Maybe the scooter can save lives

I must confess that, when I first saw the video of Eastern Cape Health MEC Sindiswa Gomba riding in the sidecar of a three-wheeler motorbike, my initial reaction was probably the same as that of other South Africans, judging by the response on social media. I found it both comical and infuriating that “a caring government” could buy these glorified wheelbarrows to use as ambulances for rural citizens.

As an activist, I was appalled that rural citizens, who are already poor and downtrodden, would be reminded of the huge inequality gap between them and their counterparts in more affluent areas where ambulances arrive minutes after a call.

In their case, if it does arrive at all, it’s long after at least one critically injured passenger is already dead. By the time some smart oke had edited the video and inserted the signature tune of that popular sitcom, I was not amused at all by the “yaqal’inkathazo ke madoda” because a real huge