Media statement
Thursday, 19 January 2023
DURBAN – The Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (DENOSA) in KwaZulu-Natal condemns in the strongest terms the two incidents where community members were protesting in different places yesterday, when they decided to attack nurses as part of their protests in Nkandla and Cato Manor respectively.
DENOSA KZN calls on community leaders to stand up against such barbaric behaviour as it will deprive communities of healthcare services in future.
A protest by the community of Nkandla against the Department of Transport over a bad road between Kandla and Nqutu deteriorated, and some protesters set alight a new 22-seater mobile clinic that was driven by nurses from CJM Hospital in Nquthu and was on its way to a mobile point in Qhudeni, an area between the two towns.
The protesting community then beat up the nurses, many of whom are women, and dispersed them while the mobile clinic was set on fire. This was due to failed talks between the community of Nkandla and the Department of Transport over the poor state of the road in the area.
In another incident in Cato Manor in Durban, a community protest erupted yesterday not far from Cato Manor Clinic, in Mayville in Cator crest, over the shortage of water and electricity. The protestors then threw stones at nurses who were inside the clinic attending to their patients, thus breaking some windows.
DENOSA is disgusted by these two incidents, which had nothing to do with the nurses who got injured in the process. The very same community members who were pelting stones at nurses just yesterday are now queueing at the very same healthcare centre seeking medical help.
DENOSA is concerned that the many community activities have become leaderless, which makes them more dangerous and counter-productive to the very same communities’ needs. DENOSA calls on community leaders to stand up against ill-discipline, because communities end up breaking amenities during protests that they will need the very following day, as is the case in Cato Manor.
In the case of Cato Manor Clinic, there is a task team that is looking at the need of the facility to operate for 24 hours as opposed to 8 hours currently. But with barbaric incidents like these, not a single nurse will be willing to risk their lives and work there at night when they act dangerously even in broad daylight.
This behaviour is also becoming a disadvantage to the very same community.
End.
Issued by DENOSA in KwaZulu-Natal
For more information, contact:
Mbali Sabela, DENOSA KZN Acting Provincial Secretary.
Mobile: 072 553 1636
Sbonelo Cele, DENOSA KZN Provincial Chairperson.
Mobile: 072 554 9988
Tel: 031 305 1417
