Checking up on love partners, buying alcohol and stealing sheep are some of the activities emergency health workers in Mpumalanga get up to in ambulances while the public desperately waits for them.

This was revealed by the irate Mpumalanga MEC for health, Gillion Mashego, who warned that he would fire those emergency personnel who abuse ambulances.

"One time I sent people to look for an ambulance that was reported parked next to a road. Indeed the driver was found to have been tired - from alcohol.

"These vehicles are not for checking your girlfriends or for buying a bottle of whisky," he said.

"The worst is what happened in Gert Sibande in December when an ambulance was spotted with sheep stolen from a farm. So now the cars do not work for people, we steal from them," he fumed.

Mashego was addressing more than 100 paramedics during the official launch of 32 new ambulances, 18 mobile clinics and 12 multipurpose vehicles in Mbombela on Wednesday.

The days of using ambulances to get up to no good were over, and heads would roll, he warned.

Mashego said ambulances had to be used to respond on time to emergency calls made by the public. "If we find out that a driver is drunk or in a tavern, I must fire people. I am going to fire you, advertise the post on Monday, and while we fight you in court I will be rendering services to the people," he said.

Emergency Medical Services director Dr Clive Sibande told Sowetan the province's response time had improved since three call centres had been opened.

"We have three call centres now, one in Ehlanzeni, one in Gert Sibande and one in Nkangala. This is meant to speed up the response to patients," said Sibande.

"On the issue of officials at the call centres being rude or not giving help, we record our calls - people can complain and we will retrieve the recording and know what happened, and as we speak we have disciplined some officials at the call centres," he said.