In Gauteng, South Africa’s most populous province, deaths from cholera have risen to 15, leading many residents to blame the government for a lack of clean drinking water.
The cholera outbreak was declared in Hammanskraal, an area north of Pretoria, where almost 100 people have sought medical attention, with 37 being admitted to hospitals.
The city government has warned residents not to consume tap water.
Nationwide, there are 41 confirmed cases, with the majority (34) in Gauteng province, a health department spokesperson said.
Residents in Hammanskraal have long complained about the poor quality of tap water, which appears brown and dirty.
“We are drinking that water, but they don’t want to clean that water, or to put another pipe to give us the all-right water,” said 36-year-old Sello Samuel Lekoto, a resident of Hammanskraal who is being treated at Jubilee Hospital for cholera.
The municipality acknowledges that the supplied water is not potable but provides clean drinking water through tankers to informal settlements periodically.
“The issue of water in Tshwane has been a problem for a number of years,” South Africa’s Deputy Minister of Water and Sanitation David Mahlobo said in a briefing.
South Africa’s first cholera cases in 2023 were reported in February, likely linked to outbreaks in neighboring Mozambique and Malawi.
Source-Aljazeera
