Dentist Thuthukile Mdletshe is going around sourcing quotations to buy new equipment after her practice in Durban was looted and set alight amid the violent protests against the incarceration of former president Jacob Zuma.
Mdletshe, 37, of Pinetown, west of Durban, who is a professional dental therapist and owner of Udokotela Wamazinyo Dental Surgery in Mariannhill, outside Pinetown, said she is going to need equipment worth R280,000 to revive her practice and provide medical assistance again after it was broken into on the evening of July 11.
Mdletshe said it will take her a year to open a new practice because she still needs to buy new equipment and the owner of the building she operated from has to revamp it since it is in a bad condition. “I am still worried and traumatised about what happened,” said Mdletshe.
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“There was nothing left for me to clean up. Everything was destroyed. Everything was either stolen or destroyed. On Sunday evening I got a call from the security company that more than 100 looters broke in. Later at 3am on Monday morning, I got a call from them again that my place was on fire. I even got pictures and videos of the damage.
“From Monday to Wednesday I was stressed and sick. I couldn’t do anything. I didn’t go and view the damage because there was a lot of commotion around the building where my practice is located. There were looters coming in and out of the building where my practice is,” said Mdletshe.
Mdletshe said she lost a dental chair, X-ray, autoclave, basin, built-in cupboards, filing cabinet, front desks, fridge, microwave, kettles, forceps, dental instruments and an intraoral camera, among other things.
The married mother of three said when she went to her surgery on Thursday, July 15, she finally made peace with what had happened. “When I saw it with my own eyes, I made peace. I told myself that God is alive. He will see me through. I told myself to be strong and trust in God.”
Mdletshe, who started her practice in 2009, obtained a Bachelor of dental surgery from the University of KZN in 2004. She started working as a dentist in 2005 at the King George Dental Clinic in Durban. She worked there until 2009.
She said in her last year working at the clinic, she took a one-month leave to set-up her own practice.
“I was young and passionate, working in a clinic, and believed I should empower myself. I got a bank loan of R60,000 and took R20,000 from my savings so that I can buy my equipment, find a building to rent and get people to help me set-up my practice. I got a place in Pinetown and signed a lease.”
Mdletshe's practice had a waiting room, dental office, operating room, toilet and kitchen. Her rent was R8,330 a month. She had three employees – a dental assistant, therapist and cleaner.
Mdletshe said she is wiling to start her practice again. “I won’t let this get me down. I am going around getting quotations from people who are selling equipment,” she said.
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