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SITEKI – At least 33 frontline orderlies hired at the Lubombo Referral Hospital during the prevalence of the COVID-19 pandemic want their jobs back.

They alleged that government promised to absorb them once the emergency had de-escalated. This was when they sought payment of their risk allowances. They claimed that they were hired in April 2020 and their contracts were not renewed in March 2022.

The aggrieved former healthcare workers have also sought the intervention of two Members of Parliament (MPs), Enos Magongo (Lugongolweni) and Timothy Myeni (Nkilongo), to advocate for them in Parliament.

One of the aggrieved former employees claimed that they worked extra hours, but were told that they would not claim overtime allowances on the basis that they would be hired on a full-time basis by government and be deployed to healthcare facilities around the country.

She also alleged that their Eswatini National Provident Fund (ENPF) was deducted but not remitted to the fund. “We were told when we complained about the working conditions and being subjected to working long hours that we would be eventually hired by government once the pandemic had subsided. We engaged MP Magongo, who pursued it but was unsuccessful and then we wrote a letter to MP Timothy, who also promised to handle the matter,” said the former orderly.

Grievances

In their letter addressed to Nkilongo MP Myeni, they mentioned a number of grievances that were not kept by government when hiring them. They said they were hired on a renewable 12-month contracts.

They further mentioned that during their engagement, there was lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) yet they were washing dirty linen of admitted patients, risking their lives. “We were working extended hours and asked the supervisors about our overtime but they told us that the ministry had promised to address our grievances and that we would be compensated at the end of our contracts for working in harsh and dangerous conditions,” reads the letter.

It further stated that the orderlies were told by the Ministry of Health that government was working on formalities in hiring them on a full-time basis as a budget for undertaking this process had been approved.

The aggrieved former workers shared that they were also called in April last year, where they were told to stay alert as the ministry was still working on administrative issues. “We waited until June wherein we were called by chief administrator in the Ministry of Health, to come and submit our paperwork and we did that. We were told that we would be called through the telephone and the recruitment process would start in the succeeding months.

“We then learned later that a few were called and we are not even clear of the criteria used to handpick them. Among them were new faces. We believe that the new faces who had replaced us have relatives within the public service. We ask for your intervention Honourable MP, please move a motion for this exercise to be probed,” wrote the disgruntled former support staff.

Assurance

They further wondered why the ministry had failed to absorb them after the lapse of the 24 months of their contracts as per the assurance given to them. “It is clear that the ministry used us as one sad thing about the pandemic is that we faced discrimination from people (sic). First, we were not allowed by the facility to go visit our families in fear of spreading the virus to them. We had to stay away from our relatives for over four months,” further reads the letter.

Lugongolweni MP Magongo said he tried his best to assist the disgruntled former orderlies but he was unsuccessful.“They reported the matter and I also engaged the stakeholders involved, but I failed to get help,” he said.

His counterpart at Nkilongo, Myeni, said he had written a question in Parliament but had not yet been enrolled on the Order Paper. “I know about the matter as they approached me and I also engaged MP Magongo on it,” Myeni said.

Minister of Health Lizzie Nkosi said the ministry hired 695 staff temporarily for the pandemic response. “As the emergency de-escalated, government did not rehire many of those engaged,” she said. She further advised the aggrieved former orderlies to write an official letter to the ministry’s Principal Secretary (PS), Dr Simon Zwane, and state their grievances.