About 163 patients went to Jubilee hospital, in Themba Hammanskraal, with diarrhoea and vomiting, amounting to 23 patients per day. The number of lives claimed by cholera was 17 in seven days, according to the Minister of Health, Dr Joe Phaahla.
The Water Research Commission was tasked to conduct water samples in Hammanskraal. Results are expected in 2 weeks, according to Minister of Water Affairs and Sanitation, Senzo Mchunu. He was speaking to journalists at a media briefing about the status of the cholera outbreak in Hammanskraal and the quality of water in that area.
Another measure to address the decade long water crisis, is to appoint the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) as an implementation partner, to complete the Rooiwal Waste Water Treatment Works (RWWTW). The RWWTW is situated north of Pretoria in the City of Tshwane (CoT), west of Pyramid on the Apies River. It receives wastewater from Atteridgeville, the Pretoria central business district, Pretoria North, Soshanguve South and the Rosslyn area.
Back in March 2022, Group Head of Water and Sanitation for the Tshwane Municipality, Stephens Notoane, briefed a Parliamentary proceeding, that the Rooiwal WWTW was currently overloaded, and thus could not produce good quality effluent. This had been caused by deviation from the master plan due to budgetary constraints. That master plan had identified the expansion of the RWWTW as an urgent intervention, as far back as 2004.
Maintenance lagged due to the unavailability of money, leading to long lead times during breakdowns, he said.
Serious technical faults negatively affected the Apies River and the Leeuwkraal Dam. The hydraulic and organic overloads of the RWWTW, led to a continuous discharge of partially treated effluent.
The Municipality at the time, described the steps it was taking to resolve the situation.
The Temba Water Treatment Works (WTW) abstracts water from the Leeuwkraal Dam for purification and supply to the Hammanskraal area. Water produced at the Temba Water Treatment Plant (WTP) was described by Notoane as being of “poor quality and not potable due to the poor raw water quality from the Leeuwkraal Dam.”
Initially tests of the tankers conducted by the Tshwane Municipality came back negative for cholera last week. A few sites tested by WaterCAN ( community action network), were free from cholera.
WaterCAN used an independent laboratory, Aquatico Laboratories, to take, analyse and evaluate four random water samples. A statement from the organization yesterday (01 June 2023), said four samples were taken from two taps, one at the Hammanskraal community centre and another at a communal tap in ward 74, as well as a sample from a water tanker and a water tanker filling point.
“However, the tanker filling point had high levels of total coliform concentration and three sites (the tanker filling point, the Hammanskraal community centre and Hammanskraal ward 74) recorded bacterial counts above drinking water quality standards (SANS241:2015).”
On Tuesday, the Minister of Health Joe Phaahla said the current outbreak of the cholera in South Africa can be traced to the first two cases reported by Gauteng Province on 5 February 2023. “This is the case of two sisters from Diepsloot in Johannesburg who had travelled together by bus to Malawi in January and returned on 30 January 2023.”
He also said a husband of one of the women also subsequently tested positive for cholera after developing symptoms.” Subsequently, eight more cases were confirmed, six more in Johannesburg mainly in Diepsloot and two cases in Ekurhuleni. The one case in Ekurhuleni, a child unfortunately died from the disease” he said.