South African media say provincial authorities are investigating the
deaths of seven job-seekers who collapsed in the heat while undergoing a
fitness test for positions as traffic officers.
The chief transport official for KwaZulu-Natal province, Willies Mchunu, has suspended further test in the meantime.
The
state-owned South African Broadcasting Corporation reported that
several tens of thousands of people took the fitness test late last
week, even though only 90 jobs were available. They were required to run
four kilometers (2.5 miles) in temperatures of more than 30 degrees
Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit), and many collapsed from dehydration and
heat exhaustion. Some received hospital treatment.
South Africa's
official statistics show that the unemployment rate is 25 percent, an
indication why so many were applying for the 90 jobs.
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