Johannesburg - The Helen Joseph Hospital nurse who was assaulted and raped last week is disappointed that her rapist is still at large.
On Monday morning, Bongiwe Mnguni gave her permission to be identified by The Star.
She said she wanted to take a stand about security concerns for all hospital staff in the country.
Mnguni, the phlebotomist who worked in the National Health Laboratory Services section of the hospital, was beaten, electrocuted and raped on August 29 by a man wearing pantyhose over his head.
The brutal attack on the fourth floor of the hospital lasted about an hour.
Mnguni said she thought the police would have made a breakthrough because they had lots of evidence to work with, including some of the man’s clothes and a bottle which he held with both hands.
“I don’t think there is a way they couldn’t find him, even the condom he left there, they’ve got it.”
Mnguni went for a check-up at Milpark Hospital on Monday morning and said she was feeling physically better.
“The swelling from my face is getting much better and the eyes can see again,” she said.
Although she does not know who attacked her, she believes he must be a hospital employee because he seemed to know his way around.
A man whose wife is a doctor at the hospital agreed.
He said his wife arrived at the hospital the morning after the attack.
“The first comment from security was that it was (a colleague). There was someone with inside knowledge, it’s almost too unlikely that it could have been an outside person (who) would have come from downstairs.”
Four days after the attack, doctors told The Star that management had been slow to inform them of what happened.
“It almost makes sense then that the hospital was reluctant to give a response. It might create panic because it might mean the person is back at work,” the doctor’s husband said.
Another doctor said security at the hospital had been improved over the past week.
Gauteng Department of Health spokesman Prince Hamnca said he could not comment on the allegations that it could have been an inside job because the matter was under police investigation.
Police would also not comment on the allegations “because we have not arrested anyone yet”, spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Lungelo Dlamini said this morning.
The Star