By Own Correspondent| First lady Auxilia Mnangagwa has confirmed that junior doctors who have been on strike since December 1 2018 have committed to going back to work while their grievances are being addressed.

In a statement with the national broadcaster ZBC, the first lady said she was happy with the latest development which she said would see an end to the current impasse between the striking doctors and their employer.

Below is the full text of the statement by Amai Mnangagwa:

“The children (junior doctors) have said we want to come and meet our mother, to say mother please listen to our grievances and hear the challenges that we are facing.

They said to some, from the outside world, we are being labelled and have earned bad names as truant, people that do not listen, with some saying we are boastful, wanting to only have it our way.

So they (doctors) have told me their challenges, some of them can be solved immediately but some can be resolved with time. But what i am happy with is that they have said mum, we now want, we are going back to work, we are going back to work because we know that when we come to our mother, our challenges have been solved, so we are going back to work.

But their grievances, some of them, while they are at work, the ones that can be solved will be solved. Because our economy is not in good shape, its being worked on, they are working on it.

We then agreed that boys, we want to strive for the Zimbabwe that we want, we should work for the Zimbabwe that we want. They are very positive these children (doctors) and i have thanked them a lot for coming to me as their mother as their last resort. Because even when you look at the family setup, at any homestead, when they (children) have a problem they go to their mother.”