The spokesperson for the provincial Department of Health, Mondli Mvambi, said the provincial management of the department was informed at around 00:39 that the hospital was without power after the electricity feeder cable has been stolen. The management, therefore, took a decision to transfer patients who were under critical care to nearby private hospitals. He explained that the department will continue to do risk assessments while working hand-in-hand with relevant stakeholders to ensure that the situation is brought under control.

It seems Eskom has replaced the stolen cable, and the department is currently working on restoring critical health services whilst risk assessments are ongoing. “We thank our health workers who acted consistently in the best interest of the patients under very stressful and strenuous conditions,” said the departmental head, Godfrey Mahlatsi. 

The MEC responsible for the department, Montseng Tsiu, concluded that the community needs to work with the government to ensure that criminals do not take over and kill vital services such as health. “The Department of Health condemns these acts of criminality and vandalism in the strongest terms.”

ALSO READ: Most of Bloemfontein powerless

Bloemfontein has previously also been without electricity due to alleged vandalism. At the time, the Centlec spokesperson, Lele Mamatu, confirmed to OFM News that there was an emergency power outage at one of their major stations.

OFM News