Musina water 'free of cholera'
2008-12-03 08:05
Polokwane - The Limpopo River has been contaminated with cholera, and the local health department has warned people not to use the river water at all.
Farmers with irrigation farms on the river are extremely worried after the water tested positive for cholera.
Limpopo health department spokesperson Phuti Seloba said tests done on the water on Monday showed that it was definitely tainted with the disease. A serious outbreak of cholera in Zimbabwe recently spread to South Africa's northernmost province.
The cholera is believed to have spread to the Limpopo River water when sick Zimbabweans swam across the river to look for help in South Africa.
Marie Helm, regional manager for agricultural union TAU SA, said the contamination had enormous consequences. Many farmers used water from the river for irrigation of mostly vegetables.
Musina residents were reassured that their town drinking water would not be affected by the contamination. Wilson Dzebu, spokesperson for the Musina municipality, said the town water came from the Limpopo River but was purified properly.
Seaparo Sekoati, MEC for health in Limpopo, broadcast several message about preventing cholera on local radio stations.
Zimbabweans treated in Musina
Meanwhile several Zimbabweans with the disease lay under trees in Musina while their IV drips hung from tree branches.
They are being treated in tents at the Musina hospital but due to the searing heat in the border town, it is much cooler under the trees than in the tents. The temperature during the day is 35°C and even higher.
The disease claimed another victim when a 64-year-old Zimbabwean man died on Monday afternoon in one of the tents at the hospital, said Seloba.
This has brought the cholera death toll to seven since the middle of November.