/ 8 September 1999

AMBULANCE DRIVERS WON’T WORK WEEKENDS

AMBULANCE drivers at a rural Northern Province hospital are refusing to work after hours and at weekends because they have not been paid overtime for the past two months. Provincial health department spokesman, Tsepo Moshima, said on Wednesday that electricians, plumbers and boilermakers at CN Phatudi Hospital near Tzaneen had also refused to work overtime since Friday. He said the department was investigating the matter. The department’s regional director, Josephine Mufamadi, who manages the hospital’s payroll said her officials were studying information recorded into the pay system. She said a report on the current status of the hospital had already been forwarded to the department’s head office. Moshima said no major problems had been reported since the workers quit working overtime on Friday.