An eight-year-old girl from Bonteheuwel was left in pain after her fingers were severely injured by a steel plate, but she had to allegedly wait for a gangster that was shot to be helped first.
Angus McKenzie, local ward councillor, says he is furious about what transpired at the Vanguard Community Health Centre. “A child with her fingers severely cut has been sitting and waiting at our local hospital for medical attention. While she is in pain, frightened, and needing urgent care, the Hard Livings and the Playboys decide that right now is the perfect time to shoot at each other again.
Wait longer
“One of these gangsters gets himself shot. And just like that, his friends rush him to the same hospital — the same emergency room where this innocent child has been waiting quietly for help. And what happens? This little girl is told she must wait even longer, because the life of a gangster, injured through his own violence, suddenly becomes the priority,” says McKenzie.
He says he wants to make it clear he is not criticising the hospital. “They are bound by medical protocols and the code of health. The doctors and nurses are doing their jobs under impossible conditions. But what I cannot — and will not — accept is this: How much more must innocent people sacrifice because of gangsters and those who enable and protect them? Our children must not keep paying the price for their chaos. Our communities must not continue living in fear because they choose violence. And our hospitals should not be turned into battleground extensions where criminals disrupt services meant for the vulnerable,” says McKenzie.
The child’s father, Deon Jansen, says his daughter’s injuries were severe, but he feared for their lives. “While we were there the police asked that the security be beefed up, because the gangsters who shot the injured one wanted to finish the job. There was a woman of 77 years. What if those gangsters came back? I know medical staff work on codes, but we as innocent citizens must be protected,” says Jansen, who chooses not to reveal his daughter’s name.
He says his daughter is in lots of pain, but recovering. “I don’t want her name to publish to protect her.”
TygerBurger reached out to the Western Cape Department of Health and will ad their comment as soon as it is forthcoming.
