The Department of Health in the North West Province says Jouberton, a township outside Klerksdorp in Matlosana in the Dr Kenneth Kaunda District, is now a hotspot for crimes relating to emergency services personnel (EMS) attacks. This comes after two female ambulance crew members were attacked while attending to a call at Ext 2 Jouberton in the early hours of Sunday. This is the third incident that the department is experiencing this year, with two reported in Jouberton and the other one in Kanana.
The Acting Station Manager at the EMS Station in Klerksdorp, Ntozelizwe Phono, said this is not the first incident today happen in Jouberton, and they are not sure what the motive behind these attacks might be.
"Jouberton is the only place where we are experiencing more of these attacks, in the KOSH area here in Matlosana. Another incident was reported at Ext 24 a few months ago, with this one in Ext 2 being the latest. This incident happened during load-shedding, and our personnel had to exit the ambulance because, on arrival, the patient they were supposed to help had already passed on. Our personnel were attacked at gunpoint while they were busy with the paperwork for the deceased. I can also confirm that they managed to do their work and survived without any injuries through the help of the family members," said Phono.
He further confirmed that the two personnel are currently at home and undergoing counselling, with their next session on August 14. They will remain at home until they are fit for work.
He said that since they started experiencing these attacks, they came up with Outreach Campaigns, where they are working with the police in Jouberton and the Men's Forum at Matlosana EMS Station to teach society that "the Emergency Services Personnel are only there to offer them services".
Phono's words were echoed by the North West Department of Health Spokesperson, Tebogo Lekgethwane, who said most of these attacks were reported in the Dr Kenneth Kaunda District, with Jouberton being the hotspot in the City of Matlosana, as they once had one incident at JB Mark's Municipality.
Lekgethwane said the department has decided that they will be working with the South African Police Service and the Security Cluster to make sure that there are armed guards to escort ambulances, especially in Matlosana.
"The Department has taken this decision to make sure that we prioritize the safety of our employees. These attacks are experienced at our local health facilities, and since we have introduced security guards, we are no longer experiencing lots of attacks in our facilities. It is also unfortunate to say that even some of our CEO's ended up having bodyguards because of these criminals, and the department is spending quite a lot of money that was supposed to be useful in other health-related matters within the department," he said.
