INLSA
Witness.
Picture: Shan Pillay
Durban – While lining up to begin their fitness test, traffic department recruits watched in horror as some of those who had gone before them collapsed from heat exhaustion and were left to fend for themselves.
“A girl went to the middle of the ground and fell. I saw her have a seizure. The only help she received was from other participants, who poured water over her. There were no paramedics around,” Nonhlanhla Mlambo said on Monday.
Mlambo was the first person to testify at a commission of inquiry into the deaths of eight recruits, allegedly from heat stroke, at Pietermaritzburg’s Harry Gwala Stadium last December.
More than 200 others were treated for “heat-related illnesses” either at the scene or in hospital.
The commission, chaired by advocate Thandi Norman, SC, was established by Premier Zweli Mkhize to investigate and report on the recruitment process, including the causes and reasons for the deaths and whether anyone should be held responsible.
The recruits were among 32 000 shortlisted by the department for 90 jobs as traffic officers. They were divided into two groups and had to undergo fitness tests on December 27 and 28, which entailed running 4km. The men had to complete the run in 25 minutes and the women in 30.
Mlambo, who had been shortlisted, described the chaotic scenes that played out just after noon on the first day. Standing in the grandstand at the stadium, she had a bird’s-eye view of what was happening on the ground.
“I could also see one participant fighting with a traffic officer. The police then came to arrest the man. People started collapsing. Other people were still being lined up, waiting their turn to run.”
Mlambo said she had been extremely excited when, on Christmas Day, she received an SMS telling her to be at the stadium at 6am on December 28 for a “physical test”. She found out that a friend had received the same message but had to attend a day earlier. She decided to accompany him to “find out more”.
The stadium was packed, Mlambo said.
It was about 10am when people were told they had to run 4km and she recalled that the traffic officials named the large groups of runners “tsunami”.
The first person she saw collapse was eventually removed by ambulance, which had arrived carrying other runners whom she assumed had also collapsed.
At some stage, she heard one traffic officer say to another: “We don’t want people like this, we want people who are full.”
It was announced in the afternoon that the fitness test would stop as the hospitals were full.
Earlier in the day, evidence leader Sithembiso Kunene said the evidence would show there were insufficient medical resources and ablution facilities.
“The officials ought to have anticipated that the event may have put lives in danger and ought to have taken precautions from the outset,” he said.
For the department, advocate Ravi Padayachee SC, said a three-year moratorium on positions in the department had been lifted last November and the 90 positions, which had been considered critical, had to be filled before January 14, the cut-off date for the training college for the recruits.
He said weather conditions on the two days had not been “extraordinary” to Pietermaritzburg.
“We will lead the evidence of Dr Reggie Perumal, a pathologist, who will deal with the causes of death to draw issue that it was heat stroke.”
Padayachee also said water was not an issue on the day because there were 44 tap points at the stadium and 14 free-standing pipes.
He also said there were contingency plans in place and no gross negligence could be attached to any department official.
The Mercury
