The Northern Cape Department of Health has once again failed to pay the Community Health Workers, including the Retired Nurses and Management of NGOs for the month of January 2015.

This is something that happens every three months, because the funds are transferred on a quarterly basis. The problem we have as Health Workers is that this has been happening for too long. This impacts very negatively on our lives because we also have responsibilities like everybody else.  We have funeral policies, children and other family members who depend on this meagre amount we receive per month for services rendered. Clearly the Department does care about Community Health Workers. The question that we keep on asking is why should these transfers be late? Is it incompetence or just plain disregard of other people, or a lack of commitment?

Another niggling problem is the challenge of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). The Department does not comply with the Occupational Health and Safety Act, which requires workers to be supplied with PPE every six months. They wait for a year or even longer and provide Community Health Workers with a T-Shirt or a top of some sort.

It has been two years or more since the Northern Cape Department of Health ever supplied us with Dispensary, which is needed when performing our duties. We are forced to bed bath clients with using gloves. This situation,  coupled to that of very late payments is totally unacceptable and must be given urgent attention, unless this is an open invitation to Community Health Workers to take to the streets in protest against these unfair labour practices of the Department.

This problem is not only confined to the Northern Cape Province. It occurs in other provinces as well. Some of the people in the government posts should actually be sitting at home or employed in a less challenging job. The reason for this is that some are deployed by the African National Congress, others are recommended by their relatives and this is not done because the person has the requisite skills to perform the job, but because he/she is politically connected.

Currently we are seen as extension workers of the Northern Cape Department of Health. As a result we do not qualify for any benefits, except UIF. There is no insurance for us, which means when we get sick with communicable diseases, we have nowhere where we can get help.

The programme does not even have an exit opportunity. There is no training and development taking place so that we can move on to other more sustainable positions. Some of us have been in the programme for more than 10 years and yet we still earn less than R2000. 00. This is worse than starvation wages offered in other sectors. All the training we are provided with is not meant to assist in upgrading ourselves but to be better slaves for the Department.

We call upon the Department of Health to organize a conference which will review the working conditions of Community Health Workers, the monthly stipend and put in place exit opportunities. This should be done as a matter of urgency.