Out of the three groups of people that handle emergencies threatening life in South Africa; police, soldiers and emergency services personnel (fire fighters, paramedics, disaster management personnel, towing services personnel, hazardous material personnel, chaplains), emergency services personnel do not have their own ministries.

Emergency services personnel are fragmented under different ministries such as Cogta, DTI, Health, and Environmental and fisheries making it difficult to achieve its mission which is to safe life, protect property and the environment.

Subsequent to these arrangement there is corruption, nepotism, cronyism, exploitation, racism, tribalism, imperialism, mediocrity, harassment of personnel, monopolization of the career and poor service delivery.

This arrangement compromise safety of emergency services personnel and the public members during emergencies.

The main attribute to the problem is due to non visionary leadership, political appointments, poor strategies, shortage of resources, shortage of fire departments and lack of strategic programs.

There is no dispute that there are three categories of emergencies; those threatening the sovereignty of the country; those threatening peace and stability and those threating life as a results of accidents. 

There is a need for Ministry of emergency management services in the country to solve the above challenges!