The Gauteng Community Health Care Forum is aware of a memorandum that was sent to different facilities around Gauteng extending the fixed term contracts for Community
Health Workers (CHW) for another 12 months to March 2021.
This is a sign that the Department of Health is continuing with the exploitation and non-recognition of CHWs. The Department is acting unlawfully by imposing another fixed-term contract. The arbitration award of 2018 which was certified in 2019 said CHWs were permanent workers since 2015. The Forum’s lawyers have written to the Department to demand that the Department withdraw the extension of fixed-term contracts. The Forum is taking legal action to force the Department to comply with the Award.
The Forum’s lawyers need the PERSAL numbers and job descriptions of each of the CHWs to launch the court case. This information will be used by the lawyers in court to force the Department to grade the Community Health Workers. Applicants in the arbitration case need to submit their PERSALs and job description (caregiver/peer-educator/ lay-counsellor or mother mentor). The lawyers gave the Department until 29 January 2020 to respond, and the lawyers will now start proceedings for the court case.
It is time to force the Department to implement the award and employ all CHWs on a permanent status! The power to do this is in the hands of CHWs. Let’s collect this important information and move to the next level of struggle!
For more info contact:
Tshepo Matoko (Forum Secretary)
081 864 0024
Originally issued: 03 February 2020
