Mpumalanga

A fifth person has died from typhoid after an outbreak in Delmas, a spokesperson for the Mpumalanga premier said on Tuesday. ”Twenty-three-year-old Alfred Thombeni died last night [Monday] at Bernice Samuel Hospital,” Lebona Mosia said. Since the outbreak was identified on August 22, 594 cases have been confirmed and 3 318 people have been treated for diarrhoea.

Organisations in Dullstroom denied on Monday that there is something wrong with the water quality in the popular Mpumalanga resort town. ”We would like to assure the public that the quality of water in Dullstroom has never been in question,” the organisations said in a joint statement.

The number of cases of typhoid in Delmas has increased to 594, a Mpumalanga government spokesperson said on Monday. The total number of people with diarrhoea has risen to 3 303 since the typhoid outbreak in the town on August 22, said Lebona Mosia.

Mpumalanga Premier Thabang Makwetla met Moutse residents on Thursday in an attempt to address their concerns over demarcation into Limpopo. Mpumalanga government spokesperson Lebona Mosia said Makwetla’s visit to the town followed protests and violence over the integration of the town into the Limpopo province.

A Kanhym Estates worker was killed and four others wounded in Mpumalanga on Wednesday when security guards at the company opened fire on protesting workers. About 500 people were protesting for a wage increase at the farming company’s premises in Middelburg.

Roads leading in and out of Mpumalanga’s Moutse area were reopened on Wednesday following a protest over demarcations, police said. Earlier, residents of Moutse threatened to set the local magistrate’s court alight if people arrested on charges of public violence on Tuesday were not released from custody.

Delmas has seen 26 more cases of typhoid in the last 24 hours, Mpumalanga health department spokesperson Mpho Gabashane said on Tuesday evening. ”Ten people have been discharged while 65 are still hospitalised.” Health promotion activities continued in Delmas on Tuesday as authorities waited for the results of tests that might determine the source of the disease that has claimed four lives and made over 500 ill.

The actual number of deaths from typhoid at Delmas in Mpumalanga is higher than the official figure of three, the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) said on Sunday. ”It has been alleged to the TAC by multiple sources that government is underestimating the number of deaths in the current outbreak of diarrhoea and typhoid in Delmas,” said TAC spokesperson Nathan Geffen.

Efforts are under way to improve the sewage system in Delmas in a bid to prevent a repeat of the recent typhoid outbreak, Mpumalanga authorities said on Tuesday. The Democratic Alliance said a party councillor warned the Delmas municipality a few years ago that the municipality should be connected to Rand Water to allow for safe water.

As water officials dispatch clean water to typhoid-affected Delmas in Mpumalanga, one confirmed sufferer is being discharged from hospital, officials said on Thursday. Provincial health spokesperson John Mlangeni said there were still 380 cases of diarrhoea, 30 suspected cases of typhoid and nine confirmed cases.

People suffering symptoms of typhoid fever have been urged to seek medical assistance after an outbreak in Delmas, Mpumalanga. At least 18 people have been hospitalised and a further 380 could be infected, Beeld newspaper reported on Wednesday.

Jürgen Kögl, the businessman reported on Friday to be one of former deputy president Jacob Zuma’s benefactors, is considering taking the matter to court, his lawyers said. ”Our client denies any wrongdoing whatsoever,” read a statement from Johannesburg law firm Cheadle, Thompson and Haysom.