Makumire takes nurses’ plight to Parliament,

Minister says protests were illegal

Chiredzi Central legislator, Ropafadzo Makumire, has presented the plea of low remuneration to civil servants including health workers to parliament following a wave of protests in health institutions accross the country.

Makumire posed his question to the acting leader of government business, Dr. Anxious Masuka, during Tuesday’s Question and answer session in the National Assembly, on whether government had addressed the concerns raised during the protests.

“We saw nurses in Government institutions going on strike or demonstrating that they are no longer able to buy themselves undergarments or go to work. What measures have been put in place by the Government to ensure that those striking workers who were demonstrating about the low wages can go back to the institutions and carry out their work?” inquired Makumire.

The minister professed ignorance of what was written on placards, adding that the health workers had illegally convened.

“From the 10th of March 2026 to date, I was the Acting Minister of Health and Child Care. The nurses at Sally Mugabe Hospital took advantage to unlawfully demonstrate their unhappiness by going on strike and they went over that for some time. What we saw, what was written, were things that we would understand. They were of the view that their salaries were low, transport costs, and the number of days that they work, but I did not see anything pertaining to their undergarments,” said Masuka.

Masuka assured members of parliament that nurses were back at work. He expressed gratitude to healthworkers for returning fo work despite their grievances not having been addressed.

“They repeated together with those at Parirenyatwa Hospital. This particular Monday, joined by Chitungwiza Hospital and Bindura Hospital, they demonstrated for 30 minutes, others waited for two to three hours and they went back to their workstations. All of them are now back at their workstations. Let me take this opportunity to thank them for knowing that people’s lives are important, even if they have grievances, they should raise their grievances while performing their duties.  I urge that going forward, we should look at the Labour Act so that should we have grievances, we follow the grievance handling in the Labour Act. Let me reiterate that the Government that is led by His Excellency, Dr. E.D. Mnangagwa is a people’s Government, it is a listening Government. Between today and tomorrow, Government workers are going to have a living wage adjustment, which is adequate,” said Masuka.

A fortnight ago, government hiked the price of fuel by 34% from $1.32 diesel to $2.17

The ripple effect was an increase in transport fares and basic commodities.

As the debate raged on , Hon Gumede, asked the Minister if there was a policy to keep dalaries at par with inflation

“My supplementary question to the Minister is that under the current policy, what are the mechanisms that are in place that are binding that link salaries to inflation? Can there be some kind of commitment to introducing them because as it stands, workers cannot continue facing an erosion of their incomes?” she querried.

The minister told parliament that there would be pediodic review of remuneration through the Negotiating Tripartate Forum.

“Government, working with its partners, the social partners and employers, is already coming with a compact arrangement. There is a Tripartite Negotiating Forum and this joint forum considers all these elements periodically. It is upon that discussion and agreement that a binding framework for remuneration of civil servants is arrived at. If the Member has any additional information and additional notes on how to enhance that process, that can be submitted and we can forward that to the Minister responsible for the welfare and remuneration of civil servants,” said Masuka.

While government is negotiating, the cost of living continues soaring.

PR MP, Gladys Hlatywayo, asked the minister if there was any effort to cushion the health workers while negotiations were ongoing.

“What is it that Government is doing in the meantime to make sure that at least the workers can fend for their families and also is Government going to backdate the increments to make sure that at least workers are cushioned?” she asked.

The minister said the government is looking into a substantive solution.

“Clearly, the subject is close to the Government’s heart and that is why there is no other interim. We have said it today, tomorrow an announcement will be made and let us wait for that announcement to be made and we evaluate that announcement and on that basis, we can then rekindle this debate,” he responded.