The DA has dismissed accusations that the cholera outbreak is a Tshwane issue, saying its spread to other provinces was a result of “years and years of neglect” by the national government.
Hammanskraal, north of Pretoria, was thrust into the spotlight at the weekend when the Gauteng department of health confirmed the deaths of 12 people from the bacterial disease. The figure rose to 15 on Monday as scores more were admitted to hospital with diarrhoea, stomach cramps and vomiting.
The department of water & sanitation has since confirmed an investigation into what caused the deadly water contamination while Tshwane said sample tests taken from multiple sites in Hammanskraal and Temba detected no cholera in the piped water supply.
It said the source will be confirmed only when it receives test results from the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD).
The ANC was the among the first to enter the fray, saying it was “alarmed” and “saddened” by the outbreak. The ruling party said it was outraged not only because cholera is a preventable disease, but because the DA-led city of Tshwane “continues to trample on the dignity of the people of Hammanskraal and to shamelessly violate their human rights in the most heartless and inhumane manner”.
Party spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri said the tragedy unfolding in Hammanskraal was a direct outcome of a municipality that has been sleeping on the job and failed dismally to provide clean and safe drinking water.
The Tshwane EFF meanwhile demanded full accountability from the DA-led administration over the “negligence act of incompetence” that led to the outbreak.
“We also urge the local government to take immediate action to contain the outbreak and provide necessary medical assistance to those affected. The failure of the DA-led coalition government to provide adequate services to township areas and informal settlements is a clear neglect of the majority of the population.”
The African Christian Democratic Party said the government must take “full responsibility for failing South Africans and creating one crisis after another”.
The party cited a failure to deal with the power crisis and now water issues affecting not just Hammanskraal, but other towns and suburbs around the country.
The party blasted the government's call to residents to remain calm amid the outbreak as “extremely insensitive” to Hammanskraal residents who've been plagued by this issue for decades.
“All politicians who have controlled Tshwane should stop blaming one another and accept their failures to prevent the ongoing water crisis,” it said.
The DA said the past 24 hours have indicated that the outbreak is not exclusively affecting Tshwane but is a possible national issue.
“Incidences of cholera have also been reported in the Free State and Limpopo, confirming that the outbreak in Tshwane is not the result of a lapse of service delivery from a municipality that has been in government for two months.
“It is the result of years and years of national government neglect and previous local government regimes which bankrupted metros to the point of almost having to be placed under administration.
“Fikile Mbalula and the ANC are deliberately trying to mislead the public with propaganda on how this crisis is directly linked to the DA-led multiparty coalition in Tshwane, carefully ignoring the history of their own neglect,” said shadow minister of water and sanitation Leon Basson of the DA.
The party called on the national government and the ANC Gauteng “to stop cheap politicking and rather urgently devise a plan for a complete overhaul of the country’s water infrastructure, to prevent future outbreaks”.
Limpopo health told TimesLIVE Premium it had not reported any cases but confirmed one person who works and lives in the province contracted cholera during a visit to the police training college in Hammanskraal for a workshop. He was admitted, treated and discharged from a hospital in Gauteng and is therefore counted as one of that province's cases.
“We have screened and tested everyone close to him at home and work, and we found no trace,” department spokesperson Neil Shikwambana said.
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