Saturday, July 05, 2014

DENOSA North West Irked by Police’s Attempted Repeat of Marikana on Student Nurses at Mmabatho Nursing College
Members of the Democratic Nursing Organization of South
Africa (DENOSA).
2 July 2014

The Democratic Nursing Organistion of South Africa (DENOSA) is appalled by the reckless shooting of student nurses at Mmabatho Nursing College in North West by police this morning following the closure of the institution almost two months ago.

One student leader was assaulted and then arrested in the commotion, triggering panic among student nurses.

While students were protesting against the closure of the institution, peacefully, police opened fire and mixed rubber bullets with live ammunition. This brings back the fresh memories of the unfortunate Marikana incident of 2012, and DENOSA cannot keep quiet when that cruelty is now being redirected towards student nurses.

Students at the institution have been making their unhappiness known over the closure of the institution mainly as a result of the negative effects of the implementation of the bursary system as a funding model on students. In the previous stipend as a funding model, students were able to make use of the cash to take transport to work in cases where the public transport would be obviously late.

With the bursary system that was introduced at the institution, the more than 300 students have to rely on the institution’s five 22-seater buses to transport them to various health facilities around Mafikeng where they do practical work. Because there are few buses, most students arrive unacceptably late and face punishments and miss out on crucial hand-over of reports from previous night shift nurses.

The handover of reports is the most crucial element in nursing as the information on the conditions of patients in wards gets transferred to the incoming staff by the night shift staff. These complaints have fallen on death ears to such that the institution opted to close the college, thus depriving community members of nurses to look after them at a time when the province is in need of health professionals.

DENOSA would like to caution and call upon the Premier to look into matter before it turns sour and reflects badly on the provincial government.

Issued by the Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (DENOSA) North West
For more information, contact:
For more information, contact:
Tshepo Monoketsi, SRC President at Mmabatho Nursing College: 079 501 5808
Thabiso Mokgosi, DENOSA Full Time Shop Steward: 079 501 5288

- See more at: http://www.cosatu.org.za/show.php?ID=9047#sthash.sPDzTJKe.dpuf

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