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Carel Klopper, Magogodi Makhutle, Perry Ment and John Ulrich don't know each other, but have a lot in common. They've all performed remarkable acts of bravery and changed the lives of people they’ve rescued.
Nico Jansen saw the faces of family members and friends flash before his eyes when he was trapped in a burning car near Nelspruit last August. "I had basically given up [on life]." Bystanders, too scared to free him from the flames, flagged down a passing ambulance. Ambulance Assistant Carel Klopper rushed to the vehicle and pulled Jansen to freedom. An instant later, the car exploded. "I could not speak to anyone for the rest of the day,” says Klopper. “It's a funny feeling, you know you have directly interfered
with life." Jansen, who sustained severe burn wounds to his abdomen and legs, says Klopper will always be his hero.
Police Superintendent Kelebone Mashiane believes that she owes her life to a young constable, Magogodi Makhutle, of the Khutsong SAPS near Carltonville.
In October last year, 27 detainees tried to escape from the
police cells at Khutsong by overpowering two guards and grabbing Mashiane's unloaded service pistol. She shouted for help as she struggled against the detainees, whom she believes would have assaulted, raped or even killed her had Makhutle not responded so quickly. Makhutle managed to stop the would-be escapees at the entrance gate. "I'm in the police because I care for our country and the community," she says.
Perry Ment also cared for the community despite having erred in his ways. After serving two years in jail for fraud, Ment continued volunteering at the Melkbosstrand branch of the National Sea Rescue Institute in the Western Cape. In November last year, he received a distress signal while on duty. His colleague, Andrew Chicken, picks up the story: "We proceeded to the rescue site, which was at Hangklip along the east coast towards Hermanus. Upon
reaching the scene, it was in fact very treacherous seas, you know, up to six metres, with an upturned boat, with two people just on the back line of the breaking waves. Perry [Ment] moved outside the chopper and proceeded to
jump into the water to make his way to the first casualty."
Ment swam against the huge waves to help the two drowning men. They were flown by helicopter to the beach where it first became clear that the rescue effort had taken its toll on Ment. He died in hospital later that afternoon after suffering a heart attack. Chicken continues the story: "It's my feeling that upon entering the water and after the initial wave that hit him [Perry Ment] hard, that he might have experienced cramps then ... and even while experiencing all this, he swam against the waves towards the patient to get the patient ready for a lift off." Station Manager Rhine Barnes says Perry Ment died just before he was due to be promoted to coxswain.
John Ulrich also risked his life to save others. This Cape Town traffic officer was on holiday at Gansbaai in the Western Cape last October when his training as a basic ambulance assistant was put to the test. Ulrich was about
to go home when his son talked him into spending another hour at the quay. In the blink of an eyelid, a quad-motorbike with four people flew over the quay wall and crashed into the harbour blocks or dolosse below. Ulrich
instinctively jumped off the wall and saved eleven-year-old Carla Killian, her 18-year-old sister, Alicia, and their mother, Susan, from drowning. But soon he realised that the bike-rider was missing. The undercurrent had sucked
Martin da Silva, a holidaymaker from Gauteng, under the dolosse. By the time Ulrich reached Da Silva, he’d been unconscious for a while. "When I pulled him out, he was as blue as my shirt. He looked dead and I could not find a pulse." Ulrich couldn’t lift Da Silva onto the rocks because he didn’t know the extent of his injuries. So he immediately began to resuscitate him in the water. Da Silva spent the next three weeks in a coma and has fully
recovered from his injuries. His life has changed dramatically and he says it’s because John Ulrich dared to do what no one else would even try that day. "I don't know if I have the guts to do something like that because ... he
could have got suck into those rocks there ... so basically he's made me appreciate life more."
In the rescue attempt, John Ulrich also sustained serious injuries - his false teeth ripped through his upper jaw, his right cheekbone and eyebrow ridge were shattered and he developed a hernia. Even though Ulrich’s long sick-leave and medical bills have severely affected his income, he says seeing a man walk away from death is the greatest reward.
Carel Klopper, Magogodi Makhutle, Perry Ment and John Ulrich are all finalists in the third annual Hero of the Year Award. Their bravery is to be celebrated on Tuesday 11 May, but Fokus viewers can get a sneak preview on Sunday 9 May.
Heroes was produced by Alet Joubert and Paul Nel.
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