The little boy arrived, crying and screaming into the world on the seat of a taxi standing at the side of the road.
Without a moment’s hesitation, the woman took a broken bottle and cut the umbilical cord while the other 13 passengers watched in fascination, ran away screaming or tried to assist.
A taxi ride from Johannesburg to Vryheid over the weekend will be etched into the memory of the 14 passengers for life.
While en route somewhere between Volksrust and Newcastle a heavily pregnant passenger went into labour. The driver put his foot down in the hopes of reaching a hospital, but the baby boy did not feel like waiting.
Zonke Ntuli, a 39-year-old woman from Vryheid, did not hesitate as she sprang into action. She helped the mother give birth in the taxi, according to report by The Mercury.
“Initially, we thought that she would be able to make it to Newcastle but when the taxi was going over the Amajuba Pass, the baby started coming out,” Ms Ntuli told The Mercury. “The taxi stopped and everybody was panicking. Some were screaming and running away. I realised that the baby or the mother would die and so I decided to help.”
Apparently Ms Ntuli always wanted to become a nurse, but could not do so due to financial constraints.
Worryingly, the baby boy was coming out feet first.
“I was also scared as the baby was coming out feet first, but I urged the lady to push,” she said. “A baby boy was born and I was very relieved when he started crying; that he was indeed alive.”
She remembers how she was searching for something to cut the umbilical cord. She broke a bottle and used a sharp edge to sever the cord. All in all, the delivery only took about 20 minutes.
Ms Ntuli then wrapped the baby boy in spare pieces of clothing and the taxi hurried on to Newcastle. They were met halfway by an ambulance, which took mother and child to the Newcastle Provincial Hospital.
KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Health, Sibongiseni Dhlomo lauded Ms Ntuli’s actions, and commended her for helping the woman.
“We are very proud of the courageous actions of the passenger who helped deliver the baby. Her actions were exemplary and what she did was the personification of Ubuntu,” he said on Wednesday.
“Nothing could have prepared me for what happened, and I was just as shocked as the rest of the passengers,” continued Ms Ntuli. “But I’m pleased to have helped the mother deliver her baby. I wish both of them well, and I want to thank the rest of the passengers because I could not have done it alone.”
According to the report by The Mercury, other passengers kept asking her if she wasn’t scared to help someone without rubber gloves.
“I told them I am not thinking about that for now, as long as the baby is fine,” she said.
According to sources the mother did not wish to make her name known.
“Both the mother and the baby were discharged yesterday and are perfectly healthy,” said the source.
