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FILE PHOTO: A medic tends to coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients at the intensive care unit (ICU) of Pirogov hospital in Sofia, Bulgaria, October 15, 2021. REUTERS/Stoyan Nenov/File Photo
Free State healthcare contract workers whose employment was terminated are demanding reinstatement. They were employed at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and their contracts were not renewed at the end of October.
The frustrated workers marched to ANC’s Kaizer Sebothelo building to demand answers.
Government says R49 million has been made available to absorb the contract workers.
Emotions ran high as COVID-19 healthcare workers demanded answers over their contract terminations.
About 1,500 workers have been affected.
Government has committed to try to accommodate them.
“We are tired of these comrades. We are going to wait for you guys for the whole night of tomorrow. We will suffer on the streets. We will suffer for our kids, we voted for you guys, we are asking. The way the Department of Health embarrassed us by just throwing us out like that after we’ve been in the COVID-19. The permanent people didn’t want to work at that time,” says Thapelo Ramosengwane, an affected worker explains.
“It was announced even by the MEC of the Treasury last week. MEC Toto Makume, the funds are now available, and we should go back to work. No, we just want to know what the delay is. We did not work last month. We didn’t get salaries. Our children are hungry. So, we want to understand what is going on. What is the hold up, delay that we are going to work,” says Pulane Kale, another affected worker said.
Government says they have pulled the strings to avail the money. But officials say necessary procedures need to be followed.
Some workers have already been absorbed through posts that were advertised.
“Our commitment to the situation is to come up with a solution but remember that government has other processes. Myself, as the MEC of Finance, we’ve made an allocation to try and resolve part of the problem, but there are also recruitment processes that must kick in. After we’ve made an allocation now the departments concerned in this case, the Department of Health must start to kickstart the process of recruitment,” says Toto Makume, ANC Free State Deputy Chair.
Government has four days to sort out the situation as workers want to be reinstated with immediate effect.
Video: Covid-19 contract workers in Free State want to be reinstated
