The group is walking from Pretoria to Johannesburg and is expected to hand over a memorandum outlining long-standing grievances that they say have been ignored.
The union’s provincial chairperson, Bongani Banda, said: “The department has not filled vacant posts in almost a year. Nurses are retiring, some are leaving the country and yet no one is being hired to replace them. Our nurses are working under extreme pressure,” Banda said.
One of the union’s biggest demands is the immediate lifting of the moratorium on hiring nurses.
Denosa also wants the permanent employment of community service nurses and former Covid-19 contract workers, many of whom are still working without full benefits, Banda said.
“There is no clear reason they are not being paid with full benefits.”
Banda said they raised their grievances with Nkomo-Ralehoko and Lesufi earlier this year, where they also warned about budget underspending.
“Our submission of the memorandum will be a follow-up and intensifying on our issues because the underspending and returning of budget that we anticipated in January in our meeting has happened as anticipated.”
Lesufi’s spokesperson Sizwe Pamla referred Sowetan to the department of health which had not responded to questions at the time of publication.
SowetanLIVE
Denosa march over staff shortages, poor working conditions
Image: Emile Bosch
Members of the Democratic Nursing Organisation of SA (Denosa) in Gauteng are demanding urgent action from premier Panyaza Lesufi and the MEC for health Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko on staffing shortages and poor working conditions.
The group is walking from Pretoria to Johannesburg and is expected to hand over a memorandum outlining long-standing grievances that they say have been ignored.
The union’s provincial chairperson, Bongani Banda, said: “The department has not filled vacant posts in almost a year. Nurses are retiring, some are leaving the country and yet no one is being hired to replace them. Our nurses are working under extreme pressure,” Banda said.
One of the union’s biggest demands is the immediate lifting of the moratorium on hiring nurses.
Denosa also wants the permanent employment of community service nurses and former Covid-19 contract workers, many of whom are still working without full benefits, Banda said.
“There is no clear reason they are not being paid with full benefits.”
Banda said they raised their grievances with Nkomo-Ralehoko and Lesufi earlier this year, where they also warned about budget underspending.
“Our submission of the memorandum will be a follow-up and intensifying on our issues because the underspending and returning of budget that we anticipated in January in our meeting has happened as anticipated.”
Lesufi’s spokesperson Sizwe Pamla referred Sowetan to the department of health which had not responded to questions at the time of publication.
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