Community health workers in Mpumalanga are demanding permanent employment within the provincial health department, claiming that many have been unfairly excluded from the government’s insourcing process. In protest, the workers have blocked access to several clinics in Emalahleni, disrupting services in an area where three clinics serve more than 500,000 residents.
The workers say Health Minister Dr Aron Mati announced in December that they would be absorbed into permanent positions. Their contracts are reportedly set to terminate on 31 March, after which they were asked to sign new contracts while the absorption issues remain unresolved.
A representative from an organisation that intervened explained that the group stepped in after observing that the workers had been abandoned for a long time and that clinics in Emalahleni had closed. The representative stated that the best way to resolve the challenges is through the courts. An application is set to be submitted to the court by tomorrow at the latest. The organisation had engaged the department multiple times but eventually withdrew from discussions, citing a lack of willingness from the department to resolve the matter.
“Our demand is clear: the clinics need to be opened again, and the workers need to be absorbed permanently,” the representative said. He added that this aligns with a resolution and a court order instructing the department to absorb community health workers (CHWs) who have been working for more than two decades. “They cannot be left outside the system; they deserve what was promised to them.”
A representative from Soil of Africa, a non-political organisation supporting the workers and service delivery, also addressed the situation. The representative emphasised that the CHWs were previously community volunteers who assisted door-to-door during the 2019-2020 period, particularly with HIV and AIDS, tuberculosis, and COVID-19 cases. They condemned the termination of contracts, which they said had effectively been non-existent since May of the previous year, and opposed any shift to service providers or retail stores for medication collection, arguing it would sideline the workers.
“As Sola Africa, we are condemning that and are not in support of that. The government must bring their own system; they must absorb these people permanently and insource them into permanent positions,” the representative said.
Community leaders have joined the protest, and residents have expressed solidarity with the workers, many of whom have served for up to 20 years. One speaker noted that the community is not severely affected by the clinic closures because they stand in support of the CHWs.
Estimates suggest that between 2,000 and 5,000 community health workers are affected in Mpumalanga alone. Some have been unable to continue their duties due to uncertainty over their contracts and the department’s initial reluctance or inability to absorb them at this stage.
NEHAWU is among the unions that have been advocating for the workers’ absorption to secure proper employment rather than stipends. The upcoming court case aims to compel the provincial health department to absorb the affected workers.
In the meantime, essential services for conditions such as tuberculosis, HIV and AIDS have been impacted, although the community has shown strong support for the protesting workers. The situation remains ongoing as the court application proceeds.
