Much of South Africa can expect another freezing night on Wednesday, the South African Weather Service said as the costs of this week’s cold spell mounted.
Standerton in Mpumalanga was expecting the lowest minimum temperature of -8 degrees Celsius on Thursday, the service said. Ermelo and Bloemfontein were forecast to freeze at -6, while Sutherland in the Northern Cape expected a temperature of -7.
At least 22 people have died of cold in different parts of the country this week, 15 of them in the Eastern Cape. The latest fatality was a woman who appeared to have fallen down in the veld near Centane on her way home. Her body was found on Tuesday.
”It is believed that the icy weather killed the woman,” said police spokesperson Captain Jackson Manatha.
Seven people were reported to have died in weather-related incidents in Gauteng.
On Tuesday night, a woman and her son from Nellmapius, east of Pretoria, died after inhaling fumes from a coal fire in their home. Police said the woman — in her early 50s and her son in his early 20s — had set up a coal fire because of the cold. They apparently fell asleep and suffocated from the smoke.
Tshwane emergency services spokesperson Johan Pieterse said danger is most likely to arise ”after bedtime” when people leave fires smoking, depriving sleepers of oxygen.
In Johannesburg, the mercury was expected to fall to zero degrees Celsius overnight, with Pretoria a mere two degrees warmer. Vereeniging was likely to freeze at -4.
In Limpopo, the sudden cold spell has already taken its toll on crops. In the Lephalale area (formerly Ellisras), the mercury dropped to -3 on Wednesday and was forecast to read -2 on Thursday.
According to the Transvaal Agriculture Union, the week saw the lowest temperatures in three years.
Gert Snyman of the district agricultural union in Lephalale said vegetable farmers have been hit hard by the cold.
Hawkers in Port Elizabeth and farmers in the Gamtoos area of the Eastern Cape toned down their business activity during the nationwide cold spell.
Johan Kruger, director of the city’s fresh-produce market, said the weather slashed Tuesday’s turnover by about R200 000. Tuesdays and Thursdays are traditionally the market’s busiest days. ”The hawkers don’t come to buy during such cold weather and farmers experienced difficulties trying to get into their land, especially in the Gamtoos area.”
Cabbages, carrots and beetroot were the vegetables most affected, both in demand and supply.
Further upcountry at Queenstown, where farmers battled to get their children to boarding school on Monday after tackling snow on rural mountain roads, a doctor said flu and bronchitis cases were expected to mushroom once the weather became warmer. ”Everyone’s staying inside until then,” he said.
The mercury was expected to plummet to -3 in the Eastern Cape town on Thursday. — Sapa