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DAM-L South African Minister admits: supply cuts caused cholera/LS (fwd)
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Date: Wed, 25 Oct 2000 10:22:00 -0800
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From: lori@irn.org (Lori Pottinger)
Subject: South African Minister admits: supply cuts caused cholera/LS
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Beeld 25/10/00
25/10/2000 12:18 - (SA)
Supply cuts caused cholera
Christi van der Westhuizen
Cape Town - Water supply cuts to people who were too
poor to pay their accounts resulted in the outbreak of
the cholera epidemic in KwaZulu-Natal the Water
Affairs and Forestry Ministry admitted on Tuesday.
This follows a statement by public service union
Nehawu on Monday that the government's macro economic
policy, Gear, could be blamed for the cholera epidemic
in KwaZulu-Natal which has claimed the lives of 32
people to date.
The statement comes in the wake of local government
election promises by the ANC, IFP and DA of free
access to basic services.
Water was available free of charge in the Mpendle area
in KwaZulu-Natal from the early 1980s after tap water
supplies were laid on by the apartheid government
after a severe drought.
At the beginning of last year water supplies were
extended in the area. Free water supply was however
terminated as a result of cost recovery systems
implemented by the local water board.
Water Affairs relinquished control of water supply to
the local board in the area. The department started
claiming payment for water supply, Nehawu spokesperson
Moloantoa Molaba said, referring to information
supplied by a non-governmental organisation, Rural
Development Services Network.
Recovering costs for community services is a Gear
strategy, infamously enforced by the World Bank and
the International Monetary Fund in developing
countries he added. The local residents are too poor
to pay for water and had to resort to polluted river
water.
It is an "absolute" truth that people were too poor to
pay for water resulting in the water being cut and
them having to resort to river water, Water Affairs
Minister Ronnie Kasrils spokesperson Thami Mchunu said
on Tuesday. "The minister is battling to provide clean
water free of charge because the people are too poor
to pay for it. As a temporary measure he has asked the
water board not to impose any fees on water supplies."
The number of cholera cases reported in the area
meanwhile has risen to 3 711 with 75 new cases
reported on Tuesday.
http://livenews.24.com/News24/Health/Health_News/0,1113,2-14-660_931135,00.html
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Lori Pottinger, Director, Southern Africa Program,
and Editor, World Rivers Review
International Rivers Network
1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94703, USA
Tel. (510) 848 1155 Fax (510) 848 1008
http://www.irn.org
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