Publications
Partners
Industry gas supplier Afrox said on Wednesday that emergency plans are in place to deliver critical oxygen to hospitals around the country as widescale looting, blockades of major routes and attacks on emergency services are leading to shortages of integral supplies.
"Afrox is currently engaged in emergency planning to ensure deliveries can be safely undertaken and to find alternate routes to customers and hospitals as part of a flexible response to spontaneous civil unrest breaking out," it told Fin24.
It said that while deliveries were affected in parts of Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, and police were escorting some of its delivery trucks, it would "only operate and deliver where and when our assets and employees are safe".
The Witness reported that vehicles were being barred from delivering much-needed oxygen intended for use by patients battling Covid-19 and other ailments, while an ambulance was burnt in Howick and another was attacked with rocks in Marriannhill in KwaZulu-Natal.
"Afrox welcomes the president’s deployment of the SANDF in support of police actions to stem looting and arson attacks on road transport vehicles which are carrying vital medical and food supplies across South Africa."
Scenes of pandemonium continued throughout the country after unrest, initially driven by supporters of former president Jacob Zuma, brought cities to a standstill. Zuma was arrested just before midnight on Wednesday following a Constitutional Court order finding him guilty of contempt of court and sentencing him to 15 months behind bars.
The chaos has since let to general lawlessness and destruction of property. Rioting has since led to the temporary closure of the N3 - which connects Johannesburg to Durban - owing to the torching of trucks by looters, combined by attacks on warehouses.
Additional reporting by Sibongile Khumalo.
