ELECTION 2026 | ‘No network, no voting’: Campbell residents struggle to call ambulances

Health-e News ELECTION 2026 | ‘No network, no voting’: Campbell residents struggle to call ambulances When Forget Ndou’s sister went into labour in March this year, she had to run about a kilometre from her home at 2am to find a cellphone signal so she could call an ambulance.

The 36-year-old Brenda Muleba was experiencing labour pains, but Ndou says she could not make the call from home because of poor network coverage.

“There is a spot near the railway line about a kilometre from my home where the network is sometimes accessible.

To save the situation, I had to brave the night to the spot.

I was really scared,” she says.

Ndou tried calling for about an hour before finally getting through at around 3am.

She says the ambulance arrived about an hour later at 4am.

“This was really a nasty experience.

How was I going to handle the situation if my sister gave birth at home?” she asks.

Emergency calls affected When Health-e News visited Campbell on 15 October, residents were carrying placards outside the Musina Municipality satellite office reading “No network, no voting”.

Some Campbell residents are threatening not to vote in the upcoming November local elections unless the area’s cell phone network problem is addressed.

In January, another Campbell resident, Nomsa Mamathumntsha also struggled to call an ambulance after finding a 30-year-old man who had been stabbed in the street.

Mamathumntsha says she rushed outside after hearing someone screaming at around 9pm.

She says the injured man was struggling to sit up and could not walk.