Thousands of medical gloves found floating on Centurion river
The police and the acting MEC for health in Gauteng were called to the Hennops river in Irene, Pretoria on Sunday, after thousands of medical gloves were seen floating down the river.
On Monday, the DA called on the acting health MEC Jacob Mamabolo to urgently investigate the discarding of medical gloves in the river, where it meanders through the Irene golf course in Centurion.
“More than 11 black refuse bags filled with well over a thousand unopened boxes of single-use hospital medical gloves were dumped in the river between late Saturday night, and early Sunday morning,” the DA said in a press release.
“Any legitimate supplier would not destroy several thousands of rand worth of stock in such a bizarre manner.”
The DA said it seemed someone was trying to get rid of “evidence” in a hurry.
“According to the information on the boxes, the gloves in question come from three different companies, namely Promed Technologies, Medtex and Nitrile,” the party said.
The Hennops revival organisation founder Tarryn Johnston described the discovery as “very dodgy”.
“We have been cleaning there for the past three weeks. This is so ignorant. Now there are gazillions of gloves floating everywhere you look!” Johnston said.
“It looked like crates of boxes of gloves were dumped into the river.”
Former ward councillor in the area, Gert Visser said he spent hours at the scene with the relevant authorities on Sunday afternoon.
“It looks like the gloves were dumped at the Hennops river bridge and floated all the way to the Irene country club,” Visser said.
The DA said the Gauteng health department has been under the spotlight in recent weeks, after it issued more than 167 personal protective equipment tenders worth R2.2-billion to political allies. MEC Bandile Masuku was subsequently placed on special leave.
The department of health was yet to comment on the matter.
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