WeeklySA_AdminNEGLECT: Cholera outbreak death toll rises as more fatalities recorded…
By Lehlohonolo Lehana
The Department of Health has confirmed that two more people have died from the cholera outbreak as the country grapples with the acute diarrhoeal disease, bringing the total number of deaths to 24.
Department of Health national spokersperson Foster Mohale said the latest two people who succumbed to the waterborne disease are from Gauteng.
Hammanskraal – north of Pretoria has been the hardest-hit area countrywide since cholera was declared an official outbreak last weekend.
A total of 44 laboratory-confirmed cases of cholera have been seen at Jubilee District Hospital, the Gauteng health department said in an update on the outbreak in the Hammanskraal area. By 6pm on Thursday, 203 patients had been seen at the hospital, including 22 patients who have been transferred to other health facilities in Tshwane.
There are 74 patients admitted for treatment due to gastrointestinal infection. Health authorities are yet to confirm the exact source of the cholera outbreak, but poor waste water management and local government instability in South Africa’s capital city have been blamed for the situation.
The City of Tshwane Municipality, which takes in Pretoria and surrounding areas, has had at least five different mayors since the ruling African National Congress party lost control in local government elections in 2016. Cholera can cause acute diarrhoea, vomiting and weakness and is mainly spread by contaminated food or water. It can kill within hours if untreated.
South Africa recorded its first two cholera cases in February on the back of outbreaks in nearby Mozambique and Malawi, the two most severely affected countries in 2023, according to the United Nations.
Zimbabwean health authorities have confirmed nine recent deaths with another 28 suspected cholera deaths since February. The Ministry of Health said it had recorded 1,404 suspected cholera cases and 359 laboratory-confirmed cases.
Malawi reported earlier this year that more than 1,000 people had died in a widespread outbreak that started in March 2022. It is Malawi’s worst cholera outbreak in 20 years, WHO said, with more than 36,000 cases. Cholera is a water-borne disease caused by ingesting contaminated food or water. The infection is extremely virulent, although it can be easily treated once identified.
The NGO Gift of the Givers has distributed more than 3,200 sealed 5-litre water bottles to the Hammanskraal community’s local Jubilee Hospital and surrounding clinics where patients are being treated.
HAMMANSKRAAL: SIU SNIFFS AT CHOLERA OUTBREAK GRAFT TRAIL
PROCLAMATION: Corruption-busting unit awaits go-ahead to probe the Tshwane’s Rooivaal water plantation tender, the suspected source of cholera outbreak that has claimed lives…
By Robert Tlapu
“There is something to investigate”.
These are the words of Special Investigations Unit (SIU) spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago, hinting a possible probe into the City of Tshwane’s controversial R295-million Rooivaal Waste Water Treatment plant tender awarded to a company to provide clean water to residents of Hammanskraal, north of Tshwane, which has become a flashpoint of cholera outbreak which has claimed at least 24 lives.
According to Kganyago, the SIU has conducted preliminary investigations into the alledged irregularities on the tender awarding process by the City of Tshwane, finding there was a possible case to be probed into the whole saga.
“We are not investigating as yet, as we are awaiting the signing of a proclamation by the President. We have not yet sent it to him for his signature, but we will do so by the end of next month,” said Kganyago, who would not divulge the name of the company to the subject of the impending investigation.
According Hannes Coetzee ActionSA MMC for Economic Development and Spatial Planning in City of Tshwane, a Human Rights report was compiled last year following human rights hearings held in Hammanskraal in April 2021. A final report was completed in August 2021.
“We are waiting for the President to sign a directive for further investigations and if found irregular, consequence will be taken,” Coetzee said.
SIU’s Kganyago confirmed receipt of the report last year, adding that investigations could not however be conducted as there were delays caused by internal leadership changes with staff moving from one department to the other at the time.
City of Tshwane spokesperson Selby Bokaba said: “The basis of the DC that is underway against certain officials and the criminal investigation into the tender award was as a result of the forensic investigation that was commissioned by City of Tshwane last year”.
According to reports, a contractor appointed to upgrade the Rooivaal waste water treatment plant abandoned the project, culminating in dirty water supply to Hammanskraal and surrounding areas.
The effects of dirty water supply to these areas sparked a cholera outbreak in Hammanskraal, resultinh in 24 reported deaths by late today. By Friday morning, 74 patients were admitted with gastrointestinal infections, while a total of more than 170 people had been treated for diarrhoea at Jubilee Hospital since the outbreak.
Although the City of Tshwane has denied that there were signs of water contamination in the supplied water to residents of Hammanskraal, it said more samples were to be taken for tests to determine the source of the outbreak.
The city has advised residents to use the water for other purposes other than drinking. Pertunia Matjila, a tenant in Hammanskraal for two years now, told WSAM the current water crisis in the area had posed a financial burden to residents, apart from the health risks.
“It costs us a lot. The government is failing us, imagine we have families who cannot afford to buy water. How are they supposed to survive? It’s a huge challenge, which need to be taken into consideration, now people are dying because of this water crisis”.
