Chatindivara, who committed suicide early this year, was
buried at his rural home in Chiweshe.
He was in his late 50s.
“He accrued debts whilst delivering company duties in the
hope that the company will pay him but that didn’t happen,” said PSMI national
workers' committee chairperson Munyaradzi Nharaunda.
“He was also being threatened by some workers for exposing
corruption and theft in the company.
“That pushed him to the edge.”
Chatindivara was a loss control region B supervisor based
in Bulawayo.
PSMI is a subsidiary of Premier Services Medical Aid
Society (Psmas).
Patience Gutukunhuwa, a PSMI worker who is camped at the
Parkview Hospital in Harare with other
disgruntled workers, said life has become unbearable.
“We are always begging for food here (at the camp),”
Gutukunhuwa said.
“We can’t go back home as we have nothing at home; our kids
have deferred their studies and have nothing to eat.
“We have tried doing menial jobs such as vending but it's
not enough.
“We love our jobs of saving lives but we also want to be
saved by our employer.”
PSMI closed at least 150 of its clinics across the country
after workers downed tools over outstanding salaries.
They are owed $333 000 dating back to November as well as
outstanding allowances from July.
Forty PSMI workers have moved to Parkview Hospital in
Harare where they have been camped since February 17 demanding their
outstanding salaries and allowances.
Some have been evicted from their rented premises.
According to the disgruntled workers, all efforts to be
“saved” by their employer have been in vain.
A visit by The Standard to Parkview Hospital last week revealed that the workers have
turned the Parkview facility into a tabernacle where prayer sessions are held
every day and night.
“We have been camped here because we have not received our
salaries and have no means to pay rentals or feed our families as well as means
to come to work,” said PSMI Hospital’s alliance administration officer Maneta
Dzauma.
Currently, Parkview Hospital’s renal unit is the only one
open to cater for patients on dialysis.
“However, it is an unpleasant situation as renal patients
are now forced to make a plan by transporting nurses from their own pockets so
as to save their lives because some of them had gone for more than a week
without dialysis services,” Dzauma said.
PSMI workers have escalated their grievances to President
Emmerson Mnangagwa and his deputy Constantino Chiwenga who doubles up as Health
and Child Care minister.
Nharaunda said some civil servants have died due to
ailments which could have been treated at the closed PSMI clinics and
hospitals.
“We are appealing to the President and his deputy to
intervene, we have written to them and are expecting a response since they
promised to deliver good health for all,” said Nharaunda.
Only a few years ago, PSMI was the biggest success story in
Zimbabwe’s health care funding.
However, it has been reduced to a shell with its never
ending financial crises.
The company is in huge debt.
PSMI acting managing director, George Kutoka is being
accused of holding onto his position at the age of 64 despite the retirement
age being set at 60.
In a letter dated March 3, 2023 gleaned by The Standard
addressed to Chiwenga and his deputy John Mangwiro, the workers appealed for
their intervention accusing the Psmas board of failure.
“The current board for PSMI has soiled hands and is
seriously compromised as they were beneficiaries of the abuse of office and
fraudulent activities that have executives suspended,” the letter reads.
“The board is incapacitated to exercise their expected
fiduciary duty and exercise their powers in good faith and for the benefit of
the business.”
“Under the responsibility of the current PSMI board, the business
has seen a blotted structure and an unsustainable staff complement.
“Allegedly, nepotism and corrupt appointments are at the
core of the unmitigated staff turnover.” Standard
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