Five clinics across different areas of Mpumalanga, including Makoko in Kabokweni, have been closed for six days after angry residents blocked operations, demanding that local community members and long-serving volunteers be prioritised for job opportunities advertised by the provincial Department of Health.
The protests, which have also affected clinics in Nkomazi and Bushbuckridge, centre on allegations of corruption and unfair recruitment practices in the latest round of community healthcare worker positions. Residents claim that individuals who meet the minimum requirements and those who have volunteered for years at the clinics were overlooked in favour of outsiders.
Community leader Thapelo Ngele from Makoko said the department employed approximately 12 healthcare workers from outside the area to work in the community. “We are being challenged by the Department of Health here in Makoko. They employed approximately 12 outside healthcare workers whereby will work with our community. But we are challenging none of our committee members was employed or appointed especially in these 12 whereby they have to attend the communities and assist the elderly people with those duties,” Ngele stated.
Among the frustrated protesters is Topi Nhlanhla, who volunteered as a home-based care worker for more than 20 years. She expressed deep disappointment, saying the volunteers were previously told to stop working during the Covid-19 period with promises of future employment that never materialised.
“We have been volunteering as home-based care workers for years now and they did not employ us during Covid. They told us to stop working. They will call us back but they didn’t until today. They keep saying they will let us know but there’s nothing happening. So it means we worked all these years for nothing,” Nhlanhla said.
“Now they want metric. Where does that leave us who have been volunteering all these years? We did all this work for nothing. Giving residents pills, helping those who can’t take a bath and all that for nothing. This is very painful. What if we got sick while helping those people? No, they must give us some compensation at least.”
Members of the Good Hope Homebased Care NPO, which has operated since 2016 in partnership with the Makoko clinic, echoed similar grievances. The NPO assisted patients unable to reach the clinic by providing home visits and reported all activities to the district.
One NPO representative said they applied for the advertised positions but were never called for interviews, despite their ongoing contributions. “We thought home-based care workers would be prioritised when the jobs were advertised but it didn’t happen.”
The clinics are expected to remain closed until senior officials from the Department of Health address the community’s demands.
Dumisani Malamule, spokesperson for the Mpumalanga Department of Health, said the residents appear to misunderstand the department’s recruitment process. He explained that there is no policy restricting appointments strictly to residents of the exact village where a clinic is located.
“So, the community is saying, ‘I saw a post in Makoko Clinic. So only residents that are staying in Makoko must be employed.’ So now if you’re coming to another clinic like in an area like in [other nearby areas], which is still in the same area, then they say it’s someone from outside. But they don’t realise that there’s no policy that supports that,” Malamule said.
“It’s us as a department to think for the local people that are surrounding to make sure that we balance the equation in terms of employment. So now the problem is there that we go to each clinic we explain today they understand someone then another strike then we have to go back and explain and then it pops to another area. So we see that there’s a lack of information when it comes to our community in terms of how this operates.”
The department has been engaging with affected communities, but protests continue to spread as residents insist on greater transparency and preference for locals and long-term volunteers in future appointments. Services at the affected clinics remain disrupted, leaving patients without access to essential healthcare.