CITY of Tshwane’s Emergency Services Department said it was in a state of shock after a firefighter was shot and killed outside a fire station in Bronkhorstspruit on Wednesday night.
“According to fellow firefighters, 59-year-old Leading Firefighter Sonia Mnguni went out to meet a person she had an appointment with after answering a call from the said person.
“They say they heard gunshots moments after she had gone out of the fire station,” said Tshwane Emergency Services Department spokesperson Thabo Charles Mabaso.
“After recovering from the shock and fear of the gunshots they heard, the crew went outside in search of her. Her body was discovered about 100 metres away from the fire station with multiple gunshot wounds.” A paramedic certified her dead on the scene.
“The (Tshwane) Emergency Services Department would like to offer condolences to her family, colleagues and friends for her untimely passing,” said Mabaso.
The department has activated its employee wellness section to offer counselling support for employees and the family of the deceased. “The motive for the gruesome killing is not yet known and is under investigation by the South African Police Service,” said Mabaso.
In Mpumalanga, the South African Medical Association (Sama) said it was “gravely concerned” about the reports of another attack on a healthcare worker at a public hospital.
“On Tuesday night, a doctor at the Mapulaneng Hospital in Mpumalanga was attacked while on her way to the doctors’ residential quarters after her shift. She was hijacked, robbed at gunpoint, and the perpetrators attempted to rape her,” said Sama’s spokesperson, Dr Simonia Magardie.
“The doctor is rightly, extremely traumatized by this experience.”
The Mpumalanga attack follows the brutal killing of a nursing assistant at the Tembisa Hospital earlier this month. Lebo Monene, aged 30, was allegedly gunned down by her partner, a police officer, in the hospital's parking lot on Wednesday last week.
The assailant turned the gun on himself, attempting suicide, and was taken to hospital in a critical condition.
IOL