The Exploitation of Nurses Must End: PSA KZN Demands Justice and Transformation in Public

The nurses of South Africa, particularly in KwaZulu-Natal, stand as the frontline defenders of life in a healthcare system teetering on collapse. Every day, they face the brutality of a crumbling public health infrastructure, systemic understaffing, and toxic workplace environments. And yet, with resilience and commitment, they continue to serve the working class and the poor—those most in need and most neglected by the state.

This selfless sacrifice must not be romanticised—it must be respected, rewarded, and defended.As the Public Servants Association (PSA) in KwaZulu-Natal, we speak with one voice: the time has come to end the exploitation of nurses.

The Department of Health has failed them. And this failure is not accidental—it is structural, rooted in a system that commodifies healthcare while disregarding the very workers who sustain it.

Nurses Are Treated as Disposable Labour

The Department’s refusal to employ thousands of qualified, unemployed nurses is not just a policy failure—it is an act of deliberate neglect. This has led to severe nurse-to-patient ratios, with those remaining in the system bearing unbearable workloads.

Long queues in clinics, delayed services in hospitals, and growing frustration among patients are symptoms of a system in crisis. But behind every delayed treatment is a nurse stretched to breaking point.

Rather than support these workers, many managers have chosen repression over respect. At facilities like Prince Mshiyeni Memorial Hospital, Dr Pixley Ka-Isaka Seme Hospital, Inkosi Albert Luthuli, Benedictine, and others, nurses face intimidation, victimisation, and unjust disciplinary action.

These acts are not7 isolated—they are part of a broader pattern where management serves to uphold control, not compassion.

Shortages of Medication and Basic Supplies: A System on Its Knees

Nurses are now expected to perform miracles in facilities that have run dry of the most basic medical supplies. Clinics are constantly running out of essential medications—antibiotics, painkillers, chronic treatment stock, and even gloves and antiseptics.

Patients are turned away or told to return “next week,” while their conditions worsen. This crisis is fueled by the department’s failure to pay suppliers on time, leading many to cease deliveries entirely. Without gauze, syringes, disinfectants, and basic medication, what is left for nurses to work with?

These are not just operational failures—they are violations of the right to health and working conditions that border on criminal negligence.

The Nursing Council: Another Layer of Exploitation

The South African Nursing Council (SANC), a body established to protect and uphold the nursing profession, has instead become a bureaucratic tool of exploitation. Subscription funds are misused, punitive measures are imposed without due consideration for working conditions, and nurses are treated as commodities, not professionals.

The Council must be democratised and restructured to reflect the lived realities of those it claims to represent.

A Marxist Lens: Who Benefits from This System?

Let us be clear—nurses are part of the working class, and their exploitation is no different from that of miners, factory workers, or teachers. The tools may differ—needles instead of drills—but the relations of power remain the same.

Nurses produce value through their care, their skill, and their sacrifice. But they are not the ones who benefit. It is the managers, the bureaucrats, and the elite consultants who draw bloated salaries while nurses face salary stagnation, unsafe wards, and psychological trauma.

This is the logic of capitalism: extract value from the worker, discard them when they resist, and replace them with the unemployed to maintain obedience.

PSA: The Union of the Working Nurse

As the majority union in the Public Health and Social Development Sectoral Bargaining Council (PHSDSBC), the PSA stands unapologetically with nurses.

We are non-aligned, independent, and driven solely by the interests of workers. While others speak, we act. While others compromise, we confront.

We are calling for:

-Immediate and permanent employment of all qualified nurses.

-The rebuilding of collapsing infrastructure and consistent supply of proper equipment and medication

-Prompt payment of suppliers to end the crisis of unavailable stock in hospitals and clinics.

-The end of violent working conditions and protection for nurses under threat.

-The transformation of SANC into a body led by nurses, for nurses.

-Accountability for abusive managers and repressive health administrators.

The Time to Organise is Now

To every nurse in KwaZulu-Natal: you are not alone, and you are not powerless. The PSA invites you to join a growing, militant force of healthcare workers determined to fight not just for better conditions, but for a fundamentally transformed health system—one that serves people, not profit; workers, not bureaucrats.

Organise. Mobilise. Resist.

DAILY NEWS