City of Joburg warns residents against growing violence against Johannesburg fire services

The City of Johannesburg has pleaded with Soweto residents to stop attacking their fire engines and other municipal infrastructure.

The act of stoning the newly-acquired fire engine, reported to have happened at the Elias Motsoaledi Informal Settlement last Friday, has sparked outrage, with the Public Servants Association of South Africa (PSASA) slamming the attack on state property. 

On the weekend, the City of Johannesburg Emergency Services (EMS) reported that the attack took place while a fire engine dispatched from the Diepkloof fire station was responding to a fire incident at the Soweto informal settlement at about 3 pm. As a result, the city has embarked on a social media campaign pleading with residents to reconsider their acts on essential state property meant to ease service delivery challenges.

“We are here in Elias Motsoaledi Informal Settlement. This is where our fire engine, dispatched from the Diepkloof Fire Station, was attacked while responding to a shack fire incident. Our team was attacked by the community.  The team had to run for their lives after being attacked with stones. So, we are pleading with the community to refrain from doing that," warned EMS spokesperson Robert Mulaudzi in the prepared video message.

It is reported that the fire engine is reported to have been one of the new engines that were recently unveiled by the city during the launch of the City of Johannesburg Central Fire Station, which was launched at a cost of R71 million.

During this launch, the city also unveiled a new fleet of nine fire engines.

Maria Nxumalo, who is the station commander at the Diepkloof Fire Station, stated: “ This is one of the resources that was just allocated to come and service the area. It is important for the community to take care of this resource.”

Early this month, Tshwaku and City of Johannesburg Mayor, Dada Morero Johannesburg unveiled the R71m facility designed to boost emergency response in the city’s most fire-prone and densely populated areas.  

According to the City of Johannesburg, this new modern complex replaces the historic heritage station, which was shut down in 2018 after more than a century of service due to structural wear and safety concerns.

Mulaudzi said even though there were no injuries or fatalities reported during the attack, the city strongly condemns such lawless and violent behaviour, which endangers the lives of emergency personnel and disrupts vital service delivery to our communities, " Tshwaku stated.

EMS spokesperson, Robert Mulaudzi, urged residents to protect and support firefighters as they provide this critical and life-saving service to all the people of Johannesburg.

"Acts of violence against emergency responders create fear, hinder response times, and threaten the safety of everyone in the city," he said.

Reacting to the stoning incident and the damage to infrastructure, Claude Naiker, for the Public Servants Association of South Africa (PSASA), said  PSASA is deeply concerned by the growing incidents involving the torching and destruction of public infrastructure.

“The public servants association is extremely concerned about the torching of a fire engine truck and also emergency services personnel. Our citizens can ill afford to destroy infrastructure that is so badly needed in our most vulnerable communities. Emergency services personnel save lives, and a threat to their lives is very concerning. If the act is a sign of criminal elements, then the law must act swiftly. We need to build our communities now, not destroy them,” Naiker said.