Death+of+Themba+Manyathi,+statement+of+COSATU



=Themba Manyathi=

The Congress of South African Trade Unions is disgusted by the bureaucratic callousness that led to the death of Themba Manyathi in Johannesburg yesterday.

Half an hour after starting his first job painting a house, he fell from a ladder and was critically injured. Yet his life could have been saved if emergency services had been doing their job. According to the report in The Star on 25 July 2006, residents immediately phoned the ambulance and police services, but by the time either arrived - the ambulance after more that an hour and the police after three and a half hours - he had died.

This huge delay was bad enough, but then both the ambulance crew and the police, having established that he was dead, drove off and left his body on the street, where it lay for ten and a half hours.

His fellow workers and local residents were justifiably outraged and COSATU fully shares their anger. This appalling incident exposes once again that far too many people still think that workers' lives are cheap and unimportant. The police and paramedics showed a callous disregard for the life and dignity of a fellow human being. No-one should ever be treated with such indifference and disrespect. There can be no excuse for their conduct!

We welcome the assurance by the police that they will take action against the officers who left the scene and demand that the emergency services authorities do the same. The strongest possible action must be taken against those involved and a clear message sent out that the lives of all South Africans are of equal importance. Never again must people be allowed to die on the streets unattended or their bodies left exposed for hours.


 * Patrick Craven (National Spokesperson)**
 * Congress of South African Trade Unions**
 * 1-5 Leyds Cnr Biccard Streets**
 * Braamfontein, 2017**


 * P.O.Box 1019**
 * Johannesburg, 2000**
 * SOUTH AFRICA**


 * Tel: +27 11 339-4911/24**
 * Fax: +27 11 339-5080/6940/ 086 603 9667**
 * Cell: 0828217456**
 * E-Mail: patrick@cosatu.org.za**

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