• Over the weekend, it emerged that nurses contracted to fight Covid-19 in Gauteng had not been paid their July salaries.
• More than 680 nurses were contracted to strengthen the provincial health department's workforce.
• Acting Gauteng Health MEC Jacob Mamabolo said it was "simply unacceptable" that the nurses weren't paid.

Acting Gauteng Health MEC Jacob Mamabolo has said nurses who were appointed on Covid-19 contracts will be paid their salaries before the end of August.

In a statement released on Tuesday, the provincial health department said the MEC's assurance was made after "reports surfaced over the weekend alleging that at least 80 Covid-19 contract nurses at Dr George Mukhari Academic Hospital had not been paid their July salaries".

"MEC Mamabolo has since directed the department to compile a consolidated report on Covid-19 human resource related issues at all facilities by the end of this week to ensure that health workers are not inconvenienced any further," read the statement.

READ | Nurses battling to cope with Covid-19

The department said it had appointed 681 nurses during the current financial year "to augment its workforce" in responding to the pandemic.

"A total of R500 million has been budgeted for contracting various categories of workers across all institutions, inclusive of all categories of nurses," the department said.

Mamabolo added that it was "simply unacceptable that workers are not paid. We cannot expect frontline workers to lead the fight against the coronavirus while on the other hand we are letting them down in terms of their remuneration".