ALS Paramedics’ legal representatives have indicated that they are considering a high court case after KZN MEC for Transport and Human Settlements, Siboniso Duma, failed to apologise and retract the comments he made in Isipingo on January 29, where he publicly accused the emergency service provider of bullying behaviour and lying about the number of victims at accident scenes.

Law firm WJ Rogers and Associates gave Duma until February 2 to retract and apologise, which he failed to do.

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Addressing the media at the R102 Isipingo accident site, Duma accused ALS Paramedics of bullying behaviour and lying about the number of victims at accident scenes. The accusations came minutes after Duma shook hands with an ALS Paramedics spokesperson, Garrith Jamieson, after he arrived at the scene.

“When they enter the scene, they tend to bulldoze. I’m sure you know by now that they are also insensitive in some instances. If you don’t have medical aid, they are not going to assist you, even if it means you are dying, or they could still save you. That is why we prefer you deal with the Department of Health,” said Duma.

He further claimed that officers from the Road Traffic Inspectorate and the police had complained that ALS Paramedics inflated casualty figures at accident scenes.

“They said that there were 12 people who had died, which is not true. Two weeks ago, during another accident, they said 11 people were affected or injured, which is a fallacy. There were only three schoolgoing children, and none of them were injured,” said Duma.

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He added that emergency teams dispatched by the Department of Health were more qualified and did not exclude patients.

Wesley Rogers of WJ Rogers and Associates rejected the MEC’s allegations, describing them as defamatory and harmful to the company’s professional reputation. The law firm formally demanded a public retraction and apology by February 2. However, neither Duma nor his department complied with the deadline.

“Resultantly, this office is preparing the appropriate High Court application to deal with the matter,” said Rogers.

The law firm also highlighted instances in which ALS Paramedics assisted patients without medical aid. In addition, the firm claimed that provincial ambulance vehicles that attended the Isipingo accident scene were non-compliant with the National Health Act 61 of 2003 and the Emergency Medical Services Regulations of 2017, alleging that their licence discs had expired.

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