Anger over cholera turned violent this week as affected communities expressed frustration over perceived official mismanagement of the epidemic.
Nineteen deaths were reported in Mpumalanga as well as 111 new cases in Limpopo, bringing the total number of people infected in South Africa to 3 000.
On Monday community members of Greater Tubatse in Limpopo burned down a councillor’s house and attacked Mayor Ralepane Mamekoa.
Fuming community members said Mamekoa had failed them and the cost of his failure was the lives of their loved ones. Residents threw stones at the mayor while he was in his car, smashing the windscreen and windows.
Limpopo health department spokesperson Phuthi Seloba said ”the atmosphere is not rosy” in the affected communities, but he does not believe it was concerned community members who were involved in the attacks.
”Hooligans are taking advantage of the problem and are settling old political scores,” Seloba said. He claimed the department had been working well with the community: ”We have been visiting individual families and educating people on what they can do to prevent new infection. Thus far, the community has responded positively and is helping us reduce the number of new infections.”
In KwaZulu-Natal residents of Greytown are angry about the ”secrecy” with which officials are dealing with the disease. Mamelo Mchunu (65) said: ”We heard there have been cases reported in our community and are concerned about our health. The officials have not said anything to us, which makes us more nervous.”
Mchunu said they are concerned because some people live near rivers and get their water there. ”If that water is contaminated, then someone should say something. Keeping quiet is committing murder.”
Residents have held meetings among themselves, Mchunu said, and believe they have the right to know sooner rather than later whether they are in danger. ”People all over the country are getting sick and dying. What is the government doing to prevent further infections — hiding the truth from us so we can die too? We refuse to be victims, we demand answers.”
In Mpumalanga, where the highest numbers of deaths have been reported, nurses have expressed frustration about their workload. Asanda Fongqo, national spokesperson for the Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (Denosa), said nurses are also concerned about getting infected themselves.
”The nurses’ workload is inhuman,” Fongqo said. ”If the government does not provide more people and sufficient resources, then it will be difficult to keep the problem under control.”
Fongqo said clinics and hospitals are already heavily burdened and although Denosa has made the government aware of this, little has been done. ”Cholera is bringing more patients to an already burdened system. Government should not wait till there is such a problem before they realise the concerns of the people.”
National health department spokesperson Fidel Hadebe said the government will provide whatever resources are needed to deal with the problem. ”We are working with organisations such as the Red Cross and the World Health Organisation to provide resources to hospitals and clinics in affected areas.”