Pretoria - Covid-19 support staff who "risked their lives and those of their families" to serve the public feel used and uncared for by the Department of Health as their contracts ends.
The group of workers who performed duties like cleaning at Dr George Mukhari Academic Hospital convened outside the hospital from 6am to protest and call on the government to reconsider extending their annual contracts.
The group, claiming to represent about 500 others, burnt incense and prayed and called upon their ancestors to do whatever it takes to ensure they were called to return for duty on Monday after their contracts runs their course on Friday.
They said they were mostly young breadwinners who could not be ready to face unemployment, particularly in a country with a struggling economy that keeps shedding jobs and shrinking opportunities.
Covid-19 support staff whose jobs are on the line pray and call upon ancestors to make management at Dr George Mukhari Academic Hospital extend their contracts because they are not ready for unemployment. #Hospital #JobSeekersSA #Jobs pic.twitter.com/Q8Im6016O3
However, it was their emotional vents which touched the hearts of spectators when they spoke about the Covid-19 complications they endured during the height of the pandemic, trying to serve the country and do work at a place people were afraid to go to.
Tshepo Moholola, a cleaner, said: ‘’The department has been extending these contracts annually, but now that people have misused the budget, they are telling us they cannot renew our contracts.
‘’We are young people here, young people who risked their lives for this country. I was infected with Covid-19 twice during the height of the pandemic. I then infected my friend. But here, there are young people who infected their parents and elderly relatives who went on to lose their lives.
"Today, they are done with us, so they are telling us they only have a limited budget of R600 million for all the hospitals. They are saying they will only recruit to fill critical positions like doctors and nurses. So who is going to clean? Who is going to assist in data capturing and the other roles we assumed?"
Zodwa Msiza, who read the group's memorandum to Chief Executive Lucas Ndlovu, said health and allied workers remain exploited and their rights violated by the employer, the Gauteng Department of Health.
"The employer is well aware that under section 1988 of the Labour Relations Act states that an employee who has been employed by a company on a fixed term basis for longer than three months, by or after 1 April 2019, can be considered to be a permanent employee. We know it is important to note, however, it depends entirely on the factual circumstances of each case and does not apply as a hard and fast rule.
"But here, while the country is commemorating the Human Rights Month, the Health Department continues to exploit and violate the rights of health workers and further violates the basic human rights of the communities we serve. Which is the right to healthcare."
Ndlovu, who acknowledged that the workers were running out of time as their contracts lapse this Friday, said he did not want to promise them a quick response because decisions on their contracts were not made in his office, but the Gauteng Department of Health. He promised them that the department would communicate feedback through his channels.
Ndlovu did not want to say if the workers should report for duty on Monday because that would have been his own decision and not that of the department that was actually responsible for the payment of their salaries.
Pretoria News