SOUTH AFRICA: Police fire at protesting residents in typhoid-hit town

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

JOHANNESBURG, 23 Sep 2005 (IRIN) - Police fired rubber bullets at protesting residents of the typhoid-hit town of Delmas, 70 km east of Johannesburg, for the second night on Thursday.

The disturbances were followed on Friday by an announcement from the authorities that one of the boreholes supplying water to the town had tested positive for typhoid-causing bacteria.

"They are not treating us like human beings," said Paulos Manana, whose cousin is recovering from the disease that has officially claimed four lives in the town.

He pointed to the scattered stones, piled up in a makeshift barricade by the residents of Botleng township to protect themselves from the police.

"They were shooting at people who were not even protesting against the authorities' failure to provide clean water," he told IRIN.

"They [the authorities] said no one should be seen on the streets after 7 pm - so even if they saw children they shot at them," claimed Norman, another Botleng resident.

"They even shot at my dog," said another. Police had fired on the residents with rubber bullets on Wednesday, after they had begun marching to protest against the conditions causing the typhoid outbreak.

Lebona Mosia, a spokesman for Mpumalanga province, admitted to possible altercations between the police and the residents, but said some of the claims were "exaggerated - no one is being shot at now. The situation is calm and under control".

Since the outbreak surfaced last month, hundreds of residents have been hospitalised and several thousand are being treated for diarrhoea, one of the symptoms of typhoid fever. The disease is caused by bacteria transmitted from faeces and spread as a result of poor hygiene and contaminated water.

The residents of Botleng and the Delmas town are dependant on boreholes for water. "The fact that one of the boreholes has tested positive for salmonella typhi [the typhoid-causing bacteria] - there is the possibility that sewage has seeped into it," said Mpho Gabashane, the province's health spokesman.

During the last typhoid outbreak in 1993, in which over 1,000 people were affected, University of Cape Town scientists reportedly identified raw sewage collected from the Botleng township and dumped in a marshy swamp, which had subsequently seeped into one of the town's boreholes, as the cause. The township residents continue to use the bucket system of waste disposal.

The provision of treated potable water to the people had helped reduce the incidence of typhoid and diarrhoea, said Gabashane. "While just last month the hospitals were recording 300 diarrhoea cases and admitting 40 to 50 people with typhoid every day, the figures have dropped down to 25 and 11 respectively."

Currently 45 people with typhoid are in hospitals and 3,221 residents are suffering from diarrhoea.

Botleng residents feel too little has been done, and there is a general sense of a breakdown of trust between the community and the authorities. "The first typhoid cases were reported in 1993 - they have done nothing since then," said Manana.

People think the authorities have been underestimating the severity of the outbreak. "They keep telling us that only three or four people have died - I know seven people who have died," said a resident waiting for treatment at a township clinic.

Angry residents, like Winnie Mbonani, do not even trust the quality of the potable water being supplied by the authorities. "My mother's friend brings our water from Pretoria [70 km from Delmas] every day."

Maria Skosana, who earns about two dollars a day selling peanuts and other snacks in the town centre, spends almost two dollars a week on a five-litre bottle of mineral water. "We use the water they [the authorities] give for cooking after having boiled and treated it with bleach," she explained.

Mosia said because the "community was restless", the province's political leadership would hold meetings next week to address their grievances and restore faith in the government.

Describing public criticism of the apparent failure to respond to the first symptoms of the crisis in 1993 as "unfair", he said, "There have been no cases reported for almost a decade. We have been treating water - now that we have a crisis we are trying to resolve it permanently."

The government is awaiting a breakdown of costs from Rand Water, one of the country's largest suppliers, to replace the town's borehole system with piped water.

"The water in the taps has been treated and is safe for drinking," Mosia emphasised.

But Delmas residents do not seem to be listening. "They keep telling us the water in the tap is safe - but we are still falling sick. We cannot drink that water," said Matron Mavuso, whose entire family, including a three-year-old daughter, is recovering from the typical symptoms of typhoid.

About 13 percent of South Africa's population does not have access to clean drinking water, according to the latest UN Human Development report.

[ENDS]