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Clinic in Umlazi
The Public Servant Association (PSA) is calling for immediate steps to improve security measures at clinics in Umlazi in the south of Durban. This after a vehicle was hijacked at gunpoint at K Clinic earlier this week.
PSA’s KwaZulu-Natal manager, Mlungisi Ndlovu says the incident has left staff traumatized and afraid to report for duty.
Ndlovu says this is not the first violent crime being committed at clinics in Umlazi.
He says it’s causing staff to arrive late because they would park at big hospitals because security is better there and then walk to work.
“The PSA calls for the immediate temporary closure in particular on these affected clinics like K Clinic until communities are able to work with SAPS, work with the department in providing solution because we believe that the department alone cannot be able to deal with the issues of crime. We need the police to be more visible but the community must be in charge,” Ndlovu elaborates.
Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane says healthcare facilities, especially those in Umlazi, are being targeted by criminals is a long-standing problem. She says efforts to work with the police and eThekwini Metro Police have had limited success.
“We are engaging the metro of eThekwini to say can we go with the councilors and the mayor to those communities to engage, community leaders, engage Amakhosi and speak about what is it that we can come up with to be a lasting solution because the only solution we can have as a department is go to the police to say please assist us but as we have clearly seen that is not enough because the police sometimes themselves are unable to assist us in other areas,” says Simelane.
