Health workers at St Ritas Hospital in Glen Cowie, Limpopo are threatening to stop water trucks dispatched by the Sekhukhune District Municipality from filling up water tanks at the facility.

Workers are demanding a permanent solution to the water cuts that have been plaguing the hospital since at least 2022 when community members destroyed the pipeline drawing water from a small dam to the hospital. Villagers say they can’t sit by and watch water be supplied to areas close to them, while their taps are dry.

Hospital workers without water

“I have been working here since 2022 and I have never finished a week without a water problem. Sometimes the taps have water but will go dry for two days or more,” says Kabelo Mmone* a nurse at the hospital. 

“The municipal trucks are worsening the situation. They don’t come until we make noise or embark on work stoppages. We don’t want them anymore. Boreholes can provide an everlasting solution.”

Provincial health department spokesperson Neil Shikwambana says boreholes depend on the availability of groundwater in the area. “It is a well known fact that many parts of the Sekhukhune District are arid and therefore make boreholes not to be viable,” Shikwambana explains. 

Another nurse at the hospital, Jay Sebalo*, says sanitation facilities for patients and staff becomes unbearable when there’s no water to even flush toilets. 

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO)  contaminated water and poor sanitation can cause transmission of diseases such as diarrhoea and cholera. “This is particularly the case in health care facilities where both patients and staff are placed at additional risk of infection and disease when water, sanitation and hygiene services are lacking,” the WHO says. 

Recently hospital workers staged a wildcat strike when there was no water for a week, saying they feared a possible outbreak of waterborne diseases. 

“Surprisingly when we went on strike in July, water tankers arrived. Riot police also came but we don’t want police for this, we need constant and clean water supply for this hospital,” says Sebalo.

“And again these water tankers are suspicious. The water is sometimes coloured and the hospital storage tanks (ten tanks, each with a 5000 litre capacity) here are contaminated with mud and the remains of dead insects and lizards.”

Shikwambana says the department is not aware that water from tankers and storage tanks is sometimes polluted.

 “However we know that water quality (testing) is done regularly and the storages are cleaned and disinfected.”

Hospital board explains

St Ritas Hospital board chairperson Sam Malaka concedes that when there is a water pipeline breakdown or other challenges, there will be no supply to the command reservoir situated at Glen Cowie mountain and subsequently to the reservoir in the hospital yard.

“In cases when there are these breakdowns or hindrance to the flow, the hospital relies on Sekhukhune District Municipality for water supply as a short term intervention,” Malaka says.

According to him, the board has been making several requests to the provincial health department since 2023 and as recently as March this year. 

“We engaged the previous health MEC Dr Phophi Ramathuba (now Limpopo premier) about addressing the challenge by digging a borehole as a lasting solution.

“And now we are waiting for a date with the current MEC for Health Ms Dieketseng Mashego to engage with all stakeholders at the hospital.”

Shikwambana says it’s well-known that the hospital’s water problems are the result of some community members damaging the municipal bulk water line. 

“We rely on alternative sources such as tankers since you will appreciate that our role as health department is to provide health care and not water provision. We rely on responsible government entities for water supply,” says Shikwambana.  

Malaka says the board is aware that some employees are against the supply of water by tankers.

 “But water tankering is just an interim measure. Sekhukhune District Municipality mayor Ms Maena Bahula has also shown commitment to assist the hospital with a borehole,” he adds.

Health-e News has contacted Lamson Moropyane, spokesperson for Sekhukhune District Municipality for comment on the hospital water crisis and the quality of water from tankers but there was no response other than repeated promises to do so. – Health-e News