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DAM-L SA: Too poor to pay for water/LS (fwd)
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Date: Fri, 13 Oct 2000 09:37:26 -0800
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From: lori@irn.org (Lori Pottinger)
Subject: SA: Too poor to pay for water/LS
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> > Too poor to pay life-saving R51
> > Water scheme is beyond the means of
> poverty-stricken families, struck down
> > by cholera after drinking from contaminated
> streams INGRID SALGADO
>
> > AN IMPOVERISHED community in northern
> KwaZulu-Natal is being stricken with
> > cholera because most households cannot afford the
> R51 fee that would give
> > them access to a R14.9-million water scheme.
> > Residents of rural areas around Ngwelezane, near
> Empangeni, continued to
> > draw contaminated water from boreholes, springs
> and nearby rivers this
> week
> > as health authorities urged them to step up
> hygiene practices and treat
> the
> > polluted water with bleach.
> > Only 700 households have joined the water scheme
> implemented by the
> > Mhlathuze Water Board, while a further 2 000
> families are unconnected.
> > The scheme, designed to give people access to
> water within 200m of their
> > homes, became operational shortly before the
> epidemic broke out in August.
> > The board's acting chief executive, James Barnard,
> said: "People will
> > gladly pay R7 for a two-litre Coke, but complain
> bitterly when they must
> > pay the same price for more than 1 000 litres of
> water."
> > The board has agreed temporarily to waive the R51
> registration fee and, on
> > Thursday, began handing out free water tokens to
> the community.
> > The death toll in and around Ngwelezane rose to 13
> this week, while
> another
> > four people succumbed to cholera in Eshowe, about
> 40km away. More than 1
> > 000 cholera cases have been identified in both
> areas.
> > Provincial Health MEC Dr Zweli Mkhize has warned
> that time is running out
> > for the authorities to combat the deadly
> waterborne disease.
> > "We want to turn the tide around before the rains
> come. We've got only a
> > couple of weeks to reverse the outbreak," he said.
> > Health officials have shifted into emergency gear,
> setting up rehydration
> > points in the worst-affected areas and
> distributing free bleach to poor
> > households.
> > The defence force has been called in to distribute
> water from tankers to
> > areas where no piped water is available.
> > At the Zungu homestead in Sigisi, just outside
> Ngwelezane, the measures
> > came too late. The family's matriarch, Octavia
> Zungu, 65, died of
> > cholerainduced dehydration last Wednesday, while
> her husband, son and five
> > grandchildren are recovering from the illness.
> > "We are really in crisis. My mother was the sole
> breadwinner with her
> > pension," said Bhekisisa Zungu, 36.
> > His sister, Makhosi, 23, said the family drank
> water from the Mhlathuze
> > River as they could not afford to pay for water.
> > "Many families around here don't have the
> registration card," she said.
> > Dr Ken Wanguhu, superintendent of Ngwelezane
> Hospital, said most people
> > could not afford the water scheme.
> > "They do not consider water to be a priority when
> there's a nearby stream.
> > My concern is that providing clean water now is
> only a short-term
> solution.
> > We need to consider the long term," he said.
> > This week, a startling picture emerged of the
> sequence of events that led
> > up to the outbreak around Ngwelezane.
> > Authorities discovered that some areas were still
> receiving free water in
> > terms of a 17-year initiative of the former
> KwaZulu government to deal
> with
> > the 1983/4 drought.
> > "It was eventually noticed, and it was decided to
> switch off the supply,"
> > said the chief executive of the Uthungulu Regional
> Council, B B Biyela.
> > "The people were given sufficient warning and the
> supply was cut off at
> the
> > beginning of August."
> > The first cases indicating cholera were noticed in
> Matshana and Nqutshini
> > In the second week of August. The first case
> confirmed was on August 19.
> > At this point, health officials asked the
> Mhlathuze Water Board to
> > reconnect the free water supplied by the former
> homeland government to the
> > Nqutshini area.
> > The number of cholera cases in Nqutshini dropped
> from 65 in August to 40
> > last month .
> > But, in nearby Matshana, the incidence of cholera
> almost doubled to 148
> > cases in September. In Sigisi, they leapt from 40
> in August to 144 in
> > September.
> > Health authorities have not yet been able to
> pinpoint the source of the
> > bacteria but suspect the Mhlathuze River, from
> which the first positive
> > cholera samples were identified on Friday.
> > The disease could have been passed on to Eshowe
> via the Mlalazi River,
> > person-to-person contact or contamination of the
> underground water source.
> > Meanwhile, the Mhlathuze Water Board has accused
> authorities of failing to
> > conduct a well-coordinated disaster campaign. "One
> does not really want to
> > blame the Department of Health, but they have not
> used the available
> > resources to conduct tests of the water. They have
> not shared what they're
> > doing," said Barnard.
> > "It's the old problem of too many role players
> that don't talk to one
> > another. And so it becomes a crisis, which it
> should never have been."
> > The chief environmental health officer for the
> affected areas, Vusi Ntuli,
> > said a meeting would be held tomorrow at which a
> common strategy would be
> > discussed by traditional leaders and officials
> from the national
> department
> > of water affairs, the national and provincial
> departments of health, local
> > government and the defence force.
>
>
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::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Lori Pottinger, Director, Southern Africa Program,
and Editor, World Rivers Review
International Rivers Network
1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94703, USA
Tel. (510) 848 1155 Fax (510) 848 1008
http://www.irn.org
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