Government 'ineptitude' was the cause of the KZN Health Department hiring some of its own striking nurses who were moonlighting for a recruitment agency contracted to assist during the crisis, says a report in The Mercury. 'The department should have foreseen that some nurses would take advantage and exploit the situation,' KZN High Court (Durban) Judge Jerome Mnguni said, absolving the recruitment agency of any blame and ordering the department to pay its bill, almost R1m including costs and interest.
The report notes the agency – A 24, based in Cape Town – was contracted by the Health Department to supply emergency nursing staff in August 2010 when wildcat strikes broke out at several hospitals, disrupting services. After the department withheld payment, the agency sued. Advocate Paul Tredoux, for the agency, argued that there was no legal basis to withhold payment. "It is common cause that there was a strike; it is common cause there was an agreement and within a matter of hours, the agency had nurses on site," he said. His opponent, Morgan Chetty, argued that the contract should not be upheld because it was "against public policy".
But Mnguni said that law was between employer and employee and had nothing to do with the agency or its contract with the department.
[link url="http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/twice-bitten-department-must-pay-up-1.1817714#.VOGxcmQrJE4"]Full IOL report[/link]