Minister condemns abuse directed at female doctor at Krugersdorp hospital

The behaviour of the men who threatened a female doctor from Leratong Hospital in Krugersdorp, telling her to "shut up" and threatened her with death, has been strongly condemned by Minister for the Public Service and Administration, Ayanda Dlodlo.

In a statement on Saturday, Dlodlo said she was deeply disturbed by the abuse and threats of physical violence that were directed at a public servant, working as a medical doctor, as seen in a video recently posted on social media.

In the video a public servant, later identified as Dr Masego Sethlodi, was told to shut up because she was a woman.

According to the doctor, the incident happened on Wednesday evening after a family brought a young child in for treatment, who had been involved in a car accident. 

The man was eventually given a refusal of health (RHT) form and left the hospital with the child.

Following the incident, Sethlodi said she feared for her life and felt unprotected at the hospital.

"Every figure that I saw who passed me where I was stationed, I had to look to see if it was him or not. I was quite scared that he or his family member would come back and finish me off like they had been saying in the video.

"I am still quite emotional about it and filled with so much anger that in this day and age [there] are so many killings around females and females are not being treated in a manner that they should."

Read: 'Shut up, I don't speak to women' - female doctor threatened at Krugersdorp hospital

Dlodlo said while she understood and sympathised with the frustration that came with having a loved one in hospital, but nothing could justify the harassment, threats of violence and the abuse meted out to Sethlodi.

"The grotesque nature of these threats is extremely concerning, especially during Women’s Month.

"This is the type of abuse that women have to contend with on a daily basis and we must condemn it collectively as a nation. The perpetrators that made those heinous threats should face the full might of the law," she said.

"We strongly urge our communities to reject all violence, especially Gender Based Violence. We wish to see mutual respect between public servants and the communities they serve," said Dlodlo.