The strike by Gauteng nursing students continues after talks between them and the government deadlocked over compensation disagreements.
The students have completed their training but want the government to employ them as general nurses and continue paying them until they write their board exams in November.
They are the first group introduced in 2020 for training for a Diploma in General Nursing known as R171. The group marched to Premier Panyaza Lesufi’s office in Johannesburg to hand over a memorandum of demands.
Last week the government obtained a court order from South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg interdicting the strike that has been going on for a while. But this did not stop the aggrieved student nurses from marching.
Students’ Representative Council (SRC) President at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital’s nursing college Mpho Maseu said Lesufi must intervene and scrap the program if it can’t give them what they want.
“What’s the point of training students if you can’t give them the job and also benefit the community that you took them from,”? she asked. “Then let’s leave the R171 program it’s not worth it.”
Health and Allied Workers Indaba Trade Union,(Haitu) Gauteng Chairperson Bafana Tshabalala said they demand to be appointed as general nurses rather than going home and doing nothing.
“The Department of Health is misleading and misguiding people because we never said we want to get stipends at home, we said we want them to appoint us as general nurse students. You are a general nurse awaiting registration with the South African Nursing Council (SANC) and they then work under the supervision of the professional nurse in the hospital.”
Tshabalala said if they can’t be absorbed they would rather swap their nursing uniform for the community cleaning uniform launched by Lesufi.
“We are saying if they can’t give these people jobs who are qualified and have experience and expertise rather join the Amapanyapanya and green mambas (slang name for Lesufi recently hired wardens and cleaners).
