The simmering labour unrest among the country’s health professionals has the potential to bring Zimbabwe to a halt; and making a mockery of workers’ demands for a living wage, as Health and Child Care minister Douglas Mombeshora has done, can only inflame rather than douse the crisis.
Responding to the notice by health workers to down tools if their request for better salaries was not heeded, Mombeshora issued a veiled threat to the workers, a poor tactic that has had negative impact in the past.
He said “no well-meaning Zimbabwean” would take to strike action when government was promising to look at their grievances. He proceeded to accuse those that wanted to strike as having “other motives”.
Mombeshora said government had summoned the organisers of the strike and told them that they “can only go for a job action if they are looking for something else apart from the welfare issues”.
Doctors and nurses had last week advised government through their Health Apex Council that they would go on a three-day job action if the Health Service Commission continued to ignore their demands for better salaries.
After the threats, the workers withdrew into their shells but it would be naïve for the government to believe they had silenced them.
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“We called them to discuss what they want government to do for them and if not, may they tell us who is capable,” Mombeshora said in what the workers said was an ominous statement.
Mombeshora’s statement, daring workers to tell the government who they thought was more capable to attend to their demands, exposes the volatile mood in the civil service. It is clear that government is threatening workers in a desperate bid to avert imminent labour revolt across sectors.
Workers’ salaries are falling along with the country’s currency and it is imperative that government addresses this issue and throws arrogance and bully tactics out the window.
A key demand by government workers is to remove the discredited surrogate bond note out of all negotiations and it is time authorities come face to face with reality and take action.
It is the uselessness of the Zimbabwean dollar that has sparked furore across the country, resulting in the current disquiet in the civil service. It would be helpful if Minister Mthuli Ncube presented himself at these negotiations to provide answers.
Given the mood within the government workforce and the country at large, it would be wise for the government to abandon its bully tactics and take the demands of the workers seriously to avoid situations that could bring chaos to the country.
Threats and other forms of intimidation, such as those seen coming from minister Mombeshora are misguided and unhelpful to the government.