Zimbabwe Nurses Strike Intensifies as State Agents Intervene in Hospitals Over Salary Dispute

State security agents descended on several government hospitals in Zimbabwe on Tuesday as nurses continued a nationwide strike over poor salaries and working conditions, defying a government directive to return to work.

The strike, which began on April 20 and was scheduled to run through April 22, saw nurses at referral, provincial, and district institutions refuse to report for duty despite a government order to end the industrial action. The Zimbabwe Nurses Association (ZINA) had announced the strike after what it described as a meaningless salary adjustment paid on April 14, which nurses condemned as a “token” increase in the ZiG currency that failed to address rising living costs.

In a letter dated April 14, ZINA stated that patience had run out following fruitless engagements with the Health Service Commission (HSC). The union noted that an earlier strike planned for April 15 to 17 had been called off in good faith, but the latest pay cycle revealed that promised increases were not seriously meant to address nurses’ plight. “the basic salaries for nurses still remain unacceptably low and not commensurate with the cost of living or the demands of the profession,” the association said.

The government responded by deploying state agents to hospitals, a move criticized by nurses and observers as an insult rather than a solution. Health and Child Care Minister Douglas Mombeshora had urged nurses to end the strike as talks began, but the union maintained that the offered adjustments did not reflect economic realities, particularly rising transport costs that make it difficult for staff to report for duty.

Major hospitals remained closed across Zimbabwe during the strike, with striking nurses rejecting government overtures and insisting on meaningful reforms to salaries and working conditions. The industrial action highlighted deep frustrations within the public healthcare sector over stagnant wages and the absence of meaningful cost-of-living adjustments.