Special Hearings — Health Sector Hearings — 1997-06-18

SHEILA CLOW: At leadership level DeNOSA is committed to engaging with the TRC process as the consequences of the period in question have left severe divisions within the nursing profession that perpetuate distrust, resentment and bitterness.
 Nurses have welcomed the opportunity to be heard and want to participate in the process.  They are committed to and support a larger participatory and inclusive process that results in individual and group submissions as part of our final report.      
 To protect the respondents and to encourage participation DeNOSA has secured an undertaking from the South African Interim Nursing Council that nurses making voluntary submissions to the TRC will not be subjected to professional conduct review.
 As we have mentioned DeNOSA came into being in 1995.  It was the first professional group within the health sector to do so and this was as a result of three years of wide and inclusive negotiations with all groupings of nurses within South Africa.  After a further 19 months, in October 1996, unification was achieved with the dissolution or merger of all pre-existing nursing organisations.  
 The process of negotiation has been a difficult one and in some cases very painful.  The current challenge to build unity amongst members, who represent great diversity, is huge. In understanding these dynamics the TRC will appreciate that the energies of the organisation have been largely directed towards issues of transformation, both within the profession and the health sector, as well as holding the first democratic elections of the organisation.
 For this reason the submission that has been presented in writing to the TRC, and the oral submission today, is very much a preliminary submission.  The Joint National Board expressed a deep concern that the TRC process should not erode the unity that is being developed.  The Board therefore decided that separate submissions from the leaders of the former organisations would be counter-productive to the process of building unity, and so at this stage this submission aims to offer a broad perspective on nursing during the period under review.
 We recognise the limitations of the preliminary submission.  One of these is that there are many perceptions of the truth in relation to specific issues.  But rather than support one perception only we recognise that our history has shaped us in different ways and that we experience and interpret events differently.  For that reason we will accommodate these tensions in our submission in an attempt to illuminate our past.
 In the final submission that will be made in writing in October greater detail, with careful corroboration of evidence and verification will be included.  For example, the roles of the various nursing organisations, and nurses in often side-lined sectors like the mining sector, prisons etc.
 As nursing is the one profession which most closely resembles the demographic realities in South Africa in terms of race, socio-economic status and the rural/urban mix, and is the health profession closest to the population, the experiences of nurses in South Africa are a useful indicator of the experiences of the population.
 In terms of violation of human rights in nursing DeNOSA submits that the impact of apartheid legislation effected during the period in question constituted gross violations to the rights of nurses and nursing in South Africa.  Enacted by officials of the day whose political imperatives resulted in establishing a culture of segregation, discrimination, inequity articulated through acts, emissions and offences, an environment was created and reinforced at all levels of society where severe strife, conflict, untold suffering and injustices were meted to nurses and their patients.  
 DeNOSA believes that there are many experiences relevant to nurses and nursing that constitute gross violations to the rights of nurses.  Further, they have resulted in severe consequences for nurses, nursing and patients at the receiving end of care.
 Based on the oral submissions of a number of nurses, violations to their rights as nurses have had serious implications for them in a variety of circumstances, including the right of affiliation as members of a professional body.  These violations permeate all levels of human existence, resonating consequences of a social, political, economic, psychological and in particular, spiritual nature.
 The violation of the very essence of human experience, within the context of the spiritual relates to the meaning and purpose nurses attribute to their lives, their sense of worth and dignity and their ability to forgive and apologise.
 Unlike the medical profession there have not been high profile cases as we have heard in the last day or so, but as nurses are the backbone of the health sector, as we keep on hearing, it is very unlikely that nurses are not going to be implicated in some of these human rights violations.  To this end we have informally requested the Health and Human Rights Project to furnish us with any evidence that relates to nurses so that we can have as full a picture as possible in our final submission.
 In the interests of time we do not intend to read our preliminary submission but to highlight certain aspects that have led us to present under specific headings.