.D Mnangagwa and the Zimbabwean population at large who suffered so much during the Nurses strike,” read the letter.
In an interview with The Sunday Mail, ZNEF Chairperson Bishop Felix Mukunowengwe confirmed the developments.
“ZINA approached us pleading with us to facilitate a dialogue between them and the Government.
“At first we were not sure whether or not to intervene because despite having mediated the first meetings and reaching an agreement, they went ahead and carried out the strike anyway.
“As elders we then agreed to help them out still and we are glad that with all the efforts put in place by different people it all went well and they even decided to drop the court application,” he said.
Yesterday the Health Services Board (HSB) told The Sunday Mail that almost all of the fired nurses applied for readmission and have since been taken back.
“Of those who were served with dismissal letters, all of them reapplied and all have been taken back while the recruitment of new cadres is still going on,” said HSB.
The strike by the nurses is understood to have been part of a precursor to a mass action after teachers join in and then the rest of the civil service with private sector joining “in solidarity”.
