The district comprises, among others, Ficksburg, Qwaqwa and Ladybrand.

The Department of Health says water scarcity at their facilities remains a serious problem. According to provincial spokesperson, Mondli Mvambi, they knew the department would be affected when Premier Ace Magashule declared the province as a disaster area due to water scarcity in September last year.

Mvambi admits that there are challenges at health centres across the Thabo Mofutsanyana District but disputes allegations that there is no water at health facilities.

“When water is scarce, our theatres, the general operation of hospitals and clinics gets affected. The cleaning is also affected, so we have to make sure that infection control is maintained. We facilitated the intergovernmental relations structures with the disaster management committees in various local municipalities to make sure that they prioritise health and they have done that by supplying the department with water tankers and whenever there is water scarcity in an area, we are the first to receive water,” he explains.

OFM News