THE Women for Economic and Social Empowerment (WESE) is deeply worried by the ongoing indefinite incapacitation of health workers over poor working conditions and low remuneration.
On June 17, 2022, representatives of the health sector workers notified the Health Service Board (HSB) that they would be embarking on strike starting Monday June 20, 2022 after HSB failed to positively respond to their demands.
The incapacitation poses grave danger for women’s access to health because women constitute the majority of those who seek medical services from public health facilities.
As WESE, we are, therefore, stunned with government’s lack of commitment to resolving the impasse between itself and health workers.
Health is a right guaranteed in terms of section 76 of the Constitution and failure by government to ensure smooth functioning of the sector constitutes a violation of fundamental human rights.
Demands from the nurses are just and very reasonable as they relate to livelihoods and the need for basic equipment and drugs to use in clinics and hospitals.
It is inconceivable that government would claim to have a budget surplus while failing to adequately pay its workers.
Pregnant women, nursing mothers and women with chronic illnesses are at the most exposed by the ongoing incapacitation.
- Chamisa under fire over US$120K donation
- Mavhunga puts DeMbare into Chibuku quarterfinals
- Pension funds bet on Cabora Bassa oilfields
- Councils defy govt fire tender directive
Keep Reading
Furthermore, lack of access to health services affects women’s overall socio-economic well-being, resulting in reversals to gains made in the women’s empowerment drive over the years.
We call on government to urgently address the demands of nurses, provide adequate drugs and equipment to hospitals and clinics.-WESE
Govt workers must try new strategiesTHE impasse between government and civil servants over poor salaries and working negotiations has left citizens at the mercy of government’s striking workers.
The employees want upwards of US$800 or something around that figure, an increment based on the current rate of the cost of living and the galloping rate of inflation, these two being the twin dragons of Zimbabwe’s economic plight.
Never mind who is responsible. We all know who is. Government says it can only afford a 100% salary increase, an unprecedentedly generous offer, in my view.
The teachers’ industrial action has been less successful because their organisations are not speaking with one voice. In other words, they are divided over the issue.
The rejection of the offer by the employees is unfortunate. It makes neither sense nor logic, especially given the fact that it is now common cause to all that government will go ahead and “award” the employees what it has put on the table.
The employees are mathematically correct as to what they should be earning, but government arbitrarily short-changed them using political muscle and machinations.
On the ground, there is no way that government can afford the salary hikes demanded by its employees.
What the workers can do is to negotiate twice yearly with the employer just as inflation will certainly continue to rise at a faster rate. One hundred percent now and 200% on January 1, 2023 would make sense.
Personally, I have respect for Labour and Social Welfare minister Paul Mavima, and even when he was Primary and Secondary Education minister.
He is humble and communicates well and effectively. The thing is that he is not working alone. Even worse, he is not the national purse keeper nor the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor.
Finance minister Mthuli Ncube and central bank governor John Magudya are running the economy as their personal possession.
Civil servants, especially the educators, are gradually losing their support bases and even sympathy from the general public and will consequently become more divided and lose grip.
The employer is not refusing to bend forward in negotiations.
Government is broke. Workers’ unions must be creative instead of pummelling the employer who is down and out. You can’t bleed a stone.
True, the workers are justifiably aggrieved and deserve that which is due to them since 2018, but the manner and means by which they seek redress negates the process.-Martin Stobart
War vets must stop hijacking access to documentation exercisesCOMMUNITY members from Gutu have bemoaned the continued politicisation of the ongoing access to documentation blitz by war veterans.
This was revealed during a community dialogue organised by communities working with Heal Zimbabwe in Gutu on June 18, 2022.
Participants at the dialogue highlighted that a Zanu PF member only identified as Mudzamiri, who is also a war veteran and retired soldier, has hijacked the ongoing identify document blitz being rolled out by the Civil Registry Department in Gutu.
Mudzamiri has allegedly threatened the mobile civil registry team not to issue documents to community members until they agree to be accompanied to Matizha Business Centre where they will collect the documents.
Upon arrival at the centre, Mudzamiri then forces citizens to affirm their support for Zanu PF and register at the local Zimbabwe Electoral Commission office.
He is reportedly working with other war veterans in the area.
This is a gross violation of citizens’ rights and if not addressed, can jeopardise prospects for peaceful elections in 2023.
It also came out during the dialogue that Mudzamiri was targeting first-time voters from nearby high schools.
Mudzamiri has also reportedly given directives to some village heads in the area to inform a local burial society to stop wearing branded yellow T-shirts.
As the way forward, the dialogue meeting tasked a local community peace club that works with Heal Zimbabwe to embark on a human rights awareness programme and conscientise the community on key fundamental human rights and freedoms such as political rights that are enshrined in section 67 of the Constitution.
This section grants citizens the right to freely form, join or participate in the activities of a political party or organisation of their choice.-Heal Zimbabwe
