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Cuthbert Mavheko
The recent ruling by the Labour Court that the collective job action by doctors is illegal has been the subject of much debate among some Zimbabweans.
Some have cast aspersions on the landmark ruling, arguing that it is an affront to the concept of democracy because the Constitution gives the citizenry leeway to engage in collective job action as a way of expressing disgruntlement.
While the law is notoriously prone to different interpretations, one does not need to be a legal expert to interpret what the Constitution says about collective job action.
Section 65 (3) of the Constitution states, in clear and unequivocal terms, that “except for members of the security services, every employee has the right to participate in collective job action, including the right to strike, sit in, withdraw their labour and take other similar concerted action, but a law may restrict the exercise of this right in order to maintain essential services.’
It is common knowledge that the health delivery system is an essential service. In light of this, it is quite clear that the Labour Court upheld the Constitution when it declared the illegality of the job action and gave the striking doctors a 48-hour ultimatum to return to work.
Let it be said quite frankly that the strike was uncalled for as it came at a time when the Government is putting in place measures to resuscitate the country’s health delivery system.
Doctors should not blind their eyes to the reality that the economy is facing challenges among them a tight liquidity crunch, cash shortages, company closures and retrenchments.
These challenges are affecting everyone.
In the light of this, doctors must abstain from viewing themselves as some kind of sacred cows. They must feel the pinch like everyone else.
However, the good news is that these challenges are temporary and will be overcome to pave way for an epoch of prosperity — one which will see Zimbabwe emerge as the fastest growing economy in the region.
Be that as it may, reviving the economy will not be a stroll in the park. The road ahead is rugged and bumpy and President Mnangagwa needs everyone’s support in order to get the economy back on track for prosperity. To this extent, we must work together as a team because pulling in opposite directions will hamper our progress.
Sight should not be lost of the fact that during the First Republic, Zimbabwe was in an economic quagmire with no Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) trickling into the country due to illegal sanctions imposed against the country by Western nations.
Potential investors had adopted a “wait and see” attitude as they could not do business in a country under sanctions.
This tragic scenario saw the country’s health delivery system lagging behind many African countries that were once behind it. The difficulties resulted in critical sectors such as health not being prioritised, leading to legions of health professionals leaving the country for greener pastures in foreign lands like South Africa, Australia, the UK, the USA and others.
Infrastructure problems that beset major referral hospitals such as Mpilo, Harare and Parirenyatwa, among others, made it very difficult for these health institutions to provide quality medical services to the generality of the people.
This was primarily due to the fact that the budget provision allocated by Treasury was not enough. The situation was further compounded by wide-spread corruption in the health delivery system.
This saw clinics in remote areas of the country become empty shells that were understaffed with virtually no medical provisions.
The good news is that the situation has now changed and normalcy is, slowly but surely, beginning to creep into the country’s health delivery system. The New Dispensation led by President Mnangagwa is working tirelessly to ensure that we have a vibrant health delivery system. His “Zimbabwe is open for business” mantra is now paying dividends.
Investors are descending on the country in droves to invest in the diverse sectors of the economy, including the health sector, where much-needed drugs and state-of-the-art equipment is being sourced from China, India and various other friendly nations.
Through strategic partnerships with local and foreign investors, Zimbabwe is today investing funds to improve the country’s health delivery system so that it regains its lost glory. All this is due to President Mnangagwa’s visionary leadership.
It is pertinent to point out that the New Dispensation’s thrust is not limited to rehabilitating major hospitals in the urban areas only. The Government is expanding high-quality health services even to those living in the remote areas of the country.
Only a dimwit can fail to see that a lot is being done by the New Dispensation to revive the country’s health delivery system.
However, the tragic irony is that all this good work is being ignored by some of our doctors, who appear to be pushing a different agenda.
Zimbabwe’s health delivery system used to be one of the best in the region. The doctors and nurses who manned our hospitals and clinics then had no stakes in the political arena; they were selfless, kind, compassionate and sensitive to the needs of their patients.
Conversely, today our health delivery system has been infiltrated by medical practitioners who, apart from being insensitive to the plight of the sick, have a callous regard for human life.
Having meticulously analysed the tragic events that have unfolded in the country since the ‘abduction’ of Dr Peter Magombeyi, I think it would be fair to state that the industrial action by the country’s doctors has a hidden political agenda.
Discerning analysts will obviously recall that MDC-Alliance leader, Advocate Nelson Chamisa, who is trying to get into Government through the back door, threatened recently to bring the country to a stand-still. He bragged that his party had the machinery and militancy to make the country ungovernable.
If the foregoing is anything to go by, one would not be totally incorrect to infer that the strike by the country’s doctors is one of the tactics that Advocate Chamisa employed to further his party’s regime change agenda.
Truth be told, the illegal strike crippled the country’s health delivery system, literally bringing it to a stand-still.
Patients are suffering after doctors callously abandoned them to the mercy of fate.
“The few days I spent in hospital during the strike by the country’s doctors were a nightmare. I ran away from the hospital because there was not a single doctor around and people were dying every day. The few nurses on duty did nothing to alleviate the situation as they appeared to be on a kind of go-slow and spent most of their time in the office.
“One pregnant woman who was supposed to deliver through a Caesarian section, died with the baby in her womb because there were no surgeons to conduct the much-needed surgical operation,” said a Mrs Nyathi from Nkulumane suburb in Bulawayo.
– Cuthbert Mavheko is a freelance journalist based in Bulawayo. He can be contacted via mobile 0773 963 448 or email [email protected]
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