On Special Assignment this Tuesday:
Episode Title: Killing Waters
Date: Tuesday, 27 May, 2008
Time: 21h30
Channel: SABC 3
Nearly 123 children have died in an Eastern Cape district since the beginning of the year. And all the while the authorities sat on an explosive report that in part blamed deadly tap water for the spate of deaths.
Add to this an incompetent health care system it seems a manageable outbreak of diarrhoea has turned into a lethal epidemic in the Ukhahlamba District Municipality (UKDM) - which includes the towns of Barkly East, Maclear, Sterkspruit and Elliot.
The municipal authorities only issued a public warning four months into the crisis.
When the Barkley East water purification plant packed up in October 2007 - the result was a dramatic increase of diarrhea recorded by basic health facilities and local doctors in the district. The chlorine pump was malfunctioning, requiring chlorine to be manually added to the reservoir.
Investigations were eventually launched after it was reported to the local district municipality that 18 babies had died in the Barkley East area between February and March this year due to a complications arising from chronic diarrhea.
The investigation revealed that a further 62 children under the age of 5 had died in similar circumstances in neighboring Sterkspruit - the provincial health department confirmed that these deaths were also related to water supply.
“These babies are dying because of the dirty water that they drink,” confirmed Siyanda Manana, director of communications at the Health Department in Bhisho.
BUT when a report on the 15 dead at Barkley was finally released it blamed the water contamination on local residents, saying the these deaths were a result of people not keeping water properly in their houses, rather than infected tap water.
And then to top it all, and despite clear evidence of a lethal epidemic in the Ukhahlamba District Municipality (UKDM) – authorities have yet to issue a public warning. They blame the Cloete Joubert Hospital in Barkly East for the high number of deaths, saying the hospital failed to report them in time for a proper investigation to be done.
“We learnt about the deaths quite by chance, but it was too late because the babies had been buried and no postmortems could be done,” UKDM’s municipal manager Zolile Williams said.
He blamed the hospital for not conducting tests on stool samples, eliminating any chances of locating the cause of death.
However, a senior hospital manager, who asked not be named, said they had informed the municipality but nothing was done until 15 deaths had been reported.
Meanwhile, the families of the babies are left to mourn.
Killing Waters is written and produced by Nguni productions.
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