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Wednesday 6 July 2011

NO PAY, SO SWAZI NURSES STRIKE

Nurses in Swaziland started an indefinite strike yesterday (5 July 2011) because the Swazi Government has not paid them their June salaries.

The nurses at Good Shepherd Hospital, Siteki, took to the streets in protest.

This followed a three-hour meeting with hospital bosses who could not guarantee they would be paid.

Last week the nurses suspended a two day sit-in after Benedict Xaba, the Swazi Minister of Health, promised to deal with the problem.

Mduduzi Shongwe, the workers committee chairman, said they would not stop the protest until they get their money.

‘We suspended the strike last week after the administration called us to the table. We had the hope that today’s meeting was going to produce a solution, but that did not happen,’ the Times of Swaziland, the kingdom’s only independent daily newspaper reported him saying.

Xaba had earlier explained that government was currently faced with a cash flow problem, the newspaper reported.

About 400 workers are affected by the delayed pay.

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