Clinic stabbing leaves staff shaken
Man’s attack one of many at the centre
The man who was killed at a community health centre in Alexandra, northern Johannesburg, had taken an injured friend to the clinic for treatment.
The 27-year-old man, who cannot be named until his next of kin are informed, was stabbed and killed by a group of unknown assailants who stormed the clinic at about 9pm on Saturday.
Yesterday, the deceased man’s friend, Sikhumbuzo Molapo, said they had accompanied another friend, Notsi Ntobaki, who was injured during a fight at a tavern.
“A third friend joined us and we carried Notsi to the clinic on a trolley. We were waiting for him outside the clinic when a group of armed men and a woman came through the clinic gate. Someone shouted, ‘its them’, and we ran into the clinic,” said Molapo.
“They followed us but I managed to hide in one of the rooms. They caught and stabbed him all over the body. He also managed to run to the room where I was hiding but he had already been stabbed. I saw a big wound on his throat,” he said.
He said nurses tried to save the man but it was too late.
Ntobaki said he also survived by hiding in one of the rooms in the clinic.
An employee at the clinic said they had begged his attackers n ot to harm the man but they had threatened them with knives and pangas.
“The group grabbed one of the escorts and dragged him outside where they stabbed him. He escaped and ran back inside. He had blood all over his clothes,” he said.
“The victim ran towards me because I tried to assist him earlier. I ran to the stitching room and he followed me. The group was behind us and they finished him off there. I ran out as they stabbed him.”
Employees said the incident was one of many in which patients were attacked.
“A few months ago a father was shot and killed at the gate after he brought his child for treatment,” said one.
Another employee said: “We are not safe. Armed people just walk in and push you aside. Even when we close the gate they jump [over] it.”
Chief director for Gauteng district health services Meisie Lerutla said people fought in the streets and then followed each other into the clinic.
She said staff members would be counselled and security beefed up. Police spokesman Captain Mohlaule Mamabolo said they were investigating a case of murder.
‘ ‘ Armed people just walk in and push you aside