“Nursing has become an extremely dangerous profession where a reign of terror has been unleashed on us.
“The majority of the nurses are reluctant to undertake night shifts due to the high risks we are exposed to,” a nurse who spoke on condition of anonymity told Sunday World on Friday just hours after the rape of her two colleagues.
“The security guards at the entrances are just there to take details of visitors who come in for our services. When danger arises, we are all on the firing line,” she said.
Labour unions in the health and education sector in Limpopo have lambasted the gross ineptitude of security personnel at most clinics in the province.
This comes after two nurses were assaulted, kidnapped, robbed and raped at Ga-Chuene Clinic, south of Polokwane, in the early hours of Friday.
Reports indicated that a heavily armed man accosted three security guards and cuffed two of them with their own handcuffs.
He then ordered the third one to show him where the three night-duty nurses were.
The gunman then allegedly dragged two of the nurses to the nearby bushes, where he took turns raping them.
The nurses managed to make their way back to the clinic at around 5am, where they recounted their ordeal. They were taken to the Seshego hospital for medical evaluation.
The health sector in Limpopo has been bedevilled by incidents of nurses, especially those who toil at clinics located in the fringes of villages, being robbed, attacked and raped on duty.
The Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (Denosa) has denounced the ineffectiveness of security measures the department has outsourced from private companies.
Denosa’s provincial secretary, Jacob Molepo, said they had urged the department to beef up security at health facilities.
“There is an urgent need to consider cameras and other monitoring devices to monitor events taking place at our facilities,” he said.
National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union provincial secretary, Moses Maubane, said security at most clinics in the province is worrisome.
“We cannot have a situation where a clinic is guarded by security guards who are not well-equipped. We have discussed this matter with Phophi Ramathuba when she was still the health MEC, and our pleas fell on deaf ears.”
Health MEC Dieketseng Mashego has expressed her disgust, saying the incident was repulsive.
“This deplorable incident is a serious setback to our department’s efforts to ensure that clinics can function 24 hours a day.
“My heart goes out to the two nurses who have suffered immense physical and psychological trauma.
“How can we convince our staff to work night shifts to serve the community if the same community turns against them in such a violent manner?”
The provincial police commissioner, Lieutenant-General Thembi Hadebe, has ordered an immediate investigation to probe cases of business robbery, kidnapping, and two counts of rape.
