NewsDay|A GROUPING of civic groups, under the banner Matabeleland Collective (MC), has threatened to disrupt nurse training lessons at Mpilo and United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH) to force government to address reports of unfair recruitment of student nurses at the two institutions.
This comes amid reports that at Mpilo, 20 out of the 24 trainee nurses recruited last week were not from Matabeleland. The same reads for United Bulawayo Hospitals where only four out of the 27 nurse trainees are from Matabeleland.
Mpilo clinical director Solwayo Ngwenya, who also heads the school of nursing, reportedly claimed that the selection process was done in Harare after the introduction of an online nurses’ application portal.
The MC said the move by the Health ministry flies in the face of President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s promises, as outlined in the implementation matrix produced after the March engagement at the Bulawayo State House.
Mnangagwa, under the social services cluster, pledged to ensure that government devolves such processes by giving locals first preference in job training or in filling vacant posts.
“MC pledges to shut down some of these training centres if government does not intervene to reverse these unfair practices from these nursing training institutions. MC also urges government to immediately implement devolution of power in order to curb these unfair structural practices that favour other regions over the other,” the MC said in a statement.
On Sunday, Vice-President Kembo Mohadi, while promising redress, condemned the questionable nurse training recruitment at Mpilo and UBH.
“We are not happy and as government, we will address this issue. Government policy is that the recruitment must be done equitably. We don’t want bias in that regard.
“We are going to look into it so that it is rectified,” Mohadi said after a de-briefing on the issue by Bulawayo Metropolitan Affairs minister Judith Ncube at Zanu PF’s Bulawayo Davies Hall provincial offices. Ncube last week also threatened to force the reversal of the “unfair” nurse trainee selection process.
Full Statement By The Collective:
Matabeleland Collective Press Statement on tribal recruitment of student nurses in Matabeleland.
Matabeleland Collective strongly condemns the unfair, tribal motivated recruitment of student nurses at Brunapeg, Mangwe, Gwanda, only one student at St Lukes, over 95 % of student nurses at Mpilo School of Nursing and is disappointed and taken aback by glaring Institutionalised Discrimination in the Ministry of Health and Child Care.
Matebeleland Collective is shocked by findings revealed by the Chronicle Newspaper that UBH only recruited one student each from Matabeleland North and Matabeleland South but 10 from Harare. Only four are from Bulawayo and Midlands also contributed.“St Anne’s Hospital in Brunapeg, Mangwe recruited no students from Matabeleland South or North provinces. Gwanda hospital also in the same region recruited zero students from Matabeleland South where it is located just like St Luke’s Hospital. The mission hospital in Lupane only got one student from Matabeleland North,”
Matebeleland Collective calls for an investigation for this scandal that was also confirmed by Mpilo clinical director Dr Solwayo Ngwenya who also heads the school of nursing confirmed that this time around, the selection and interviews were done from Harare and none of them from Mpilo of Nursing was consulted. He told state owned Chronicle Newspaper of 06 October 2019 that they received the 24 names of the student nurses who started on Monday and all these were a recommendation from the head office in Harare.
The move by the Ministry of Health and Child Care also flies in the face of what President Mnangagwa promised in the Implementation Matrix produced at the 21 March engagement meeting. The Head of State in number 9 – Social Services pledged to ensure that his government will devolve government processes by prioritising local businesses in the awarding of local tenders and GIVING LOCALS FIRST PREFERENCE WHEN FILING POSITIONS”
This is also a violation of:
Section 3 (f) recognition of the equality of all human beings (Founding Principles),
Section 13 (4) “The State must ensure that local communities benefit from the resources in their areas.”
Section 18 (2) reads” The State and all institutions and agencies of the State and government at every level must take practical measures to ensure that all local communities have equitable access to resources to promote their development.”
Section 56 (3) Every person has the right not to be treated in an unfairly discriminatory manner on such grounds as their nationality, race, colour, tribe, place of birth, ethnic or social origin, language, class, religious belief, political affiliation, opinion, custom, culture, sex, gender, marital status, age, pregnancy, disability or economic or social status, or whether they were born in or out of wedlock.”
Section 264 (d) to recognise the right of communities to manage their own affairs and to further their development; (e) “To ensure the equitable sharing of local and national resources;..”
Matabeleland Collective pledges to shutdown some of these training centres if government does not intervene to reverse these unfair practice from these nursing training institutions. Matabeleland Collective also urges government to immediately implement devolution of power in order to curb these unfair structural practices that favour other regions over the other.”
Matebeleland Collective also invite legislators and other political players from this region to take note of such divisive actions/ discrepancies and assist in the broader collective to nip them in the bud.”