LETTER: Emmerson Mnangagwa must improve conditions in Zimbabwe

According to news reports, more than 4,000 Zimbabwean health workers have emigrated in search of better working conditions and salaries since 2021.

Those who applied for jobs in SA, some of whom were in the process of writing exams for registration with the SA Nursing Council, are now angry and disappointed that the department of health has declared that it will not hire Zimbabweans, as their own country needs their services.

Yet some trained SA health professionals are languishing at home, unemployed, because of a lack of money to employ them. So, while SA is struggling to solve its own problems it is only fair that Zimbabwe must do the same.

When foreign countries, especially Western countries, recruit nurses, they can't succeed without the involvement of nursing councils, which must verify the qualifications and licence to practice for each recruit. This essentially means the nursing council is involved in facilitating recruitment of nurses from their countries, because without that verification recruitment cannot proceed.

It is disingenuous for governments to complain about the “poaching” of their health professionals as if they do not have a hand in the process, because they have the right to protect their own health services.

Zimbabwean president Emmerson Mnangagwa must do the right thing and review and restore better conditions in all aspects of life in his country, especially since the country will soon be heading into elections.

Cometh Dube-Makholwa
Midrand

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