Government has fired all striking nurses with immediate effect. ZBC News reports that the nurses were fired after rejecting a $17.1 million offer. According to a statement released by Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, Government today released and transferred a sum of $17 114 446 into the account of the Ministry of Health and Child Care for on-payment to the striking nurses.
Below are some of the reactions to the news on Twitter:
How do you fire Nurses just like that? #Zimbabwe #263Chat
— P.A.N.A.S.H.E (@panathevoice) April 17, 2018
Maybe the action on nurses was a warning to other civil servants. There are currently 4000 unemployed trained nurses who could not be absorbed into hospitals. Could this have influenced this hard stance? https://t.co/d6K8OAZuE3
— Zim Media Review (@ZimMediaReview) April 17, 2018
https://twitter.com/knowledgemasuk3/status/986324807955382272
Government fires all striking nurses for rejeciting a deal to end strike.Vice president General Chiwenga, someone accustomed to orders and ultimatums as a soldier, made the announcement. Does that reflect the new trajectory on how Zinm is going to be run go forward ?
— Kholwani Nyathi (@kholwaninyathi) April 17, 2018
Zim is a low key military state things have gone even worse. Not that Mugabe was any better. Let's go to polls and make it very difficult for them to rig. We need change and masses have the power and key to change situation.
— Fur of the Buffalo (@mzphora_888) April 17, 2018
From Davido to the nurses.
This doesn’t end well. At least I don’t feel so.
It’s all too telling of how we feel about each other.
Same energy that keeps coming up. Entitlement and greed, beating out empathy & awareness.
Actual healing and solutions are certainly needed.
— KING NGODA | A.M.D.G. (@TehnDiamond) April 17, 2018
The govt says it has fired all striking nurses with immediate effect. What a foolish move! As usual, it's poor Zimbabweans who lose their lives when political elites fail to govern.
— Brezh Malaba (@BrezhMalaba) April 17, 2018
https://twitter.com/sure_kamhunga/status/986326450579083264
The move by @edmnangagwa govt to fire all striking nurses is sicking, childish & outright lunacy
— MDC (@MDCAllianceZW) April 17, 2018
By dismissing striking nurses who are raising legitimate concerns, the @edmnangagwa government has clearly shown that it is anti workers. Trying to force disgruntled and underpaid nurses to care for citizens in ill equipped hospitals, is endangering people’s lives.@263Chat
— ZCTU – Zimbabwe (@ZctuZimbabwe) April 17, 2018
Their kids learn outside the country being taught by motivated teachers. So this is not an attack to the nurses or teachers but the citizens who will ultimately pay the price. It is @DrDParirenyatwa that must pave the way for new set of hands to move our health services forward
— ZCTU – Zimbabwe (@ZctuZimbabwe) April 17, 2018
By firing all striking nurses @edmnangagwa has declared Zimbabwe is open for street protests
— Nqobile (@nqobilebhebhe) April 17, 2018
https://twitter.com/vmutapudzi/status/986319476013588481
sets a bad precedence to other employers out there,they can also fire anyone who tries to strike or ask for better pay
— Scud (@HEBobiScud) April 17, 2018
According to Zimbabwe labour laws nurses are not allowed to strike because they offer an essential service. In terms of the Labour (Declaration of Essential Services) Notice, 2003 (SI 137 of 2003), section 2(e), health services are declared an essential service.
a solid ethical& moral grounding would have informed an alternative course of action that involves negotiation rather than this heavy handedness that is most certainly going to cost the lives of innocent poor Zimbabweans& jeopardize the heălth of many.
Surprisingly enough we have a cholera pandemic in our midest and the General the so called savior/ coup mastermind bares his ugly ass for all to see!
Nurses are not soldiers you cruel overzealous power monger!
Vote Zanu out for better health delivery.
It is either political or greediness the action by nurses. Why now? Now we can see the loyalty of the head of the ministry is to the new dispensation. We cannot say the VP is wrong in his action, but the nurses themselves must not causing suffering of the masses just because they want money. They must think about the people first. They are not the only ones who are not adquately being paid. All the civil servants. Why not wait for the coming government. Why not give the new dispensation a chance to correct things.
A chance to correct which things if I may ask, the things which they caused in the first place, it was zanu for the past 38 years, now you want to hail them for acting on the problems they created and we say they have saved us. nothing new aboout this so called new dispensation.
correct things when? We all know that when a man marries a woman , he doesnt treat her better than before but worse. This the time to prove their worth. How can you put other people first when you are barely surviving? Retired nurses? You retire because of age and not being able to function at optimum stage. Trained nurses? Why were they not employed before? We all know how grossly understaffed the government hospitals already were- where were these qualified nurses? Us Zimbabweans are just walk-overs
correct things when? We all know that when a man marries a woman , he doesnt treat her better than before but worse. This the time to prove their worth. How can you put other people first when you are barely surviving? Retired nurses? You retire because of age and not being able to function at optimum stage. Trained nurses? Why were they not employed before? We all know how grossly understaffed the government hospitals already were- where were these qualified nurses? Us Zimbabweans are just walk-overs
What nurses are striking for today has been a problem since 2.5 decades ago. why are they striking now? This is a game by POLITICIANS. Chamisa and the labour associations versus the junta govt. Patients and nurses are just the grass that suffers when the elephants fight. Watch and Learn. Zanu pf did not see this one coming. I just hope it wont back fire on MDC in the long run
I totally agree with the VP that the nurses strike is politically motivated. Why embark on an industrial action on the eve of elections?. Nurses must put the lives of the people first and not the interest of politicians. We all know that ZINA has its own political interest. Why not give the new Government a chance?.
While the strike may be politically motivated, the rights of nurses are being trampled upon. Let the elections come and let’s get rid of this hypocrisy.
Even if a new government comes to power as we all desire this problem will not go way. The only way is to train as many as we can. And remove corruption from the recruitment process. I have seen young children dying in these strikes. Save the children. Have you ever thought of the day you were born, if the nurses of those good old days were on strike, the pain your mother could go through and the possibility of you not making it. Surely the government has to fire those who are not comfortable with their work and working conditions. Let those who want the job get it.