"Only God Can Reward You": Minister's Remark Lands Badly as Nurses Demand Living Wages
Zimbabwe's Deputy Health Minister Sleiman Kwidini told celebrating nurses on International Nurses Day that "only God can reward a nurse." The remark, delivered on May 12 as healthcare workers were preparing fresh protests over poverty-level wages, drew immediate backlash on social media and among health professionals already pushed to the edge.
Nurses across the country are demanding salaries between US$600 and US$800 per month. Many currently earn a package of US$240 combined with a ZiG component worth less than US$100, according to Zimbabwe Nurses Association (ZINA) president Enock Dongo (NewsDay). Some public sector nurses take home below US$300 a month (iHarare).
"It doesn't make sense to break the bank for nurses, yet we do not have enough money, that would be a lie," Kwidini said, adding that welfare improvements would be "gradual" (iHarare).
A Crisis That Keeps Getting Worse
The numbers paint a stark picture. Zimbabwe is short by at least 14,000 health workers (DW). More than 7,000 nurses have left the country, with over 3,600 now registered in the United Kingdom alone (Context/TRF). A nurse working in the UK earns roughly GBP 3,150 per month, close to US$4,150. Back home, their former colleagues walk up to 8 kilometres to work because they cannot afford bus fare (NewsDay).
Nurse-to-patient ratios in Zimbabwean hospitals have deteriorated to as high as 1:30 in some facilities, according to ZINA's International Nurses Day statement (New Zimbabwe). The recommended standard is between 1:5 and 1:7.
In April, nurses rejected a US$30 to US$40 salary increment as "insulting," calling it "a mere token that cannot be taken seriously" (iHarare). A three-day nationwide strike followed from April 20 to 22, disrupting services at Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals and other major facilities (iHarare).
The Verification Letter Problem
While nurses continue to leave, those still in Zimbabwe say the government is actively blocking their exit. Over 4,000 nurses have applied for verification letters, the documents required to take up overseas positions. ZINA says the Ministry of Health has been withholding these letters even after collecting US$300 per application (iHarare).
"People want to migrate because salaries are too low and working conditions are bad," Dongo told reporters (iHarare). "The government should fix those issues instead of trapping nurses in a broken system."
The World Health Organization has added Zimbabwe to its "red list" of countries facing critical health worker shortages (Context/TRF). The country has just 2.1 nurses and midwives per 1,000 people, less than a quarter of the ratio in the UK (DW).
What It Means for the Economy
The fiscal arithmetic is painful. Every nurse who leaves costs the public health system years of training investment, estimated by industry analysts at US$15,000 to US$25,000 per graduate. With over 7,000 nurses already gone, the cumulative loss runs into hundreds of millions of dollars. Meanwhile, the diaspora nurses send remittances home, a flow that partially offsets the loss but does nothing for the patients left behind in understaffed wards.
For anyone tracking exchange rates on ZimRate, the nurses' crisis sits at the intersection of government spending priorities and forex pressure. The government's push to retain mineral revenue locally through lithium export controls is partly about building fiscal capacity. Whether that revenue materialises fast enough to pay nurses what they are worth is another question entirely.
Kwidini's suggestion that nurses should wait for "gradual" improvement has not gone down well. Dongo has been blunt: "Our covenant is that we do not engage in strike. Strike is the last resort. We should not be pushed to that limit" (New Zimbabwe). The association has signalled that patience is running out.
What Happens Next
The government faces a simple choice: pay nurses more now, or continue losing them to the UK, Australia and Ireland at a rate that is already crippling service delivery. Kwidini, himself a former nurse at Gweru General Hospital, understands the profession's realities better than most ministers. Whether that understanding translates into action before the next strike remains to be seen.
For now, nurses continue to work in conditions where they outnumber patients by thirty to one, earn less than US$300 a month, and are told that God will provide the rest.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.
