Nurses don black in protest for better pay
Nurses march for more money.
Tshegofatso Ngobeni
Approximately 350 disgruntled nurses wearing black took part in the young nurses’ indaba #payournurses march to Church Square on Monday.
Nurses’ indaba is an amalgamation of nurses organisations and unions that have demanded better working conditions and pay from the health department and the nursing council.
Co-founder and spokesperson of the nurses’ indaba, Lerato Gova, blamed the health department for the dysfunction in the nursing profession.
“Government needs to stop playing foul. It knows why nurses are burnt-out, fatigued and unfriendly [to patients]. It is because nurses are not paid well,” Gova said.
Nurses’ indaba is demanding the scrapping of their uniforms.
The other co-founder, Lebogang Phehla, said under current working conditions, nurses found wearing a white uniform untenable as it got stained easily.
He said it was shocking that nurses still earned less than R10 000 a month. “This must change,” he said.
Sarah (not her real name), a nursing sister at Kalafong hospital, said she was tired of the department blaming nurses for behaviour that was a direct consequence of the department’s failure to meet nurses’ demands.
“We want better working conditions and payment. We are tired of being blamed by the health department for everything that is going wrong on in hospitals when it has failed to address our needs,” Sarah said.
The nurses were scheduled to march from Church Square to the nursing council.
A metro police officer said Madiba and Leyds streets would be closed during the march.
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