On the 2nd of May 2025, Premier Zamani Saul stood before the people of the Northern Cape to unveil a R40 million fleet of 22 new ambulances, proudly declaring this as a milestone in improving emergency healthcare services. The speech was polished, the photographs well-angled and the headlines predictable.
Yet here we are, just over three months later, reading the harrowing account of Mr Jonathan Abrams of Britstown, whose daughter fell ill on the night of Saturday, 9 August 2025. After four unanswered calls to the EMS Control Room in Kimberley, and a reroute through 112, he was told there was no ambulance in Britstown. Instead, one would be dispatched from Vosburg.
That ambulance never arrived and by Monday, his daughter was still without professional medical transport, surviving only because a father improvised with pain pills and care at home. On Wednesday, the same community witnessed a tragedy where a fellow Britstown resident died at the local clinic while the same Vosburg ambulance was “on its way” — first to collect patients in Vosburg, then to Britstown. If that ambulance had been stationed where it was needed, that patient might still be alive.
The Premier’s R40 million announcement means little when rural towns are left with zero functional ambulances at the point of crisis. The cruel irony is that in the Northern Cape, we have managed to prioritise ribbon-cuttings, but not basic service delivery.
Britstown does not need to see glossy press statements about new fleets — Britstown needs to see an ambulance in Britstown. It is not a complicated request. In fact, it is the bare minimum of a functioning healthcare system.
We are told that our clinics are “short-staffed”, as though this is an unfortunate accident of nature, rather than the result of government’s chronic failure to plan, recruit, and retain medical professionals in rural areas. The people of Britstown, Vosburg, and dozens of other small towns are living in a health emergency zone — but without the political urgency that a real emergency demands.
As ActionSA Northern Cape, we demand:
- A public audit of where each of these 22 new ambulances is stationed — with GPS logs to prove it.
- A rural EMS staffing plan that ensures no community is left without on-call ambulance cover at any hour of the day.
- An independent investigation into EMS Control Room failures and response times.
Zero Ambulances in Britstown: Where is the Accountability, Premier Saul?
On the 2nd of May 2025, Premier Zamani Saul stood before the people of the Northern Cape to unveil a R40 million fleet of 22 new ambulances, proudly declaring this as a milestone in improving emergency healthcare services. The speech was polished, the photographs well-angled and the headlines predictable.
Yet here we are, just over three months later, reading the harrowing account of Mr Jonathan Abrams of Britstown, whose daughter fell ill on the night of Saturday, 9 August 2025. After four unanswered calls to the EMS Control Room in Kimberley, and a reroute through 112, he was told there was no ambulance in Britstown. Instead, one would be dispatched from Vosburg.
That ambulance never arrived and by Monday, his daughter was still without professional medical transport, surviving only because a father improvised with pain pills and care at home. On Wednesday, the same community witnessed a tragedy where a fellow Britstown resident died at the local clinic while the same Vosburg ambulance was “on its way” — first to collect patients in Vosburg, then to Britstown. If that ambulance had been stationed where it was needed, that patient might still be alive.
The Premier’s R40 million announcement means little when rural towns are left with zero functional ambulances at the point of crisis. The cruel irony is that in the Northern Cape, we have managed to prioritise ribbon-cuttings, but not basic service delivery.
Britstown does not need to see glossy press statements about new fleets — Britstown needs to see an ambulance in Britstown. It is not a complicated request. In fact, it is the bare minimum of a functioning healthcare system.
We are told that our clinics are “short-staffed”, as though this is an unfortunate accident of nature, rather than the result of government’s chronic failure to plan, recruit, and retain medical professionals in rural areas. The people of Britstown, Vosburg, and dozens of other small towns are living in a health emergency zone — but without the political urgency that a real emergency demands.
As ActionSA Northern Cape, we demand: