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Articles: 'Have fun but not too much...'

Posted by admin on Friday, December 29, 2006 - 07:57 PM

29/12/2006 14:10 - (SA)

Johannesburg - Enjoy ushering in 2007 but don't break the law while you do it, police warned Gauteng residents ahead of the New Year.

"We have adopted a no-nonsense attitude, we are not here to spoil anyone's fun as long as they do it within the confines of the law and without infringing on the rights of others," said provincial police spokesperson Director Govindsamy Mariemuthoo. Hillbrow, notorious for its excessive joviality as the New Year approaches, will once again host a make-shift casualty station at the Hillbrow Police Station. Every year emergency workers, volunteer doctors and nurses and the police run the station described by one doctor as "the closest one can come to a war situation". But emergency services spokesperson Malcolm Midgley said the situation in Hillbrow seemed to improve with each New Year that passed. "It has calmed down quite considerably over the last couple of years. I think it is because of increased policing in the area," he said. Paramedics use armoured vehicles called Nyalas, after an African animal similar to a kudu, and Mfezis, the Zulu word for spitting cobras, to access the streets of Hillbrow, collect patients and treat those injured amidst the festivities. Additional emergency vehicles "Minor injuries are treated by the nurses and doctors at the casualty station while the more seriously injured are taken to nearby hospitals," said Midgley. "One incident that was different from all the assaults, stabbings and broken bottles was we delivered a baby in all that chaos. We sent the armoured vehicle out after getting the call, picked the woman up and the baby was delivered at the casualty station." Midgley said additional emergency vehicles would also be deployed to Newtown where the annual New Year's concert would be held at the Mary Fitzgerald Square. Police across the country said increased police visibility and roadblocks will be in place to ensure safety on December 31 and on January 1. "We will be out in full force to maintain law and order," said Gauteng's Director Mariemuthoo. Acting head of disaster risk management for the city of Cape Town, Wilfred Solomons, said that instead of spending the New Year with family and friends emergency workers and law enforcement personnel would be facing "dangerous conditions". Limpopo provincial police spokesperson Superintendent Ronel Otto said: "Extra manpower will be deployed, more vehicles, the air wing will be out as well as the water wing patrolling the dams in the province." Mpumalanga spokesperson Superintendent Izak Van Zyl said there would be road blocks along the N4 and the N12, with police patrolling in high performance vehicles along all main routes, and increased visibility in the towns.

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