Load shedding, uncaring clinic staff cut mother’s life short

Mpumalanga mother Yengiwe Mthimunye had just found her dream job and was finally able to provide for her seven-year-old son when her life was cut short, allegedly due to a combination of load shedding and neglect at a local clinic.

The 34-year-old from eMthambothini in Kameelrivier, near Siyabuswa, was rushed to the local Waterval Clinic after suddenly falling ill last Saturday night.

No power to save her

But, according to family, nurses refused to attend to her because the clinic was in the middle of a bout of load shedding.

“They did not even look at us, though we were begging and explaining the state of the patient. They were busy on their phones,” her cousin Bongani Skosana explained.

He said after almost an hour of pleading for assistance, a security guard eventually told them to go to Siyabuswa Clinic, about 16km away, as that facility had backup power.

ALSO READ: This is what stage 12 load shedding would likely mean

Skosana said Mthimunye, who was writhing in pain at the back of his car all along, passed away a few metres from the clinic.

“I continued driving to Siyabuswa though we were all sure she was gone, but also there the treatment was just lax. It was only after we had again pleaded for some time that we were attended to and told my cousin was no more,” he said.

Searing pain

Skosana said they suspect his cousin ingested poison as she was well earlier that day, but collapsed twice later that night and had complained about searing pain and clutching her stomach.

He believes that had his cousin been attended to and at the very least stabilised at Waterval Clinic, she could have survived.

“The time they wasted ignoring our calls for help could have been used to do something, but they did not care. There is a lot they could have done instead of using load shedding as an excuse to let her die like that,” Skosana said.

Mthimunye, who was laid to rest on Thursday, was working as a chef, her dream job, for the University of Pretoria for just six months and was the breadwinner of the family of five, including her parents.

ALSO READ: Bodies could start rotting in mortuaries due to load shedding

Provincial Health Department spokesperson Christopher Nobela confirmed that they were looking into the matter and that officials visited the family on Tuesday afternoon.

He said the visit was appreciated by the family.

“A statement from the family [was] taken on what happened on the day of the incident, and the investigation is continuing,” Nobela said.

Matter of life and death

These are incidents the new Minister of Electricity Dr Kgosientsho Ramakgopa is expected to stop by urgently solving the power crises at Eskom.

The state of disaster declared by President Cyril Ramaphosa to tackle the power crisis also allows the electricity minister to exempt certain institutions from load shedding.

In February, Deputy Health Minister Sibongiseni Dhlomo, revealed that generators at state health facilities were insufficient to cope, but would not say power cuts at health facilities has been the direct cause of some deaths.

The Health and Allied workers Indaba Trade Union (Haitu) has said energy is a matter of life or death and called on the government to compensate families for unnecessary deaths caused by load shedding.

In December, the SA Medical Association (SAMA) voiced concerns that only 77 of 400 hospitals and clinics are exempted from load shedding.

NOW READ: Brace yourself: Winter is coming, and so too stage 10 load shedding