Campus Control deny slow response in death at Wits
A 26 year old man collapsed and died on campus two weeks ago.
The young man was part of a group who were visiting the Wits main campus on a Saturday morning apparently to participate in training for Parkour. During a break, the man collapsed between the John Moffat building and the student club BAQT.
The young man, whose name has not been released, complained that he felt light headed before he collapsed, according to witnesses.
Emergency personnel respond to the collapse of a young man on Wits Main campus. Photo: Thikolwi Segudu
The president of BAQT Thikolwi Segudu called Campus Control to the scene.
Campus Control dispute response time
Segudu said “Campus Control took 45 minutes to respond and they were more concerned with my student number, than anything else.”
Michael Mahada, head of special investigations at Campus Control has disputed these claims, saying that they are “untrue”.
“Campus Control reported to the scene, the minute they were notified of the incident”, said Mahada
According to Mahada, Campus Control arrived on the scene and called an ambulance “which arrived within ten minutes” but by then the young man had already passed on.
Segudu however claims that Campus Control didn’t do anything when they arrived on the scene, prompting him to call for an ER ambulance and Parklane Hospital itself.
When a student dies on campus, Campus Control is to required assess the situation and then contact the relevant parties. In this case, Campus Control contacted the “emergency services, SAPS and the deceased’s family”, said Mahada.
The university has been in contact with the family of the deceased over the weekend, according to Segudu. The cause of death was given as “natural causes,” believed to be a blood clot that went to his lung.
