Hammanskraal family adamant deceased gran didn’t drink tap water
Hammanskraal resident Kamogelo Stock has spoken of his relief as he recovers from cholera-related symptoms.
However, she’s now faced with arranging her grandmother’s funeral.
Stock’s grandmother is one of 15 people who lost their lives at the Jubilee District Hospital amid a cholera outbreak in the area.
The City of Tshwane has urged residents to avoid drinking tap water, while water tankers that have been deployed to affected villages and suburbs have ramped up their distribution roster.
READ: Cholera outbreak: Gift of the Givers to continue aiding Hammanskraal
Hammanskraal has been at the centre of damning reports on access to drinking water, and the quality of the water supplied by the City of Tshwane.
But Stock is adamant that she and her late grandmother Sarah Tlhomelang never used tap water as they had long been warned that it was not fit for human consumption.
“We used this water that they were delivering from the tanks. We never used tap water for cooking or even brushing our teeth. We never consumed that tap water, we were only using the truck water all along. The tap water was for flushing toilets and washing the floors.”
Because of the warnings, even when Tlhomelang began experiencing severe diarrhoea and then vomiting, they did not immediately suspect cholera.
Tlhomelang was a known diabetic patient, and when she started experiencing the symptoms last Thursday, she believed it was part of that ailment.
But Stock says her sickness progressed and when she started vomiting and becoming lethargic, she called on her brother for help.
“She couldn’t move on her own. When she tried to move, she would just fall. She was just weak,” Stock said.
The 75-year-old died in hospital two days after she was admitted, while Stock herself was treated for similar symptoms but says she is now recovering and focusing on giving her grandmother a dignified send-off.
