Yesterday, the Department of Health in the Free State confirmed that one person has died of cholera, while eight cases of people who tested positive for cholera have been confirmed. South Africa's Department of Health confirmed the death toll from the cholera outbreak in Hammanskraal, north of Pretoria has risen to 20 and the number of laboratory-confirmed cases is 29.

ALSO READ: Breaking News: Free State records first cholera death

AfriForum Environmental Affairs manager, Lambert de Klerk, says water samples that AfriForum and Save Ngwathe took from the Vaal River at Parys on Tuesday tested positive for cholera. This was after revealing that the first water sample taken at the outlet of the sewage works was not contaminated with cholera.

The second water sample was taken from a residential house in Parys and tested negative for cholera but was infected with E. coli. While the third water sample was taken in the Vaal River, approximately 10 meters downstream from a manhole that has been pouring sewage into the river for some time. De Klerk says that AfriForum is still waiting for the official results of the water sample that is contaminated with cholera and E. coli.  However, the laboratory has already notified the organization of the results due to the seriousness of the matter.

“It is extremely worrying that the withdrawal point for Vredefort’s water is only 1 km from the sewage spill. It is precisely in Vredefort where there are also confirmed cases of cholera and where a resident died from this virus. This information further proves that the Vaal River is indeed infected with cholera. There are several places where the raw sewage flows into the river due to infrastructure that is burnt out or is simply not available, load shedding, and the fact that there is no emergency assistance such as generators or emergency pumps,” he says.

De Klerk adds that AfriForum has requested the Department of Water and Sanitation to intervene and they are prepared to assist owing to the seriousness of the matter.

Meanwhile, the Department of Water and Sanitation says that it has noted the reports on unconfirmed water quality tests at the Vaal River in Parys, for possible detection of cholera. The departmental spokesperson, Wisane Mavasa says the department issued several directives to the municipalities on the upstream catchment to address sewer spillages into the river courses.

ALSO READ: Videos, pictures of contaminated water in FS Municipality surface

Pictures and videos of what appears to be contaminated water coming from the taps of residents in Deneysville in the Metsimaholo Local Municipality recently did rounds on social media. Residents of Tumahole in the Parys-based Ngwathe Local Municipality were at some stage forced to fetch water from sewage manholes. A similar situation also besieged residents of the troubled Theunissen-based Masilonyana Local Municipality where residents had spent days without drinking water and were ultimately forced to fetch water from small water streams and pipes.

ALSO READ: Free State residents 'forced to fetch water from manholes'

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