Nkayi Nurse Trainees’ Recruitment Mired In Controversy

Nkayi villagers call for exposure of corruption on nurse trainees' recruitment process. Image by NewZimbabwe.com

BY VUSINDLU MAPHOSA | @The_CBNews | This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. | OCT 18, 2021

A longstanding concern about marginalisation in labour recruitment in Matabeleland has reared its head once more.

NKAYI (The Citizen Bulletin) — Nkayi is one of the districts in the Matabeleland region which has faced serious challenges in having qualified nurses recruited from the local people.

It has also been difficult for local eligible youth to be recruited to train as primary care nurses at the institution, especially recently since the online trainee nurses recruitment process.

Indications are that 16 primary care nursing trainees were recruited at Nkayi Hospital through interviews held on 13 September and 17 September this year. The concerned villagers say out of the 16 only four are from Matabeleland, while 12 are from Harare.

Concerns have been raised that locals are being marginalised from training as nurses in Nkayi. The district has seen an influx of nurses from other provinces who do not speak the dominant local language — Ndebele, disadvantaging patients.

More details of the discrepancy in the deployment and recruitment of nurses emerged during the Nkayi Community Parliament virtual debate, which focused on the topic: What has gone wrong in recruiting nurses in Zimbabwe? A focus on corruption at Nkayi Hospital.

A development practitioner, Nhlanhla Ncube, a villager at Zwelabo in Nkayi, says statutory provisions are ignored, and constitutional provisions are also violated.

“Corruption runs- ring all over at Nkayi Hospital.”
Nhlanhla Ncube, a development practitioner

“Qualifying people are excluded at Nkayi Hospital, and this applies to other hospitals in the region. Those that were not interviewed passed the interview (for primary care nursing training). This is miraculous. Somebody who never attended the interview passed the interview, and those who attended did not. The Nkayi community should unite against corruption.”

Ncube says most hospitals in Matabeleland are staffed with nurses from outside the province or outside the region, thereby shortchanging the public.

“The public is cheated by being given people from outside the region, who will not even understand the illness the patient describes in Ndebele, while those who qualify to do the job fail to get it. It also tells us that Matabeleland people are second class citizens,” Ncube says.

To Ncube, the government is violating the people’s fundamental rights as some of the deployed people do not like the local culture, the language and the people. He says it boggles the mind if the person can treat a patient with so much hatred.

He says the government should give first preference to locals to train and work at local health institutions and laments a lack of clear policy on the deployment of nurses leading to the rot.

“Likely, the recruitment of nurses at Nkayi Hospital and across the country is run by a cartel as only one tribe benefits most, and this justifies that it is an organized crime.”
Nhlanhla Ncube, the development practitioner

Ncube noted that every station has ambassadors to push the agenda to stifle people in the region.

Human Resources professional and human rights defender Descent Bajila, a guest speaker during the debate, says the health institutions are insufficient to serve Matabeleland.

“There is general nursing, psychiatric nursing, and primary care nursing. We are used to general nursing. In Matabeleland, general nursing is trained at United Bulawayo Hospitals and Mpilo Central and has three intakes per year, in January, May and September. There are some which offer two intakes and one intake,” he says.

Bajila, a member of a pressure group, Izenzo Kungemazwi Trust, which seeks to empower youths, says those that offer less than three intakes are St Lukes, Tsholotsho, Gwanda and Brunaperg St Annies in Plumtree. At the same time, others are offering primary care training like Nkayi Hospital.

Mpilo Central Hospital offers general nurse training. Image by The Citizen Bulletin

He gave an example that some people applied to UBH or Mpilo. Instead, they were offered places at Parirenyatwa Hospital in Harare. He says this was aimed at frustrating them not to take the opportunity so that those responsible employ their people.

“The general government principle is that any Zimbabwean who applies for any opportunity must get it anywhere in Zimbabwe. This principle is abused because chances of someone from Nkayi being accepted in Bindura are quite scarce. In contrast, chances of someone from Bindura being accepted in Nkayi are very high,” Bajila says.

“General, hospitals in the country are dominated by people from Mashonaland. The problem is, where are the people from Matabeleland supposed to work in Zimbabwe?”

Bajila says that recently, Nkayi Hospital primary care nursing applications were recruited, but the sad part is that many locals were turned down.

“Majority of people who are training are not from Nkayi,” Bajila says.

He likened the scenario to that of some applicants for general nursing training called to Harare for interviews, which he said was meant to discourage them from attending.

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“As Izenzo Kungemazwi, we assisted about 20 with bus fares to Harare. The Harare guys were shocked to see them attending, and since then, they decentralized the process,” he says.

Nkosilathi Ncube of Dlawa Village, a businessman at Fudu business centre, says there is clear corruption in the recruitment of nurses and student nurses in Zimbabwe in general and at Nkayi in particular.

“There is a need to expose all corruption, name and shame the culprits, which is when action will be taken against them. Corruption should not be practised to divide the people,” Ncube says.

Matabeleland North Provincial Medical Director Admire Kuretu says there has been no official complaint, but the recruitment was done.

“There has not been any formal complaint, but the recruitment was done at Mpilo Hospital, UBH and Nkayi hospital. The recruitment was coordinated by the Nursing Directorate. If I get any more information, I will let you know, but this recruitment was coordinated centrally,” he says.

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