Zandspruit clinic Region C is one of the primary health care centres that have Community Healthcare Workers who are signing in and out using the facility.
It was reported that while one of the Carers was doing her rounds, doing field work in the area on 6 February 2020, she got caught up in a shooting in one of the informal settlements around Zandspruit. Zandspruit is a very
volatile area due to land occupation going back 4 years, by South Africans and foreign nationals.
The CHWs, who wants to remain anonymous, got shot while walking and working as part of CHWs duties. She was fortunate to have been hit only on her leg. The lack of security and safety is part of the problem CHWs are facing, including walking long distances without being monitored or being escorted, and without health insurance. This is one of the major problems with present working conditions of CHWs.
This is another “cold case”, similar to the rape case involving a Carer, and the victims (CHWs) have not seen any steps taken and are afraid while doing their jobs.
CHWs say they prefer to stay anonymous because none of their cases get attended to.
Sisanda Lwana Kulima is a Community Healthcare Worker and Advocates for social justice in society. She is also an Activist who believes in the inevitability of socialism.
Lwana-Kulima currently writes for the Forum News and Karibu in her capacity as a member of the Forum of Activist Journalists.
