GOVERNMENT workers unions protested in Harare yesterday in an attempt to stop the Public Service Commission (PSC) from taking over Premier Service Medical Aid Society (PSMAS).
Hundreds of workers
yesterday picketed at the Public Service Association House along Livingstone
Avenue in Harare after police, armed with baton sticks and shields blocked them
from leaving the area.
Initially, the civil servants unions had planned to march
from the Public Service Association House to the PSC offices, but police were
closely monitoring their movements and cordoned off the area.
The workers then handed over a petition to government
saying that it has no mandate to take over PSMAS.
PSC secretary Jonathan Wutawunashe yesterday dismissed the
claims that government was planning to take over PSMAS.
“Any claim that any government ministry, department or
agency plans to ‘take over’ PSMAS is as false as it sounds. Fortunately, civil
servants and the public at large are aware of the character of such mischievous
falsehoods,” Wutawunashe said.
“Speculation about the cause of inefficiencies that
threatened to paralyse PSMAS are unnecessary, and a forensic audit ordered by
the regulator of medical aid societies is underway. A full and objective
picture will emerge from that audit. Its results will be clear to all
stakeholders.”
Zimbabwe Nurses Association president Enock Dongo said the
government should stop meddling in PSMAS affairs.
“We believe PSMAS is for the workers and it was formed by
the workers but we are surprised that the government through the PSC is giving
directives to the regulator of the medical aid societies which instructed the
secretary in the Health ministry to stop the annual general meeting last
Thursday. PSMAS is governed by annual general meetings because that’s where we
make meetings. No one is above AGMs and we want the meeting to be done
yesterday,” Dongo said.
“We just want the government to hands-off PSMAS, let us
manage PSMAS. We have seen that a lot of our hospitals are not functioning
well. It would be naïve for us the
workers’ unions to handover our organisation to the government. At least they
should give us a chance to run PSMAS as workers and as the owner of this
organisation.”
Progressive Teachers Union secretary general Raymond
Majongwe said: “We only want to communicate to our employer about our
disappointment. We are simply saying ‘hands-off our baby’ because PSMAS is a
workers’ product and they can’t come and muscle it away from us. To our
surprise, we came here and we found police threatening us not to exercise our
rights. We are not going to be scared.”
Newsday
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