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Desperate emergency services employees presented a memorandum to the acting mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality, essentially begging for protection against criminal elements.
The EMS employees, who fall under the provincial Health Department, said they have exhausted all avenues in a bid to create a safer working environment for ambulance personnel.
Their action on Friday followed a recent incident in Walmer Township, Port Elizabeth, where ambulance personnel attending to a call-out were shot at, and one of them stabbed during a robbery.
Zintle Ngqandu of the SA Emergency Personnel Union said they were working under very strenuous conditions.
"EMS staff are being targeted, robbed and assaulted by the very same community which we are meant to serve,” she said.
She said "we came here with sirens on to symbolise our cry", adding that, “our plea is for the presence of law-enforcers as we go out to various communities."
Acting mayor, Tshonono Buyeye, said that he felt for them, but he said the issue of safety of EMS personnel needed to be addressed at a “political level”, as they do not fall squarely under the Metro's jurisdiction.
"We will urgently meet with the security cluster in our city including the police, so that while we engage, you continue to work without fearing for your lives. We will respond thoroughly to your concerns because you are not asking for much. You are asking for safety to do your work," he said.
Eastern Cape Health Department spokesperson, Sizwe Kupelo, has meanwhile appealed to the communities of Nelson Mandela Bay to play their part in protecting EMS personnel who are there to serve them.
"I must emphasise that this needs to be dealt with in conjunction with the community of Nelson Mandela Bay. The safety of our workers is under threat by the same community they aim to serve," he said.
