The Mpumalanga department of health is shocked and disappointed at Thursday’s arrest of two of its paramedics, who allegedly stashed R57 000-worth of stolen copper cables in an ambulance.
The copper cable was allegedly stolen from a Syferfontein mine near Secunda, with the help of other izinyoka (copper cable thieves) in the early hours of Thursday morning.
“We have since discovered that these officials, stationed at Leandra Ambulance station, were on duty at the time of commission of the crime and had left the station responding to a genuine call but never returned,” said the department’s spokesperson, Mpho Gabashane, in a statement.
According to police, the two officials, in their 40s, allegedly stopped near a fence at the mine and loaded the copper cable inside the emergency vehicle. They then drove off with the lights flashing as if they were ferrying a patient in need of medical attention.
Police acting on a tip-off stopped the ambulance about 1km from the scene and found it filled to the brim with copper cables, said police spokesperson Leonard Hlathi.
“There was no space left to even accommodate a toddler. Some copper cables were even stashed under the beds. Clinical utensils that are used to treat patients were in contact with the copper cables,” he said.
Provincial health minister MEC Dikeledi Mahlangu called it a barbaric act.
Mahlangu said while this case might be isolated, it had the potential to undermine people’s confidence in the department’s ambulance service.
She had instructed that swift action be taken immediately against the employees. — Sapa