The Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Water and Sanitation, Mr Leon Basson, has noted with concern the reports of increasing cases of typhoid in Hammanskraal and Bronkhorstspruit in the City of Tshwane. While the Chairperson has noted assurances that the city, the Department of Health and the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) are working collaboratively to trace the source, he has called for effective communications to allay fears.
“In the context of the recent cholera outbreak in the area and the fact that the source was never officially confirmed, it is critical that stakeholders effectively communicate to allay fears within the community. While we don’t want to pre-empt the investigative work, it remains critical that quality and safe drinking water is always provided to citizens. This is their constitutional right,” Mr Basson emphasised.
While the Chairperson acknowledge that water is not the only source of the bacterium Salmonella Typhi, the reality is also that many of South Africa’s wastewater works do not produce quality water as per the South African National Standards, specifically SANS 241, which sets the minimum requirements for water to be considered safe for human consumption (potable). It is in this context that the city and the DWS must ramp up their water testing to ensure that the system is not responsible for the outbreak.
“It is important that those tests are ramped up to reassure users that they have clean drinking water. Above all, effective communications will ensure that there is no mass panic within the city,” Mr Basson emphasised.
Broadly, the current challenges in Tshwane should be a forewarning for authorities to get their act together and ensure that the entire value chain operates effectively to prevent such outbreaks. “In a country with technical skills and resources, such occurrences highlight the impact of poor planning and endemic corruption on the entire system,” Mr Basson emphasised.
Upon completion of the investigation by the city, NICD and the Department of Health, the committee will request a comprehensive report to ensure effective oversight and to ensure that such outbreaks are prevented.
Africa Fact: Cheques are not quite as new an invention as we were led to believe. In the tenth century, an Arab geographer, Ibn Haukal, visited a fringe region of Ancient Ghana. Writing in 951 AD, he told of a cheque for 42,000 golden dinars written to a merchant in the city of Audoghast by his partner in Sidjilmessa.
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