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RFM NURSES PETITION CEO AGAIN

By Sifiso Nhlabatsi | 2019-01-22

Amidst the RFM debacle which has been dragging for months on end, staff led by the President of the Nurses Unit Committee Manzini Region Simphiwe Sakhile Maziya, delivered a petition to CEO Ben Simelane yesterday.

Maziya stated that they reached a deadlock with management and all lines of communication had completely broken, hence the petition to the CEO.

Addressing staffers, Maziya said there was a management crisis at the hospital, and therefore have issues they requested the CEO to address in the petition. These include unsafe working conditions, most particularly the female medical ward, which was declared unsafe by two separate legal entities.

Another issue is that of the nurses’ uniform, which has been dragging for four months, as well as that of the human resource senior manager, who the staff members ordered to step down.

“We the undersigned would like to bring to your attention the following issues that have dragged for months without any solution and with no hope of finding one. It is unfortunate that we have lost a negotiation forum with management following the deadlock,” reads the opening statement of the petition.

The aforementioned petition follows another of a vote of no confidence on the Principal Human Resources Manager Stephen Dlamini, that was served three weeks ago.

It is alleged that there has been no update from management and Dlamini is still hands on with the nursing issues. The Nurses Unit Committee recommends that Dlamini refrains from nurses’ issues to avoid further retaliation. In the petition, the NUC demands that the matter with regards to the HR be sorted within 14 days.

RFM staff has subsequently boycotted working in the female medical ward since it was declared unsafe. Maziya said, it was unclear to the staff why the HR keeps issuing nurses with warning notices, forcing them to report to work in the hazardous ward.

The petition demanded that management should retract the warning letters within 14 days, failing which the matter will be taken to court.

Another issue addressed in the petition is that of shortage of staff, working conditions are no longer bearable due to the severe staff shortage versus a high influx of patients as Raleigh Fitkin Memorial hospital is a primary health care and a referral hospital combined.

Health services to be provided by the nurses per patient have been added and new divisions amongst the hospital have been added.

After all these additions, the number of nurses have been reduced from the number, as per the hospitals establishments.

The staff, therefore, demands a correction to staff shortages, meanwhile nurses shall revert to working at a single nurse capacity. Another issue stated in the petition is that of un-roadworthy vehicles. The nurses demand a certificate of roadworthiness to be published and be known by all passengers of the staff vehicles. Another issue included in the petition is that of the nurses uniform, it has been four months since the RFM staff abandoned wearing their uniform. It is alleged in the petition that RFM management has shown no interest in resolving the uniform issue, yet they are mandated by law to provide uniforms.

The staff requested management to provide them with uniforms within 14 days, failing which the staff threatened to report to work wearing outrageous outfits.

When contacted for comment, RFM CEO Ben Simelane asked to be emailed a questionnaire since he was at a meeting. By the time of compiling this report, Simelane had not responded to our queries.

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