Johannesburg - A Joburg woman has challenged MTN to create an emergency phone line solely for victims of abuse after watching as a woman was pushed out of a car down an embankment on the N12 near Boksburg early on Saturday.
As #SecondChances founder Pam Green reversed to help the woman, Barbra*, she called 112 and 10111. Calling 112 got her through to the MTN emergency call centre but she was put on hold and transferred several times to various operators.
After being transferred a third time, she shouted at the operator, who hung up. Then she called 10111, and was under the impression the Flying Squad had been dispatched.
Green recalled: “Initially, I thought it may be one of those set-ups where criminals hijack you, so I opened the window a little, but she kept signalling for me to open the door. She kept screaming Let me in' or 'Go go go, he’s coming back’. She was petrified. She told me her husband had done it.
“Hundreds of cars just drove past, no one got out to help us. Then a security vehicle pulled up and this angel, Lundi Mhalana, got out to help.”
Mhalana got Barbra into Green’s car. With him escorting them, Barbra started losing consciousness.
That was when Green called 10111 a second time, only to find that her first call hadn't been recorded.
She was finally put through to a captain, who made sure the police, ambulances and the fire department were waiting for them at an off-ramp.
Barbra was rushed to hospital, but Green doesn't know if she's okay.
“No one is able to tell us how she is,” she said.
* READ PAM GREEN'S FULL ACCOUNT OF THE INCIDENT BELOW
MTN chief executive Mteto Nyati has apologised for what happened saying he had initiated an investigation into the incident. “Based on our findings, we will take the necessary disciplinary action. The agent involved will be suspended immediately.”
But Green said this wasn’t enough.
She appealed to Nyati “to properly train call centre agents to deal with emergency calls from abuse victims”.
“Let this be the story that changed the face of abuse support,” she said.
Gauteng police spokesperson Captain Kay Makhubele said the police were investigating.
*Not her real name