Healthcare services are being rendered again in this water-scarce municipality. Hospitals and clinics in the area were greatly affected as the protests rocked the municipality. SABC reported nurses and doctors at two hospitals had to work 24-hour shifts because no medical staff could enter or exit the hospitals due to road blockages.

At the Mofumahadi Manapo Hospital, which is the biggest hospital in Qwaqwa, the patients were fetching water outside with 5-liter bottles. The Free State Health MEC, Montseng Tsiu, says the protest has impacted negatively on the safety guaranteed to the staff and the functionality of the hospitals and clinics. Tsiu says applause goes to the health staff who still went to hospitals and clinics to work amidst the protest. She adds that their commitment and determination to serve patients even in the face of intimidation and threats of violence is unequaled and deserves accolades of higher levels of patriotism.

The municipality has reported two children and one adult have drowned in a matter of one week. In one incident on 18 January 2020, the 8-year-old Mosa Mbele died while fetching water from the river near Mandela Park in Phuthaditjhaba. In another incident on 22 January 2020, a 16-year-old boy and a man who tried to help him, drowned in a stream in Bluegumbosch.

The protests have now been placed on a halt after the Premier, Sisi Ntombela, MEC of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta), Thembeni Nxangisa, Mayor of Maluti-a-Phofung, Masetjhaba Lekaje, the Department of Water and Sanitation, the Department of Human Settlements, church leaders, and the organisers of the shutdown protests sat in a closed meeting at the University of the Free State’s Qwaqwa campus, also known as Uniqwa, on 22 January 2020 to discuss resolutions of water shortages and halt the protests.

OFM News/Marvin Ntsane