Angry nurses drag Chiwenga to court

Defiant nurses have dragged Vice President Constantino Chiwenga and the government to court, as they seek an order barring authorities from terminating their contracts over last week's nationwide strike which brought the public health system to a standstill.

In their urgent application filed in the High Court yesterday, the nurses representative body, the Zimbabwe Nurses Association argued that the government's decision - which was communicated by Chiwenga - should be declared null and void.

Nurses have accused Vice President Constantino Chiwenga of threatening them with "violence and war" before ejecting their leaders from a negotiation meeting, NewZimbabwe.com reported.

This is according to an urgent High Court chamber application seeking an interdict to stop the Vice President from terminating nurses' contracts and recruiting new nurses to replace them.

In an application filed Friday, the Zimbabwe Nurses Association said Chiwenga had threatened their leadership with violence and war during a meeting and ejected the union's president from the meeting.

The nurses want the High Court to restrain and interdict the HSB, Parirenyatwa and Chiwenga from terminating their services at state-run hospitals; and in the event that the respondents proceed with the termination of the employment contracts, the termination be declared null and void.

The nurses, represented by Precious Chakasikwa and Bernard Chidziva of Kantor and Immerman Legal Practitioners, also cited the Health Services Board, Health and Child Care Minister David Parirenyatwa, along with the Vice President, who signed the dismissal letter in his capacity as chairperson of the cabinet cluster on social services.