Ekurhuleni Disaster and Emergency Management Services (DEMS) firefighters were responding to a structural fire in Katlehong on Tuesday when they found themselves having to flee from an angry mob.
The firefighters from the Zonkizizwe Fire Station were travelling in their newly replaced fire engine to Sunrise View section, not far from the place where their previous fire engine was torched in September.
History was on the brink of repeating itself when the firefighters, and the local police who were deployed to escort the crew to their intended destination, had to turn away for their safety as they were attacked with rocks by members of the community of Moleleki section.
In this case the fire engine was only left with minor dents, and other than being terrified, the crew and the police escaped uninjured.
According to reports, the riot resulted from service delivery grievances felt by Moleleki and Sunrise View community members.
The rioting left concrete lamp poles destroyed, wooden electrical powerlines burnt down, power cables cut and centralised taps broken, which resulted in thousands of litres of water being wasted.
“Of great concern is the caller who couldn’t get the service requested and expected from emergency services due to a rioting mob,” said DEMS district manager media liaison, William Ntladi.
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Ntladi noted that there were various avenues communities could use to voice their concerns over service delivery instead of attacking emergency personnel.
“DEMS pleads once again with everyone to please stop the attacks on emergency personnel as there are better ways and means to address frustrations.
“The department has raised the flag of peace for everyone to see,” Ntladi said.
“Destroying the good today will bring detrimental effects tomorrow.
“Bringing service delivery dissatisfaction to the attention of the relevant management is a better mechanism than taking the law into your own hands.”
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