NW health workers feel sidelined as colleagues secure permanent jobs

More than 2,400 Community Healthcare Workers in the North West province were not absorbed into permanent roles.

They were left behind, while half of their cohort were employed by the Health Department.

They say whilst they have served their communities for more than 30 years, the department failed to employ them permanently.

According to the department, they’ve implemented a strategic plan that will ensure all the workers are fully employed by 2030.

Volunteering as Community Healthcare Workers has come at a great personal cost for many of them in the North West.

They say they’ve sacrificed their health and time in the hopes that the Department of Health will one day reward them with permanent jobs.

Community Healthcare Worker, Virginia Goapane, has worked for 19 years and retired in 2019.

“When the posts were advertised, we were told that we would be given first preference.

So, I continued volunteering.

During that time, we were offered short courses, including an ancillary healthcare course.

We were so excited and attended the course for a year.

The Department of Health raised my hopes and made me feel that they were empowering me and preparing me for employment.

I believed I was finally going to get a job, but it was all for nothing,” says Goapane.

Provincial Health Deputy District Director, Tsholofelo Adelekan says they have absorbed half of the 4,800 volunteers as permanent workers.