“MEC of Bereavement must go!” - YNITU

Members of the Young Nurses Indaba Trade Union (YNITU) have called on the MEC for Health in Limpopo, Dr Phophi Ramathuba, to step down.

On Monday, YNITU members marched to the Department of Health’s offices in Limpopo to hand over a memorandum of grievances. During the march, YNITU members were carrying placards displaying messages such as “MEC of Bereavement must go!”, “Shortage of nurses is equivalent to suicide” and “Wrong nurse ratio kills patients”.

According to the media statement released by YNITU on Monday, the union marched through the streets of Polokwane to the department, but upon arrival they learnt that MEC Ramathuba and her senior leadership were not in office.

“YNITU is resolute that the memorandum will not be handed (over to) or accepted by cleaners or low-ranking officials who find themselves at the mercy of corrupt officials who instruct them to do wrong things,” said the president of YNITU, Ms Lerato Madumo-Gova.

Madumo-Gova said that the union members were later forced to flee from the department’s offices after police officers had fired rubber bullets at them.

“They tried to manhandle us and dictate to us how we should march and what props we could use. They were touched in their studio by our members’ carrying a coffin, which is what Phophi’s actions are resulting in - the death of patients,” she said.

The union accuses the MEC of being responsible for “countless atrocities” committed in the province. “She has ignored some of the most down-trodden communities and subjected them to unnecessary, untimely deaths and adverse events by failing to employ adequate staff after using taxpayers’ money to train them,” Madumo-Gova said.

YNITU questions the Department of Health’s handling of staff and accuses the MEC of intending to lay off another 540 health-care professionals, even though a serious problem exists with the quality of health care in the province.

The spokesperson of the MEC for Health, Mr Thilivhali Muavha, said that the MEC had not yet received the memorandum. “When the union members came to the office yesterday, the MEC was not around and they refused to give the memorandum to a junior staff member,” he said.

Date:07 February 2020

By: Maanda Bele

Maanda  Bele, born and raised in Nzhelele Siloam, studied journalism at the Tshwane University of Technology.

He is passionate about current news and international affairs.

He worked as part of the Zoutnet team as an intern in 2017.

He is currently a freelance journalist specialising in news from the Vhembe district.

Read: 1806