Vaccination team robbed in north of Pretoria
The robbers took off with vaccination programme gadgets.
A team of healthcare workers was robbed in Soshanguve on Saturday morning.
The Tshwane district vaccination team was at the Wonder City taxi rank area to administer jabs, when five armed men ambushed them.
The incident took place around 09:00, said the department of health’s spokesperson, Kwara Kekana.
“Five armed men who were in a white Toyota Quantum at Wonder City taxi rank in Soshanguve robbed the vaccination team at gunpoint,” Kekana said.
“The perpetrators fled with vaccination programme gadgets which consist of three tablets, one smartphone and six cellphones belonging to the team.”
She said another incident took place last week in the West Rand, where a health district services bakkie was hijacked with mobile site equipment and gazebos in Chamdor, Kagiso.
Cases of robbery for both incidents have been opened at Soshanguve and Kagiso police stations.
“Fortunately, no team members were harmed in both cases and counselling will be provided to the affected staff,” Kekana said.
“These senseless acts occurred at a time when the province is ramping up the vaccination programme by activating more vaccination sites in all the districts in order to vaccinate as many people as possible.
“Our healthcare workers remain the backbone of the health system, even during the pandemic as they continue to play a pivotal role in terms of vaccination programme rollout.”
She urged members of the community to share any information regarding these two incidents with the police.
* Notice: Coronavirus reporting at Caxton Local Media aims to combat fake news
Dear reader,
As your local news provider, we have the duty of keeping you factually informed on Covid-19 developments. As you may have noticed, mis- and disinformation (also known as “fake news”) is circulating online. Caxton Local Media is determined to filter through the masses of information doing the rounds and to separate truth from untruth in order to keep you adequately informed. Local newsrooms follow a strict pre-publication fact-checking protocol. A national task team has been established to assist in bringing you credible news reports on Covid-19.
Readers with any comments or queries may contact National Group Editor Irma Green (irma@caxton.co.za) or Legal Adviser Helene Eloff (helene@caxton.co.za).
Do you have more information about the story?
Please send us an email to editorial@rekord.co.za or phone us on 083 625 4114.
For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites: Rekord East
For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram
