Our members are bewildered, confused – health workers association rubbishes claims 62,000 nurses, doctors signed petition in support of CAB3

THE Health Apex Panel (HAP), an umbrella body representing nurses, doctors and other healthcare workers has distanced itself from claims that 62,000 of its members signed a petition in support of President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s Constitutional Amendment.

Questioning authenticity of the claims made by a group that calls itself the Health Ambassadors4ED, HAP said raising 62,000 signatures would have been a feat of administrative magic.

Various Zanu PF affiliated associations have over the past months come out in support of Mnangagwa’s intended constitutional amendments, Constitutional Amendment No. 3.

The amendments seek to “extend” Mnangagwa’s final five year term to seven and keep him in office until 2030 without going for a referendum as is dictated by the constitution.

“To be clear, the Health Apex Panel applauds and encourages our members to engage in national dialogue. In fact, had such a massive mobilisation truly been taking place, we would have expected to be at the forefront, proudly rallying our constituencies to ensure their voices were heard,” reads a statement shared by HAP.

“However, our members are understandably bewildered. To suggest that 62,000 professionals—essentially the entirety of the nation’s health service—now belong to one specific association and have signed a unanimous political endorsement is a feat of administrative magic.

“We have checked with our membership across all ten provinces, yet we are struggling to find any significant number of our constituents who recall joining this movement or signing this “mass” endorsement.

“As the representatives of these professionals, we are simply relaying the genuine confusion of the workforce. Our members are looking at the headlines and then at each other, wondering how they became part of a “unanimous” consensus they don’t remember attending.

“It is truly remarkable that such a massive wave of recruitment and signatures could happen so quietly that the workers themselves were the last to know.”

Health Ambassadors4ED provincial coordinator Noah Tsvaka was quoted as having said health workers were in definite support of Mnangagwa’s intention, claiming they were happy at how his government had responded to their concerns.

Zimbabwean nurses and health workers are some of the least paid workers in the country, a situation which has seen a considerable portion of graduates fleeing the country for greener pastures in Europe, America and Australia.

Those still working at government owned facilities are constantly on industrial action.

“The article appears to be a politically motivated propaganda piece, and we strongly distance all frontline and institutional healthcare professionals from this unfounded declaration,” said former Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association (ZHDA) president Peter Magombeyi.

“We assert our right to participate in any referendum on constitutional amendments, free from coercion, misrepresentation, or political manipulation.

“All healthcare workers are disgruntled by the meagre salaries that they are receiving as evidenced by the protests for salary increment that we recently saw across State hospitals.

“We demand urgent and meaningful improvement to the salaries and working conditions of healthcare workers, who have for years borne the brunt of underfunding, chronic staff shortages, and a collapsing public health system.”