Johannesburg - Joburg was one of the safest places in the country to be on New Year’s Eve.
This is according to City of Johannesburg Emergency Management Services spokesman Robert Mulaudzi, who said Hillbrow and the inner city had been largely quiet.
More than 100 people reported being assaulted and EMS received at least 150 emergency phone calls during the celebrations.
However, Mulaudzi said: “We had no deaths or major incidents, nor did we have people throwing fridges and other appliances out of windows.”
In Hillbrow, seven cases of assault were reported and a man jumped from the 12th floor of a building.
“He’s alive. We’re not sure why he jumped.”
At least two people were seriously injured by fireworks.
Mulaudzi said metro police had cracked down on firework sellers in the week before New Year’s Eve and had fined those selling them illegally R1 500 in terms of the Explosives Act.
“In Soweto, we had an incident in Meadowlands when a woman in her forties was injured when a firework exploded in her face while she was trying to ignite it.”
A Soweto man was injured when a firework exploded in his hand.
The Star