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Briefing on Bronkhorstspruit gastrointestinal illness cases · Drive with John Perlman

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  Speaker 1: You're with John Perlman on 702. 702 Drive, it's 22
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: minutes past three. Let's focus our attention now on the
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: community of Broncospray, a major focus there with both the
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  Speaker 1: Water and Sanitation Minister, Pemi Majordina. And certainly earlier reports
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  Speaker 1: suggested that Deputy President Paul Machatile was going to be
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  Speaker 1: going out to the area as well. What we're finding
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  Speaker 1: out now, though, is that the numbers of gastrointestinal illness
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  Speaker 1: cases is growing and growing fast. I think the numbers
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  Speaker 1: are up into well into the 800s and approaching 900.
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  Speaker 1: It would seem Alpha Ramushwana has been out there and
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  Speaker 1: joins us with the very latest. Alpha, first of all,
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  Speaker 1: it appears that the number of illnesses is growing. Is
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  Speaker 1: that people who are becoming ill even now, after there
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  Speaker 1: was an alert and steps were taken to try and
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  Speaker 1: protect the population, or these cases that are being reported late?
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  Speaker 1: Good afternoon to you.
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  Speaker 2: Good afternoon, Dr.
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  Speaker 1: John.
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  Speaker 2: We would remember that when we first knew of the
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  Speaker 2: story of water contamination crisis in the city of Tswane.
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  Speaker 2: Government had indicated that there were about 400 cases. It
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  Speaker 2: then moved to 500, and today they confirmed that 833
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  Speaker 2: people have been tested positive for this gastrointestinal illness. So
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  Speaker 2: these are people who, when they experience the various symptoms,
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  Speaker 2: which include stomach aches and abdominal pains, these are people
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  Speaker 2: who go to the local clinic and the local hospital
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  Speaker 2: to get tested following these symptoms. And only then the
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  Speaker 2: hospital is able to confirm to them what exactly they
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  Speaker 2: are experiencing. So these are not necessarily people who went
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  Speaker 2: late but these are people whose symptoms only occurred much
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  Speaker 2: later than the first 400 people.
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  Speaker 1: In terms of what's happened out there today, then, I mean,
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  Speaker 1: any steps that are being taken? I heard the Minister
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  Speaker 1: of Water and Sanitation saying they're going to do an
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  Speaker 1: audit of all water treatment plants. I mean, I don't
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  Speaker 1: know if that's a good thing or it's an indictment.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, surely they know. Surely there's somebody who knows.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, studies are done all the time. I understand
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  Speaker 1: that there's, I think it's called the Green Drop Report
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  Speaker 1: on water and sanitation. The information is available and it's
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  Speaker 1: delivered by her own department.
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  Speaker 2: It does appear as though the municipalities in Gauteng and
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  Speaker 2: the water and sanitation departments don't conduct these studies. thorough
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  Speaker 2: assessments on the wastewater treatment plant as often as they should.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, the water and sanitation minister today said they
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  Speaker 2: are now, they've now decided to visit all the treatment
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  Speaker 2: plants in Gauteng to assess this thorough, to thoroughly assess
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  Speaker 2: these wastewater treatment plants. And it, to an extent, I guess,
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  Speaker 2: is an indictment on the water and sanitation department admitting
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  Speaker 2: that they haven't been doing this as regular and as
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  Speaker 2: often as they should have. I is one issue which
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  Speaker 2: led to 833 cases of gastrointestinal illnesses. But we've also
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  Speaker 2: had the Roival wastewater treatment plant in the very same
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  Speaker 2: city of Tswane, which supplied unclean water to Hamanskral residents
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  Speaker 2: and led to about 23 people losing their lives in 2023.
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  Speaker 2: So it does appear as though the water and sanitation
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  Speaker 2: department and the relevant stakeholders or authorities aren't conducting these
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  Speaker 2: data assessments as often as they should have. or else
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  Speaker 2: these issues could have been identified way before there was
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  Speaker 2: an outbreak of cholera in Hammanskraut and gastrointestinal illness here
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  Speaker 2: in Brankhorst Bridge.
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  Speaker 1: I don't know if in the course of your visit there,
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  Speaker 1: I know you were keeping up with what the politically
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  Speaker 1: powerful people were saying because they do have the power
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  Speaker 1: to influence things for good or ill. But residents, if
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  Speaker 1: you had a chance to speak to them, what are
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  Speaker 1: people saying?
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  Speaker 2: Residents are of the view, Dr. John, that the Department
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  Speaker 2: of Water and Sanitation, RADA, is treating the 833 people
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  Speaker 2: as numbers and not actual people. I actually spoke to
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  Speaker 2: some residents who say that they don't understand why the
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  Speaker 2: department doesn't want to characterize what's going on in Bronco
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  Speaker 2: Respiratio as an outbreak. The department says this can't be
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  Speaker 2: classified as an outbreak, but just a number of cases
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  Speaker 2: that happened at the exact same time. Residents say if
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  Speaker 2: only that they saw them As humans, as human beings,
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  Speaker 2: then they would understand that 833 lives have been impacted
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  Speaker 2: by the city of Suwanis failure to provide clean drinking water.
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  Speaker 2: So residents really aren't pleased that the John, most of
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  Speaker 2: them mentioning the fact that they have to pay for water.
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  Speaker 2: to the municipality every single month, and now they also
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  Speaker 2: have to dig deeper into their pockets to buy water
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  Speaker 2: to drink because the water that they receive from the
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  Speaker 2: water tankers for them is water that they still can't trust.
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  Speaker 2: In fact, this is also a sentiment that was expressed
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  Speaker 2: by Deputy President Paul Machatile today, that private water tankering
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  Speaker 2: companies also can't be trusted because government has no idea
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  Speaker 2: where they get their water. They don't know if that
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  Speaker 2: water has also been tested. to ensure that it's clean
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  Speaker 2: enough for consumption. So residents really are not looking forward
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  Speaker 2: to digging deep into their pocket to just buy water
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  Speaker 2: to drink, also to pay for the regular water that
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  Speaker 2: they get from the municipality each and every single month.
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  Speaker 1: Thanks very much, Alpha Ramushwana, on the line to us
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  Speaker 1: from out in Bronco Spread.