First it was ambulance crews and now it is social workers who are refusing to go into high-risk areas of the city.
Who will it be next?
Already, retail stores are hiring armed guards to escort their delivery vehicles into what have been classified as red zones in Nelson Mandela Bay, and telecommunications workers, plumbers and electrical contractors are all loath to enter these areas because of the crime.
Many of them have been robbed or hijacked while trying to do their jobs.
So it is not just the essential services that are affected.
The effect of the lawlessness in certain areas of the Bay, such as New Brighton, Kwazakhele and Helenvale, is snowballing — and it is the most vulnerable who will suffer.
Expecting the police to provide an escort service for these at-risk services is a pipe dream.
They simply do not have the manpower and vehicles to escort every ambulance or social worker into these no-go zones.
Sadly, the refusal by social development officials and social workers to enter the high-crime areas could lead to the cancellation of Sassa grants, justice in child abuse cases being compromised, and loss of state funding for food garden projects and unemployment initiatives.
A Helenvale community leader said some people’s grants had already been stopped.
“They [social workers] do not do house visits or assessments here, specifically for foster care children, as it is just too dangerous,” he said.
“This has led to some of the grants being cancelled.
“When social workers are unable to do assessments and reports for the courts, the grant is immediately stopped.”
The resident said the social workers were just too scared to come into the area.
“You cannot blame them. They want to come but it is not safe — especially at the moment. Crime is out of control,” he said.
While some of the residents have apparently threatened to take the law into their own hands, this is not the answer.
However, for whole communities to be robbed of the right to life-saving care and other vital services through the actions of criminals is a disgrace.
But getting angry — and then refusing to out the criminals responsible for the attacks on the people trying to provide a service to the community — is futile.
The affected communities need to stand up as one and turn these thugs in to the police.