The Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa DENOSA in its current form was established in 1996 The organisation was formed through political consensus after the transition to democracy and was mandated by its membership to represent them and unite the nursing profession Prior to this, the South African Nursing Council SANC and the South African Nurses Association SANA were statutory bodies which all nurses had to join Although DENOSA has its roots in unionism and representing the workplace interests of members, DENOSA took notice of the global developments amongst nursing unions to also include professional development of their members as part of their core focus.