Ambulance service accuses minister of slander

The high court in Pietermaritzburg has ordered Transport MEC Siboniso Duma to show cause why a final interdict should not be granted restraining him from making comments about ALS Paramedics, and why he should not pay costs on a punitive scale. Archive photo: Nompendulo Ngubane

• Private ambulance service ALS Paramedics is seeking an interdict against KZN Transport MEC Siboniso Duma, after he claimed ALS “bulldozes” its way at accident scenes and only treats patients with medical cover.
• The high court in Pietermaritzburg declined to grant an interim interdict but ordered Duma to file papers explaining why a final interdict should not be issued restraining him from making similar comments.
• Jamieson said Duma’s statements were “entirely defamatory”, while Duma’s lawyers argued his comments were true and in the public interest.
• Judge Piet Bezuidenhout said that considering what was said by the MEC, the issue of defamation remained an issue.

A private ambulance service in KwaZulu-Natal has approached the high court in Pietermaritzburg for an urgent interdict against MEC for Transport, Siboniso Duma, seeking to prevent him from making “defamatory” statements about the company.

Duma had stated at a media conference that ALS Paramedics “bulldozes” its way at accident scenes and only treats patients with medical cover.

Judge Piet Bezuidenhout declined to grant interim relief. Instead, he directed the MEC to file further papers explaining why a final interdict should not be issued when the matter returns to court in May.

However, considering what was said by the MEC, the judge said the issue of defamation remained an issue.

In his affidavit, ALS director Garrith Jamieson said the company operated in accordance with the Constitution and provided care to anyone who required assistance “regardless of whether they had financial means”.

He said that on 29 January, emergency WhatsApp groups reported an accident involving a truck and a taxi near Isipingo with multiple fatalities and critically injured passengers, and called for general assistance.

ALS, three other private ambulance services, the fire department, metro police and road traffic authorities responded.

Jamieson said ALS paramedics stabilised two victims, and took them to state hospital Inkosi Albert Luthuli. Neither patient had medical aid. Other patients were treated by the other private ambulance operators.

Jamieson said MEC Duma arrived about two and half hours later, shook his hand and wished him compliments of the season.

Jamieson said he was briefly misinformed by another paramedic organisation that a patient had died at hospital, raising the reported death toll to 12. He relayed this to Dube, but then rectified it almost immediately.

At a subsequent press conference, Duma told the media that ALS “bulldozed its way on to the scene” and his exact words were: “If you don’t have medical aid they are not going to assist you, if it means you are dying, if it means they could still save you”.

In an interview with SABC, he accused ALS of “bullying” and inflating numbers of deaths and injuries. He said issues around treating patients without medical aid needed to be managed in “a manner that is befitting of human life”. He said Road Traffic Information (RTI) and SAPS had complained about ALS, and that he was intent on reporting ALS to the health MEC.

Jamieson said the statements were “entirely defamatory” and that “nothing could be further from the truth”.

He said Dube had exceeded his mandate as transport and human settlements minister by commenting on issues falling under the health portfolio.

“His status as an executive official does not shield him. Rather it aggravates the wrongfulness of the defamation by transforming a potentially private dispute into an institutional abuse of power.”

Jamieson said provincial ambulance services often arrived after private ambulances, if at all. “This results in us having to take control and manage the scene. We have always had a good working relationship with RTI, SAPS and Metro.”

Jamieson said their lawyers had sent a letter to the MEC asking that he retract and apologise for his statements, but received no response. Instead, the MEC’s spokesperson publicly described the letter as “laughable”.

Lawyers for the MEC opposed the interdict, arguing he had not misled the public and that his comments were true and in the public interest. They also contended that ALS had an alternative legal remedy and could sue the MEC.

​​In refusing interim relief, Judge Bezuidenhout said there was no evidence that Duma had made further comments after 29 January or intended to do so.

However, he ordered the MEC to file further papers to show cause why a final interdict should not be granted restraining him from making similar comments about ALS, and why he should not pay costs on a punitive scale.

In a statement, MEC Duma claimed victory, saying he would not “shy away from confronting the wrongs” and welcomed the opportunity to supplement his papers.

ALS attorney Wesley Rogers said the MEC had wanted the case dismissed but had failed, “the court finding there was defamation on the face of the allegations”.

Rogers added that taxpayers were funding the MEC’s costs. “We would have hoped he would have demonstrated some accountability instead of doubling down.”

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