R70m to give Delmas clean water
2005-10-17 20:05
Delmas - To avoid another typhoid outbreak, the Mpumalanga provincial government and Delmas municipality are jointly trying to raise R70m to connect Delmas to Rand Water in Gauteng.
Lebona Mosia of the provincial government said on Monday money would be squeezed from departments that had been unable to spend their entire budgets.
"We will adjust and re-channel money during the midterm budget in November," he said.
The midterm budget is presented once every financial year.
It allows provincial governments to revisit their budget and shift funds from departments that aren't using all their money, to departments that need more money.
The typhoid outbreak was first identified on August 22 and claimed five lives, according to official government reports.
Altogether 610 confirmed cases of typhoid were recorded and more than 3 500 cases of diarrhoea.
However, the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), released a report that claimed the government had downplayed the magnitude of the outbreak.
The TAC projected the number of deaths to be in the region of 40.
Mosia said the situation in Delmas was back to normal and that all typhoid and diarrhoea patients had been discharged from state hospitals in the area.
The project to link Delmas to Rand Water will be implemented in three phases and aims to rid the town and neighbouring Botleng township of 14 boreholes.