For Prince Zwide Masuku of Katlehong, South Africa, the call of duty never ends – even after his shifts.
The 32-year-old is a firefighter and paramedic for the City of Johannesburg EMS. He’s also a hero to a family of three, which is still here today thanks to his bravery!
Masuku had just finished up a night shift on November 1 when he saw a car swerving on the road on his drive home. It had been raining heavily that weekend, so the streets were flooded. The other driver lost control of their vehicle after hitting a puddle and careened into a flooded area just off the road.
Onlookers stood by, watching and even recording as the car sank into the water, but none of them moved to help. Masuku, on the other hand, didn’t hesitate to leap in!
One by one, he pulled out a little girl, her brother, and finally their mother. At that point, others had joined Masuku to help the family to dry land, and someone called emergency medical services.
The little boy needed to be bandaged, as Masuku believed he’d hit his head during the crash. The mother was experiencing some neck pain too, but all three of them are OK now because of him!
The way Masuku sees it, he was simply doing his job.
“I’m a firefighter by profession, so the instinct to save the people [just kicked in]. I didn’t think, to be honest. I just wanted to get them out,” he said. “We took an oath, be it off duty or on duty, we took an oath to help the community, so this was one of the off-duty things that I did. I was not going to pass by whether I was off duty or not.”
As a member of the drill squad for the City of Johannesburg, Masuku was honored with his own salute!
That said, he’s just happy to have been in the right place at the right time. He also hopes his actions will encourage others to step in during people’s time of need instead of standing by.
@CityofJoburgEMS @CoJPublicSafety Drill Squad salute Firefighter @PrinceZwideMasuku for going beyond the call of duty,on Sunday driving home from night shift he rescued a family of three in distress during severe thunderstorms which hit Gauteng last weekend @CityofJoburgZA pic.twitter.com/3WG8pjdIvJ
– Cojems Spokesperson (@RobertMulaudzi) November 6, 2020
The world needs more heroes like him! Thank you, Masuku, for going above and beyond to keep your neighbors safe!
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