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The Young Nurses Indaba Trade Union (YNITU) has noted that the Gauteng Provincial Government hosted a healing service to honour of ‘fallen heroes following the Boksburg tanker explosion. As YNITU we are demanding that the provincial government, but also on the state as a whole, to learn lessons from this disaster and to take the necessary steps to ensure that if we ever endure such an incident in future, the state is able to respond decisively and swiftly in order to limit the number of lives lost. We need much more than healing services, we need a proper disaster management plan and resources to deal with day to day emergencies.

As a union we are also mourning the loss of Nompumelelo Shezi, a YNITU member who died as a result of the severe injuries she sustained after the explosion. Nompumelelo was a nurse at Tambo Memorial Hospital and hours before the explosion she recorded a video of herself joyfully entering the workplace before her shift. She died (DATE when she passed away) and her funeral was held over the weekend. We lost a very capable, passionate and dedicated nursing sister to this tragedy. 

It is our considered view that possibly the number of lives lost could have been reduced, if we had a better disaster management plan to mitigate against incidents of this nature. According to an investigation by the ISS on the actions of the driver of the Boksburg gas tanker, he tried desperately keep the public away from the scene of the incident. This was something he did on his own with the help of a security guard and a one or two bystanders, but, it seems there were no police to help him secure the scene and keep people away. Eventually the explosion occurred, killing 38 people including bystanders. If some of those people had been removed from the scene in time, it is likely that the number of people who died would have been less. 

Recently the incident of an petrol tanker which had crashed onto a bridge on Kliprivier drive on the N12 exit South of Johannesburg, highlighted this again. 12 hours or more after the truck had crashed, it had not been removed from the road and traffic had not been diverted away from the scene of the incident. If that truck had exploded at that time, there would have been another disaster. 

The state is not adequately prepared to deal with disasters of this magnitude. We know this because we have been engaging firefighters who work for various municipalities in Gauteng. They work under extremely shocking conditions. As YNITU we are getting first-hand accounts from workers that they often have to do their work without proper equipment such as boots. Sometimes, they are called out to put out a fire but there is no water in the fire tanks. There are countless stories of the struggles of firefighters and emergency services personnel in our country, and their struggles are directly linked to a lack of resources. 

Furthermore, the private sector has taken over the role of responding to emergencies. The emergence of privately owned companies like Netcare 911, Emer-G-Med, ER24 and others is a clear example of the failure of the state to provide reliable basic emergency services to the community.  The shortage of staff, the shortage of ambulances and even personnel to manage the emergency hotline 10177 for ambulance services, has enabled the private sector to milk this space. The state has relinquished its responsibilities and it now relies on the private sector to do this work. As a result the private sector is making a fortune because of a lack of proper planning, proper management and a lack of crucial resources. 

There are many public hospitals that are in a shocking state because of poor infrastructure. Sometimes, sections of hospitals are closed down because of how bad the infrastructure is and this adds to the already over-burdened public health system. Chris Hani Baragwanath hospital, Helen Joseph, Charlotte Maxeke and others are examples of how some of our public hospitals are falling apart. There are buildings, wards or offices which have been abandoned in many public healthcare facilities because of infrastructure issues. The Gauteng Department of Infrastructure and Development has been let off the hook because they are failing to properly manage the infrastructure of these hospitals, and ensure that repairs are timeously and properly completed. Most of the time, they do not even bother to repair or maintain the infrastructure. The General Secretary of YNITU said,

“Healing and lighting candles is only part of what is needed now. The healing we urgently need is to repair all our healthcare facilities as well as our ability to respond effectively and swiftly to roll out a clear disaster management plan. We need the state to show that it cares for its most vulnerable citizens by rebuilding the hospitals and repairing infrastructure, and to restore and improve the standard of care within emergency services.” 

Issued by General Secretary of YNITU, Lerato Mthunzi