Johannesburg - Hammanskraal residents besieged by the outbreak of cholera have rubbished efforts by the municipality and government departments to curb the spread of the disease as nothing more than lip service for an “old ticking time bomb”.
Fears about who will be next are all that the community of Hammanskraal is worried about following reports of the outbreak of cholera in the area, which led to the deaths of 15 people reported at Jubilee District Hospital this week.
Residents remain sceptical despite assurances from the City of Tshwane, the national and provincial governments that a formal investigation would be opened to see if there was any foul play or negligence, as well as the establishment of a command centre to stop the outbreak.
Tumelo Koitheng, chairperson of the Hammanskraal Residents’ Forum, said that the area was tense, with many residents being more concerned about who would perish next.
“We can’t really say this whole thing caught us by surprise because, as residents, we have been telling them, especially after repeated test results showed there was nitrate present in the water supply.
“As far back as 2015, we told them that this type of thing would happen as not everyone can buy water; and, to make matters worse, the trucks are not consistent and go for as long as three weeks to a month without delivering water, leading people to use whatever water that they can get hold of.”
Koitheng said that the forum, which had gone back and forth with the municipality regarding the water woes for some time, had previously forewarned that a catastrophe was imminent but that nothing had been done.
“For us, when they tell us about investigations, we all ask ourselves, what are you investigating because we’ve known for a long time that the problem is the water quality. Leave investigations and fix the water.
“The only thing we can do now is to wait and see if the pressure will push them to act this time or if it is simply more lip service. We know how politicians will say anything when they are under pressure.”
Jane Nhlongo said they were dismayed that the latest issue with the water had not been properly communicated to the residents.
Nhlongo said while they appreciated the efforts by the leadership to visit the hospital and implement strategies, they were concerned about how they would keep safe until the situation had eased.
“They say we should boil the water, but there is constant load shedding, and we simply don’t have enough money to buy enough units to boil all the water we use on a daily basis.
“In my household, we are barely making ends meet with the R500 we get from the child (grant), so expecting us to buy more units to boil water or buy bleach is something we can’t do as we have to balance our needs.”
Betty Kobe said they too had experienced stomach cramps earlier in the week and thought nothing of it, as the family was too busy organising a funeral.
“At the very least, they should have sent out our councillors into the affected communities to let us know about the situation because not all of us have access to radio or TV.
“We were saved by relatives from Soshanguve who were able to alert us not to drink the water any more.”
The Star