41 Ambulances purchased by the City of Johannesburg Emergency Medical Services (CoJEMs) in 2019 have allegedly been standing idle at the Florida Fire Station for six years, since 2020.

The Record investigated and found the ambulances in the parking lot at the fire station, looking almost brand new, save for a few flat tyres.

According to CoJEMS spokeperson, Robert Mulaudzi, the ambulances were indeed purchased in January 2019 and delivered in June 2019 at a cost of about R1 million each including all fittings.

“The Gauteng Department of Health (GDH) ‘provincialised’ ambulance services, and we found ourselves with our license to operate ambulances revoked,” he says.

Mulaudzi denies that the ambulances have been standing idle for six years.

“We continued operating them for about two years after the ‘provincialisation’, until we were legally advised to halt the service.

“We felt at the time that there were still many people visiting our fire stations as walk-ins requiring medical assistance.

“We had the vehicles and fully trained medical services personnel, and it was decided to use these resources to render effective service to our communities.

“Once we were legally advised to halt operations, we immediately approached the City of Johannesburg for permission to apply for a primary response license, which would allow us render primary response, advanced life support, and event-based supplementary services.

“Permission was only granted toward the end of 2024 and we submitted our first application to the GDH at the beginning of 2025.

“The initial application was rejected without any reasons given. We immediately submitted another application, which was acknowledged by the GDH in July this year.

“This application will now undergo stringent evaluations, and will hopefully result in CoJEMS being granted a license to operate our ambulances.”

Province responds

GDH spokesperson Steve Mabona says the decision to ‘provincialise’ ambulance services in the CoJ and four other municipalities was taken to align emergency medical services with the National Health Act 61 of 2003.

“The Act provides a framework for a structured and uniform health system, taking into account the obligations imposed by the Constitution and other legislation on health services,” he says.

“Provincialisation of ambulance services in Gauteng was therefore first and foremost, a matter of legislative and regulatory alignment to bring the province in line with the single-authority model required by national health legislation.”

Mabona says the CoJEMS initially applied (on March 30, 2026) for a licence to deploy ambulances at 15 fire stations.

“On May 14 2026, CoJEMS requested to amend its original application by reducing the number of proposed stations. A revised application covering six stations was subsequently submitted to the Department on July 15 and is currently being processed.”

He concludes that, while the latest application has undergone the relevant assessment processes in accordance with the Emergency Medical Services Regulations of 2017, some prescribed regulatory processes still need to be finalised before a decision can be issued.

This is a developing story. If you or someone you know have been negatively affected by long response times or the unavailability of ambulances to respond to emergencies, let us know by sending an email to roodepoortrecord@caxton.co.za.