Times Of Swaziland: PARAMEDICS TO DOWN TOOLS, APOLOGISE TO NATION

PARAMEDICS TO DOWN TOOLS, APOLOGISE TO NATION
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 BY SIBUSISO ZWANE on 02/02/2021 09:53:00


MANZINI - As they are in a battle for their welfare, paramedics have extended an
apology in advance to the nation for the disaster that will happen from
tomorrow.
Paramedics are personnel from the emergency medical services (EMS), who are
under the Emergency Preparedness and Response (EPR) Department in the Ministry
of Health and due to some challenges they face in their line of duty; they have
decided to revoke Section 18(2) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act of
2001 from tomorrow.
The above Act says; “An employee shall have the right to remove himself or
herself from danger when such an employee has reasonable justification to
believe there is imminent and serious risk to the safety and health of that
employee.”
Statement
They made this statement through their trade union; the National Public Service
and Allied Workers Union (NAPSAWU), during a press conference which was held at
the union’s conference room yesterday afternoon.
NAPSAWU President Oscar Nkambule said as a union, they want to see emaSwati
receiving proper service delivery from government and they advocate for such by
encouraging their members to work hard. He said they also expect the employer to
also play its role.
However, Nkambule said their members in the EPR department have been facing
challenges and government was not doing anything about it. He said this was
despite the fact that they had engaged the administration several times about
the challenges.
He said the challenges included non-payment of overtime allowances that were
being owed to the workers, non provision of personal protective equipment (PPE)
and victimisation among others.
“Therefore, from Wednesday (tomorrow) emaSwati will not be getting assistance
when they call the EMS toll free emergency number; 977 because the personnel
would have removed themselves from the workplace which poses danger to their
lives,” the president said. He said their members would not work until
government responded positively to their concerns. In that regard, he said the
duration of their ‘stay away’ would be determined by government’s
responses.
The trade unionist said the EMS personnel would report for work because they
were not on strike, but would not work because of the imminent danger of working
without PPE among other things.
Situation
Nkambule said they had lost a number of their members due to COVID-19 and many
of them, including paramedics, contracted the virus and they could not allow a
situation that exposed them to it.
“So, we are sorry to the nation for what is going to happen from tomorrow in
terms of services from the EMS,” the leader of the union said.
On the same note, NAPSAWU Secretary General Thulani Hlatshwako said it was the
union’s right to protect its members. He said they would not watch as their
members die, instead, he said they would protect them and would not allow them
to work in a dangerous work environment.
He said the issue of COVID-19 was part of the agenda item in the joint
negotiation forum (JNF) and they warned government about the second wave of the
virus, but seemingly, it ignored the warning.