The authorities have been urged to act in the light of 90 attacks on paramedics, of which only two have led to arrests.
Amira Ajam, a city paramedic who was robbed twice last year, believes she came face to face with the man involved in both incidents at the Khayelitsha Magistrate’s Court . The Weekend Argus reports that Ajam was speaking outside court after the appearance of three suspects linked to the robbery on the Day of Goodwill in Mandela Park, when she and colleague Clayton Cornelson were robbed.
Earlier, about 50 paramedics, followed by nine Emergency Medical Services (EMS) vehicles, marched from the Khayelitsha District Hospital to the nearby Khayelitsha Magistrate’s Court, carrying banners with the message “Enough is enough”. The report said paramedics also sang and danced for 30 minutes in front of the Khayelitsha Remembrance Square before they packed the courtroom.
The case against the three men, including a foreigner who doesn’t have legal documentation, has been postponed to 10 March for a formal bail hearing for accused number one, who has another pending case of robbery. Magistrate Vernon Jantjies granted prosecutor Andrew Edem’s request that the case be postponed for further information. All three suspects will remain in custody.
The report says Ajam and Cornelson were stopped by a frantic family on Imam Solomon Street in Mandela Park, where a woman was on the pavement having a seizure. Cornelson said he thought it was safe to stop because the street had been quiet, but as soon as they began to help the woman, “about eight men came out of nowhere” and demanded his cellphone. At this point, the patient was still convulsing.
“As I opened the sliding door, they came running. Two of them pointed guns at both sides of my head and asked for my phone and my money. I gave it to them, and a few seconds later, another one came with a knife, asking that I give him my phone.” Ajam fled and locked herself inside the patient’s home. The men followed her and banged on the door until Cornelson shouted at them. Ajam said the men then ran off, jumping over the confused patient.
The report says in January last year, Ajam survived an attempted hijacking in Site C, Khayelitsha. She said two of her colleagues, who were also robbed in December, had taken leave since the ordeal.
Michael Serelina, chair of the provincial Hospital Public Servants Association, said that over the course of the past year, EMS staffers had lodged 90 cases of robbery. He said an overwhelming majority of those cases had been closed due to insufficient evidence.
According to the report, Serelina said he was happy to see this case go to court. “We have tried our utmost to help EMS management protect their staff. It’s impossible because (the robberies are) widespread.” Serelina said this had been only the second incident out of 90 where there were arrests. He urged politicians and law-enforcement agencies to act.
The robbery and attempted hijacking has resulted in the Western Cape Health Department organising anti-hijacking training for its paramedics, reports News24. “We have introduced situational awareness training, including anti-hijacking training, for all staff and we also have targeted training around hotspots and incident management,” department spokesperson Zimkhitha Mquteni is quoted in the report as saying.
In a separate incident, a group of armed men this week attacked paramedics employed by Cape Flats-based private ambulance service Melomed24. They were taking a colleague to Athlone at the time.
Mquteni said paramedics had to get a police escort to enter certain areas. “Our paramedics cannot attend to a call in an area deemed a red zone. They must get an escort from the South African Police Service.”
Ambulance windows had been tinted and covered with a smash-and-grab safety film.
[link url="http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/trio-linked-to-medics-armed-robbery-in-dock-7347722"]Weekend Argus report[/link]
[link url="http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/anti-hijacking-training-for-western-cape-paramedics-20170109"]News24 report[/link]