Africa-Press – South-Africa. The City of Tshwane disputed allegations that two water tankers, seen in a video parked next to ‘dirty’ water, belonged to the City.
The video, captured by passers-by, showed two trucks parked near the water, with two people standing beside it.
Amid the cholera outbreak, it sparked fears that the tankers were collecting water for distribution in Hammanskraal.
“Hammanskraal would take it. Look at how dirty they are [the water]. And they are taking it [the water],” said one passer-by.
The City of Tshwane’s Selby Bokaba said the tankers in the video did not belong to the City – and it was not delivering water to Hammanskraal.
“The City of Tshwane is aware of a video clip showing a water truck parked next to what appears to be a water pan to draw water to provide the communities in Hammanskraal.
“The City needs to make this clear. That truck does not belong to any of the City’s contracted service providers for water in Hammanskraal. What distinguishes that truck from the City’s one is that the City ones carry 10 000 litres of water, whereas the one in the video was carrying 15 000 litres of water,” said Bokaba.
Bokaba urged communities to report vehicles, which draw and transport water in Hammanskraal, to the police.
To date, cholera has claimed 23 lives in Hammanskraal, one in the Free State, and one in Mpumalanga.
News24 reported previously that Health Minister Joe Phaahla said the first reported case in Hammanskraal was that of a 56-year-old man from Giyani in Limpopo, who resides in Musina.
“The patient is a police officer, and he was enrolled for a three-week course at the SAPS College in Hammanskraal, for which he arrived on 7 May and started on 8 May,” Phaahla said.
“On 12 May, he complained of diarrhoea and vomiting, and was taken by ambulance to Muelmed Hospital in Pretoria on 15 May 2023.
“Laboratory tests confirmed cholera on 15 May and was further confirmed by the NICD [National Institute for Communicable Diseases] on 18 May.”
From 15 May, a large number of patients, with gastrointestinal symptoms, reported to the Jubilee Hospital in Hammanskraal.
“By Friday, 19 May, the hospital reported that 52 patients had been seen, for a mixture of diarrhoea and vomiting, and already by then, six patients had died,” Phaahla said.
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