The Gauteng Department of Health has obtained an interim court order preventing final year nursing students, who have interfered with and disrupted first and second-year students’ exams, from “participating in or encouraging, facilitating and promoting any unlawful protests” at the Gauteng College of Nursing campuses.
Department spokesperson Motalatale Modiba said a case of intimidation, crimen injuria and defamation of character had also been opened at the Hillbrow police station, reports News24.
The group of 167 students had barred entry to the SG Lorens campus and “prevented students, staff and service provider” from entering the premises after their demands for a continuation of their study stipends were refused.
“They are demanding that the bursary stipend they received while studying must continue to be paid between June and November 2023 while they wait for their licentiate exam with the SANC (SA Nursing Council), even though they are now done with their studies,” said Modiba, adding that the department did not have the more than R8m to cover the costs of extending the contracts, and that the demand was over and above the fact that their bursary benefits, including monthly allowances, were extended previously as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The department, in response to a recent report that the students’ futures were in limbo because it apparently did not have funds to place them for community service, slammed the “misrepresentation of the facts”.
The demand to continue paying the stipend until they had written their exams was impossible to meet as it would constitute “irregular expenditure”, reports TimesLIVE. It also did not comply with the Public Finance Management Act
The matter will be heard on 27 June, when the parties will present arguments on whether a final order should be granted or not.
However, the Health and Allied Workers Indaba Trade Union (Haitu) said it would challenge the court order, and “noted with disgust” the granting of the interdict to Gauteng Health MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko.
It accused her of abusing the courts “to run away” from her responsibilities towards the students, reports TimesLIVE.
“The students’ anger is justified. The department abruptly informed them that their contracts come to an end on 31 May … but these are students who will be the first cohort and finalists of the R171 curriculum, and there are no plans to support them until they sit for board exams in November,” it said.
The union said it had been in talks with department officials and had written emails to highlight this issue. It said it believed the demands were “reasonable”, that “only R10m is needed for this group”, and that the money “should be able to carry them until they can sit for board exams and end up being registered practitioners”.
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