BEITBRIDGE: Zimbabwe authorities have suspended a senior nurse employed by the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare after she allegedly blamed President Mnangagwa’s Zanu PF for plunging the country into serious economic and political problems.
The suspension also happened after an audio appeared on WhatsApp in which a female voice is heard criticising Venda people for voting ZanuPF while their children are suffering and living from hand to mouth in neighbouring South Africa.
In a letter written on 03 August 2018 to Senzeni Klaasen, Dr Lenos Samhere, the District Medical Officer at Beitbridge District Hospital accused the 47 year-old nurse, who is employed as Sister-In-Charge at Beitbridge District Hospital of misconduct after she was allegedly recorded in an audio clip circulated on social media uttering what hospital authorities considered to be some “abusive” words.
According to the purported audio clip, Klaasen allegedly accused ZANU PF party of causing the mass exodus of Zimbabweans who were going to neighbouring countries in search of greener pastures and seeking medical treatment in countries such as South Africa.
Many people including former CIO Deputy Director and now Zanu PF MP for Beitbridge East, Albert Nguluvhe have identified Senzeni Klaasen a nurse at Beitbridge District Hospital as the author of the derogatory audio that has gripped social media circles in Beitbridge, Musina and Polokwane.
Nguluvhe said those who know Klaasen have identified her in the audio with her voice. He went on to say he would request for her transfer from his constituency because the audio was dangerous in that it can easily trigger tribal hatred.
He also said Vendas from Beitbridge and places as far as Polokwane were baying for her blood.
In suspending Klaasen, Samhere charged that he was implementing the provisions of the Health Service Regulations of 2006, which provides that a disciplinary authority may suspend from service a member who would have committed an act of misconduct or is subject to a criminal investigation or prosecution and whose continued attendance at work would seriously impair the proper administration or functioning of the Ministry of Health and Child Care.
Meanwhile, Klaasen has engaged lawyers from Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) after a Zimbabwe Republic Police officer reportedly called her relatives requesting to be furnished with information concerning the whereabouts of her children in a very suspicious manner.
In a letter written to the Officer in Charge at the Law and Order Section at Beitbridge Police Station, Klaasen’s lawyers Obey Shava and Tinomuda Shoko of ZLHR said they will hold a named police officer from the Law and Order Section at Beitbridge Police Station responsible should anything happen to their client’s children including their client, who has been receiving death threats from some unknown people.
The audio recorded mainly in Shona queried why the Vendas could vote for Zanu PF when there was no medicine at the local district hospital. It also questioned why they voted for the ruling party when they were being given fertilizer and seeds in a region that is semi-desert.
