Senior official plays down corruption reported at Nursing school

A Senior Tutor at the Gwanda Hospital Nursing school has played down the massive recruitment corruption activities reported from the institution.

In response to Shocking recruitment 'corruption' at Gwanda School of Nursing, Clement Nyathi who is employed as a Senior Tutor at the Nursing School shot down the reports earlier made by this paper that prospective students were being made to pay up to a $1 200 to be offered a place to train at the school. Nyathi blasts the paper claiming that the paper is running falsehood in order to increase "its business" besides the fact that Bulawayo24 News is purely a non profit and non funded community mouth piece relying on reports from citizen journalists who are not paid for their efforts.

"Am afraid to say that your tale is lacking in truth. However I do not blame you as that is what keeps you in business" writes Nyathi.

Nyathi goes further to warn, with explaining how, that the corruption exposed by the media is likely to lead to some people losing their livelihood and that of their dependents.

"...such stories have a potential to destroy livelihoods, especially of innocent souls and their dependents" says Nyathi.

Nyathi takes swipe at the sources within the hospital who provided the information to the media describing them as interested parties.

"As for your source or is it sources, their credibility will forever be questionable, as they are also interested parties, but then again with hidden agendas."

Nyathi claims that staff at the hospital where the school operates in do not have any information with what is happening at the school and the media should have consulted them at the school not the hospital if they needed any information (talk of rat directing a cat where it sleeps). According to him there is completely nothing fishy in the recruitment process at the school as the Ministry of Health determines how many people from which region must be enrolled at the school as a national institute.

Contacted for a follow up comment the sources at the hospital who brought in another source from the Nursing School disputed Nyathi's claims point blankly telling him to "stop lying to the public".

The sources challenged the Ministry to immediately stop all the students who have been invited for the May intake and thoroughly check who has been offered a place and how. The sources insist that the regulated figures that Nyathi is talking of will be proven wrong. "Nyathi must stop lying to the world and stop assume the spokesperson position of the hospital and ministry because he will be embarrassed when he is proven wrong. What is his interest in quickly covering the corruption? If he does not have the information he is at liberty to remain silent than defend a wrong thing" Said the sources.

"If Nyathi is insisting let the Ministry follow up all the students who have been enrolled for the May intake and we see if the procedure he is talking about has been followed before we take time to go back to the previous intakes. If that is also the procedure as Nyathi claims we invite him to go with us to a Chinhoyi training centre and see if we will find any students recruited from Gwanda" added the adamant sources.

Nyathi does not only end by down playing the corruption at the centre but goes on to attack a fact that a hospital nursing teaching staff Veronica Nyathi was last year flighted on Facebook as being the chief culprit in corrupt recruitment of nurses last year in a Facebook run in her name.

"Just for the record.... as you rightly put it, individuals within the system created a fake page using her name to post falsehoods. All that came to nought, whatever their objectives were. People should not allow themselves to be used by the Devil," wrote Nyathi in apparent defence of an issue that went very viral in the social networks and public media.

Nyathi tried to discredit the corruption report as being falsehood because the paper identified Veronica as Principal Nursing Tutor instead of a title he did not disclose to the paper but confirming her as a senior employee of the Nursing School.

"The person you named as the Principal Nursing Tutor is nowhere near that Position. Which in a way confirms that you are spreading falsehoods," argued Nyathi, as if the mentioned person's position is of any significance to the well documented and well known corruption at the Nursing School.

Nyathi's fight to block the publication of the corruption at the hospital comes hot in the heels of similar calls by Vice President Joyce Mujuru calling on people to stop highlighting the rot in the country. In contrast, President Robert Mugabe has demanded and insisted that all corruption activities must be exposed, investigated and any one found involved prosecuted and duly punished.

Nyathi's total defence of the reported corruption leaves many wondering what his real interests are in wanting the rot concealed. Members of Parliament have also in the meantime called on the Anti Corruption Commission to take tough action against anyone reported to be involved in corruption and not ignore any reports or pointers made in the direction of corruption.

Extract of the expose on social networks about Veronica last year:
.
"hello NEHANDA pliz post this fo me im VERONICA MUDZVITI NYATHI 0772802573 GWANDA GENERAL HOSPITAL
.
ndoda kutenda mhuri yeZIMBABWE Nemashoko amakandibetsera navo kubuda kwandakaita pachena kuti ndaidyira vanhu mari dzavo izvezvi ndine vanhu vanosvika 10 ndakwanisa kuva dzorera mari dzavo kwasara vanyowani ndakataura navo wakati kana mazoiona mozotipa asi vamwe vati regedzai henyu kana pane vamwe vane kugunun'una ndifonerei wondiudza kuti ndiwe ani wakandipa riini mari yacho ndokudzorera mari yako ndatenda kumhuri yezimbabwe NEKUBETSERA KWAMAKAITA ndakazvarwa patsva handizivivo kuti dzimwe dzamakapa ABEL NCUBE sezvo ariiye wandaiita naye madeal muchadziwanawo here thanks mhuri yezimbabwe ."
.
#NehandaCitizenReports 24 October 2013"