Bring PPE dumpers to book, acting health MEC tells police
This after thousands of medical gloves were found floating down the Hennops River in Irene over the weekend.
Police must track down whoever dumped thousands of medical gloves in the Hennops River in Centurion and bring them to book, said acting Gauteng health MEC Jacob Mamabolo.
The MEC directed his department to check whether any of the gloves match those at their various storage facilities, according to his spokesperson Kwara Kekana.
This follows a visit to the site where the gloves were dumped.
Mamabolo expressed his disappointment that someone would dump personal protective equipment (PPE) like this during a global pandemic and also pollute the environment in the process.
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On Wednesday he concluded his visits to health facilities across the province, which he started in his acting capacity.
Mamabolo spent the last five days interacting with senior managers and staff and also visited PPE storage facilities.
“His visit was to ensure the continuation of the comprehensive health response to Covid-19 while MEC Bandile Masuku is on special leave,” said Kekana.
Kekana said Mamabolo visited three warehouse facilities in Centurion, Roodepoort and Vanderbijlpark to inspect PPE stock levels.
The acting MEC also visited various hospitals in the five districts such as Mamelodi, Jubilee and Tshwane district hospital, Dr George Mukhari and Steve Biko.
“At the hospitals, he discussed with senior clinical staff the management of confirmed Covid-19 positive patients, patients under investigation and fever tents meant to augment designated Covid-19 wards,” said Kekana.
She said these facilities were also requested to give an update on the rate of Covid-19 infection of staff members.
This comes after the police were called to the river on Sunday, after thousands of medical gloves were seen floating down the river.
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On Monday, the DA called on the acting health MEC Jacob Mamabolo to urgently investigate the incident.
“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.
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!”
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 PPE tenders worth R2.2-billion to political allies.
MEC Bandile Masuku was subsequently placed on special leave.
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