Nearly 80 children have died in an Eastern Cape district over three months, while the authorities sat on an explosive report that largely blamed deadly tap water for the spate of deaths.

Despite clear evidence of a lethal epidemic in the Ukhahlamba District Municipality (UKDM) – which includes the towns of Barkly East, Maclear, Sterkspruit and Elliot – municipal authorities have yet to issue a public warning .

An official health report pointed to a breakdown in a water purification works in October last year and called for urgent action – but no action has been taken.

Now the health emergency is spreading as Bhisho health officials confirmed yesterday that another 62 children have died in similar circumstances in neighbouring Sterkspruit. This is above the official figure of 15 baby deaths in Barkly East.

The Sterkspruit deaths are also related to water supply, the provincial health department confirmed last night.

“These babies are dying because of the dirty water that they drink,” confirmed Siyanda Manana, director of communications at the Health Department in Bhisho.

The Dispatch has a copy of the Barkly East report which shows that the municipality’s health service was alerted a month ago and began investigating 18 baby deaths.

The babies had died from diarrhoea and other complications.

The report – only tabled last week at a closed council meeting and which has yet to be made public – exposed a public health disaster.

“Although there could be a multitude of issues that could contribute to the rise in diarrhoeal cases during this period, and the consequential deaths, the most probable contributing factor could be ascribed to the microbiological water quality that did not meet the standards together with the way it is kept inside the houses,” the report concluded.

It recommended urgent action, including declaring an emergency in the area to save further lives – but to date this has not been done.

According to the Ukhahlamba’s Health Service section report it was “highly likely” that bacteria and other foreign particles in the water lay behind the deaths.

The report details the breakdown in the water purification system, saying that since October last year the water quality did not meet required standards.

The report said the area’s chlorine pump has been malfunctioning, requiring chlorine to be manually added to the reservoir.

But the municipality blames the Cloete Joubert Hospital in Barkly East for the high number of deaths, saying the hospital failed to report them in time for a proper investigation to be done.

“We learnt about the deaths quite by chance, but it was too late because the babies had been buried and no postmortems could be done,” UKDM’s municipal manager Zolile Williams said.

He blamed the hospital for not conducting tests on stool samples, eliminating any chances of locating the cause of death.

However, a senior hospital manager, who asked not be named, said they had informed the municipality but nothing was done until 15 deaths had been reported.

“When seven babies in the hospital died from gastro related problems we realised there was a problem and informed the municipality as per procedure,” he said, charging there was no active response from the municipality until the situation reached epidemic proportions.

Meanwhile, the families of the babies are left to mourn.

Nongazi Sopose, from Zola township in Barkly East, who lost one of her twin babies in February, said she had felt guilty that she might have been responsible for her daughter’s death.

“Since Sihle died no-one has advised me on how to keep Bathandwa alive. Instead officials from the municipality came around and asked where I kept their bottles, how I stored water and also how clean my home was,” she said.

The town’s only doctor, Dr Benjamin Olivier, confirmed that he had treated many babies for diarrhoea, but said he could not speculate on the cause.

Democratic Alliance provincial leader Athol Trollip said that the local, district, provincial and national governments had to be held accountable for the deaths of the children.

“Postponing the municipal meeting in which the deaths would have been discussed from the 10th to the 17th April was a clear indication of a lack of concern, at a time when the community should have been informed and educated on the situation to allow them to take the necessary precautions,” he said.

Trollip added that the problem should have been dealt with in the same manner that a cholera outbreak would have been, with wide-reaching education in the communities and bringing in tanks of safe drinking water to ensure no-one died from drinking the municipal water.

Courtesy of the Daily Dispatch, a sister newspaper to the Sowetan based in East London

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