JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA (ADV) – Zimbabwean president Emmerson Mnangagwa has shown his love for his people by cutting short his leave days to attend to a strike by government-employed junior doctors.
According to the Zimbabwean Ministry of Information, Publicity, and Broadcast, Acting President Constantino Chiwenga’s attempts to end the protests failed and this led to Mnangagwa having to report back to office immediately to intervene in the strike.
“I have cut short my leave to be in immediate and active consultation with the Acting President in resolving the situation in the Health Sector,” said President Mnangagwa.
President Mnangagwa had temporarily deployed Vice President Chiwenga to help end the protests that emerged last month and has now been joined by radiographers.
However, Chiwenga recently told reporters that the government is worried about the state of health sector as the protests are continuing.
“The government is disturbed by the fact that in spite of the many concessions it made to the striking doctors, and the broad agreement reached on all but two issues, the striking health personnel continue to withhold their labour and negotiate in bad faith even though they are designated as an essential service under the Labour Act, and even though government has bent over backwards to accommodate them,” he said.
According to media reports, the medical practitioners are demanding for increased salaries which are paid in US dollars rather than local Bond Notes and Real Time Gross Settlements (RTGS) currencies, a move that Chiwenga suggest will never be met by his government.
“For the avoidance of doubt, government will not remunerate any of its work- force in United States dollars, a position it made very clear to the striking doctors. The government does not print United States dollars.
“International best practices which govern doctors and interns, provide that doctors should not abandon patients and posts; and that, instead they should bring forward their grievances while making sure loss of life or unnecessary pain and suffering is avoided.”
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