The Limpopo Health Department must immediately reinstate four professional nurses who were dismissed from the clinic where they had worked, as they stayed away from work because they feared the hostile community, which blamed them for the death of a child born at the clinic.

Their labour union, Hospersa, turned to the Johannesburg Labour Court on their behalf, in a bid for them to be reinstated. They were employed by the Limpopo Health Department and stationed at the Tshino Clinic, Vhembe District.

Due to an uproar by the community alleging that the nurses’ negligence had resulted in the death of a baby during birth, the applicants were temporarily transferred to other clinics around the Vhembe District, pending the outcome of an investigation.

Upon conclusion of the investigation and various meetings with stakeholders, a meeting was held between the department and the union in terms of which a resolution was signed directing that the applicants would be transferred back to the Tshino Clinic.

The union was granted some time to prepare its members (including the applicants) to return to work at Tshino Clinic. As this was during the height of Covid in March 2020, Hospersa asked for an extension.

The nurses, meanwhile, did not report for duty at the Tshino Clinic on April 1, 2020, and the department delivered a letter to each of them, instructing them to immediately return to work.

The nurses were still concerned about their safety at the Tshino Clinic, given the hostility of the community.

They consulted with a general practitioner and then a psychologist, and each obtained a medical certificate stating that they were, for medical reasons, unfit to return to work for a while. The psychologist’s reports recommended that they be posted at clinics other than Tshino Clinic.

The medical certificates were delivered by the union’s shop stewards at the Tshino Clinic to the managers of the nurses.

The department did not respond to the medical certificates but instead alerted the nurses of the termination of their services, as they did not return to work on the date they were supposed to do so.

The union did apply to the department for their reinstatement, but this was refused.

The MEC relied on the fact that the applicants were required to personally submit their sick leave application to their supervisor, whereas the shop stewards had gone to the Tshino Clinic to submit the forms on their behalf. 

That, coupled with the fact that the applicants had not reported for duty when they were required to do so and had absented themselves for a period exceeding one calendar month, justified the termination of their duties, the department stated.

The Labour Court, however, found that the nurses acted in good faith. They were not told that the department rejected their medical certificates and required them, notwithstanding the medical certificates, to report for duty.

Acting Judge C de Witt said in the court’s view, applying the test of legality, insufficient evidence was provided by the MEC as to why a continued employment relationship between the department and the nurses had been rendered intolerable by the conduct of the applicants.

zelda.venter@inl.co.za 

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