Fellow Nurses Africa News | 9 July ,2025
Health Time Bomb: Zimbabwe’s Nurses Threaten Strike as Broken System Pushes Them to the Brink
Zimbabwe’s health sector is teetering on the edge of collapse yet again, as nurses across the country threaten a nationwide strike over what they describe as intolerable conditions, insulting pay, and critical staff shortages.
In leaked letters to the Zimbabwe Nurses Association (ZINA), frontline nurses didn’t mince words. They’ve had enough of being overworked and underpaid. Enough of empty promises while patients die for lack of basic care.
“Despite our efforts to resolve this matter amicably, we have not received satisfactory support or resolution,” reads one letter, signed by nurses across provinces.
For years, Zimbabwe’s healthcare workers have begged, pleaded, and protested for better treatment. Instead, they’ve watched the system crumble around them. Public hospitals are turning away patients because there’s no medicine, no working equipment, no staff left to help.
It’s no wonder. Nurses have been leaving in droves, seeking greener pastures in countries that actually pay them and respect their work. For those who remain, the burden is crushing: covering for vacant posts, working unsafe hours, battling inflation that eats away at their paychecks before they even get home.
This isn’t just a “nurse issue.” It’s a national crisis, a time bomb that threatens every Zimbabwean who might need care.
And yet, despite years of warnings, the government’s response has been woefully inadequate: short-term allowances that evaporate in inflation, hollow assurances, and threats of disciplinary action for those who dare to speak out.
Deputy Health Minister Sleiman Kwidini admits the government knows about the nurses’ plight and claims they’re “working on it.” But nurses aren’t buying it anymore.
If something doesn’t change, and fast, Zimbabwe’s health system may collapse under the weight of its own neglect.
Because let’s be clear: When nurses strike, patients suffer. But when nurses work without fair pay, without safety, without staff to help them, patients suffer too.
The choice isn’t between supporting nurses or protecting patients. It’s between saving the health system or watching it die.
It’s time to choose.
What’s your take? Should the nurses strike? Is the government failing healthcare workers? Share your thoughts below.
Kehinde Oluwatosin is one of the many editors here at Fellow Nurses Africa and fellownurses.com.
He is a registered nurse with a Master of Science degree in healthcare leadership from the University of Hull, United Kingdom. Kehinde is passionate about advancing the nursing profession across Africa. As Co-Founder of Fellow Nurses Africa, he plays a key role in shaping editorial direction, ensuring our content educates, informs, and empowers nurses continent-wide.
With expertise in leadership, patient flow, and healthcare operations, Kehinde brings valuable insights to nursing news, career development, and policy discussions. He is committed to amplifying the voice of African nurses and driving positive change in the profession.
It’s quite disheartening that Nurses all over the African continent especially are not being treated fairly. To think we work the hardest yet we get paid the lowest. May God continue to reward nurses for all our labor.