International Nurses Day: honouring Florence Nightingale’s legacy by standing with South Africa’s nurses
Statement by Zandile Phiri, Acting Secretary General of the United Democratic Movement
The United Democratic Movement (UDM) joins the world in observing International Nurses Day, a moment to recognise, celebrate, and reflect on the indispensable role nurses play in society.
This year’s theme, “Our Nurses. Our Future. The Economic Power of Care”, calls us to reimagine not only healthcare but how we value care work itself, materially, morally, and structurally.
As we pay tribute to nurses across our country, we pause to reflect on the enduring legacy of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale’s unwavering dedication to treating wounded soldiers in the Crimean War, often by candlelight, gave birth to a profession rooted in selfless service and scientific excellence.
But beyond her famed lamp, Nightingale carried a radical belief: that care is not charity, but justice. That nurses are not assistants, but leaders in health. That public health must be based on evidence, empathy, and equity.
It is precisely this vision that guides the UDM in its unwavering support for nurses in South Africa, and our rejection of the injustices they continue to face.
Solidarity with UNTU-SA: pay the promised rural allowance
The UDM stands in resolute solidarity with the United Nurses Trade Union of South Africa (UNTU-SA) in their ongoing campaign to secure the rural allowance that was promised, but still not delivered, to frontline workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
It is unacceptable that the same nurses who held the nation together in its most fragile moment are now being failed by the very institutions that applauded them.
The UDM demands:
• Immediate payment of outstanding rural allowances to qualifying nurses.
• Full transparency from the Department of Health on outstanding cases, timelines, and accountability.
• Structural embedding of rural and hardship allowances in all healthcare worker contracts moving forward.
Urban struggle: nurses in informal settlements under siege
Nightingale once said, “The very first requirement in a hospital is that it should do the sick no harm.”
Yet in clinics across South Africa’s informal settlements, from KwaMashu to Alexandra, from Khayelitsha to Ivory Park, harm is the order of the day.
Nurses in these facilities operate under:
• Dangerous working conditions marked by overcrowding, failing infrastructure, and lack of basic medical supplies.
• Rampant insecurity, where nurses are forced to serve in areas plagued by crime and insufficient law enforcement.
• Unmanageable patient loads, with too few staff to meet the growing health needs of sprawling communities.
These nurses embody Nightingale’s values every day — not through candles, but through courage.
The UDM calls for:
1. A national infrastructure and safety plan for clinics in informal settlements and rural areas.
2. Urgent increase in healthcare staffing and nurse-to-patient ratios across high-pressure zones.
3. Incentives, psychosocial support, and professional development pathways for nurses working in marginalised communities.
A country’s character is revealed in how it treats its healers
Nursing is not a cost to the state; it is the spine of our healthcare system. If we are to honour Florence Nightingale’s legacy in any meaningful way, we must begin by honouring our nurses not just with words, but with policy, protection, and pay.
On this International Nurses Day, the UDM recommits to championing the rights, dignity, and voice of every nurse in South Africa, in Parliament, in Councils, and on the ground.
To the nurses of South Africa: your fight is our fight. You carry not only the lamp, but the light.
