Zimbabwe: Nurses Threaten Labour Action Over Government Allowance U-Turn

What the report says

Nurses and other health workers in Zimbabwe are warning that they may take labour action after the government did not follow through on a promised review of health-specific allowances. The dispute has been outlined by the Zimbabwe Nurses Association (ZINA), whose president and Health Apex Team leader, Enock Dongo, said workers felt the state had repeatedly delayed or reversed earlier commitments.

According to the report published by 263Chat and distributed by AllAfrica, the allowances were last reviewed in 2022. ZINA says health staff continue to cover night duty, on-call, and standby shifts while working under strained conditions and facing rising living costs. Dongo said officials recently said there was no room in the budget to complete the review this year, which increased frustration among workers.

The article says health worker representatives had been told in April that the allowance review would be completed by June through the Health Bipartite negotiating process. ZINA says the government had also made public commitments through Health and Child Care Minister Douglas Mombeshora and Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube, but later indicated the plan could not proceed because of limited fiscal resources.

ZINA is now calling for an immediate review, backdated to 2022, and urging the government to re-engage unions and honour the earlier timeline. The warning matters because any withdrawal of night, on-call, or standby services could affect public hospitals and clinics in Zimbabwe, where patients already depend heavily on government health facilities.