LettersOpinion

EMS targeted by criminals

FOURWAYS – City of Johannesburg Emergency Services are under attack and Robert Mulaudzi shares their apprehension. Read here for more.

Robert Mulaudzi, the spokesperson for the City of Johannesburg Emergency Management Services, writes:

The City of Johannesburg Emergency Management Services notes with concern the escalation of incidents where emergency services personnel are attacked, hijacked or robbed while rendering an essential service, not only in the City of Johannesburg but throughout the Gauteng region.

On Saturday night at around 11.40pm, the Joburg Emergency Management Services nightshift team were hijacked in Cosmo City while responding to an emergency medical call in the area. They were looking for a physical address when two male suspects came from nowhere, pointed a gun at them and instructed them to get out of the ambulance, which they did.

The suspects drove off in the ambulance. The traumatised crew, who were unharmed, managed to walk to Cosmo City Police Station to seek help. The ambulance was later recovered in the area and all the equipment was stolen. A case of hijacking and robbery was opened at the Cosmo City Police Station.

This barbaric and criminal behaviour is worrying because it does not only create fear and panic amongst emergency services personnel who sacrifice their lives in order to save others but also disrupts service delivery to our communities. We cannot afford emergency situations where we first have to go via the nearest police station for a police escort. This process will hamper our response times to the scene of an emergency.

On a weekly basis, we hear of incidents where emergency services personnel are attacked, hijacked and robbed of their belongings while rendering an essential service to the community.

Two weeks ago Gauteng Emergency Services ambulances were hijacked and robbed in two separate incidents in Dobsonville and Mofolo, Soweto. In Mofolo, a member of the public came to the Gauteng Emergency Services base station to request an ambulance. While the ambulance was en route to the ’emergency’ they were hijacked and robbed of all their belongings which included cellphones and wallets.

We cannot afford situations where we have no-go areas. Communities must work with us to remove these criminal elements by reporting them to the police. If they don’t, they are the ones who will suffer when they need urgent assistance.

We would like to call on our communities to protect us while we render effective and professional emergency services to all the residents of the City of Johannesburg.

 

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