DURBAN - The Democratic Nursing Organisation of SA (Denosa) and Public Servants Association of SA (PSA) in KwaZulu-Natal has expressed their anger that health workers and other public servants were being forced to sign annual leave or unpaid leave, since they were unable to attend work last week due to the civil unrest.
On Monday, Denosa KZN provincial secretary Mandla Shabangu emailed the KZN Health Department’s chief director of human resources about the matter.
In the letter, Shabangu said the violent protests and racial tensions had resulted in nurses being unable to reach their workplaces, but now they were being forced to sign from their annual leave or fall under the category of unpaid leave.
He added that many relied on public transport, while those with private vehicles did not have sufficient fuel to get to work, and their nurses did try to reach their workplaces.
“Now that the situation is becoming calm, our members are intimidated by managers that they must sign vacation leave or unpaid leave, for the days they could not report to work. This is the most inhumane and unfair treatment to our members, who never arranged for the protest and they have no control of unavailability of fuel and public transport,” said Shabangu.
Shabangu called on the department to intervene urgently because their nurses were being victimised.
He said he had requested an urgent meeting with the head of department to discuss the type of leave to be signed.
“We ask institutions to refrain from demanding that our members sign away their leave,” said Shabangu.
He also called on the issuing of a directive to all institutions, to allow the department to pave the way forward on the matter and avoid inconsistencies around the issue.
On Tuesday, Shabangu said he received confirmation that the email was received and that the chief director would respond to him on Tuesday.
He said he had asked to meet the department head early last week, but has not received a response.
“Our members will never sign leave without pay or any vacation leave until they (the Health Department) give a directive. So if they take long to give a directive, our members will respond longer because, for now, our directive to our members is that they must not sign anything,” said Shabangu.
Health Department spokesperson Ntokozo Maphisa said the allegation by Denosa was non-factual, as no such announcement was made.
“The department is liaising with all the relevant stakeholders on the matter. Once a decision has been taken, all stakeholders – including organised labour – will be informed accordingly. The department has, in the meantime, begun instructing management structures of all its facilities not to act on the matter, until the appropriate time,” said Maphisa.
PSA provincial manager Mlungisi Ndlovu said their position was very clear: “All public servants that were unable to report for duty due to uprising or unrest must be granted special leave, not annual leave, because this was beyond employees’ control,” said Ndlovu.
“And they reserved the right to take any legal action against those employers that are forcing their members to take vacation leave,” said Ndlovu.
Ndlovu said any public servants who were forced to sign for leave must call their provincial organiser Xolani Dhlamini on 073 813 9646 for further assistance and support.
Daily News