By Ebi Kesiena
Authorities said on Wednesday that at least 17 people have died in a cholera outbreak in the Hammanskraal township outside South Africa’s capital, Pretoria, as cases recorded in Zimbabwe and at least 12 other African nations have officials on alert.
According to the medical officials, there were another 29 laboratory-confirmed cholera cases, while 67 people were admitted to a hospital and clinics for gastrointestinal infections.
Although Health authorities are yet to confirm the exact source of the cholera outbreak, poor waste water management and local government instability in South Africa’s capital city have been blamed for the situation.
The southern African nation is the latest to experience an outbreak of cholera following deaths in neighboring Zimbabwe and in Malawi this year.
The World Health Organization says 28 million people suffer from cholera in east and southern Africa and is calling for $171 million dollars to help contain its spread.
Zimbabwean authorities say the first case in the country was recorded on April 24, and to date 358 cases which include 48 new ones were recorded on Tuesday.
Wisdom Mumera, editor of Open Council, an online publication that covering Zimbabwe’s local areas, including Harare, noted that cholera remains a major perennial issue largely due to failure of basic services in communities.
“Residents have no dependable access to water, the infrastructure is old, garbage is not regularly collected and sewer systems constantly break down,” Mumera said.
Harare City Council members say they are working hard to find solutions and are eager to see the end of this outbreak.
However, Harare Mayor Jacob Mafume said the city was increasing the amount of tankers to get residents portable water.
