Six of the 25 Madodonga community members who died of cholera received a dignified burial at a mass funeral ceremony that was held at the village’s cemetery last Saturday.

Members of the communities from the Sinthumule and Kutama area and the surrounding villages gathered in numbers to pay their last respects to their brothers, sisters, friends and loved ones who lost their lives to the dangerous disease.
 
The victims who were buried over the weekend are Mudoro Rambuwani, Piet Maphupha, Martha Maluleke, Mushasha Mufamadi, Lishi Miyela and Norris Tshikota.
 
Speaking to Mirror during the funeral, concerned community members of Madodonga village said that, had the nearby Tshilwavhusiku Health Centre been used as a hospital, a lot of lives could have been saved, because some of the people who passed away were discharged from the Louis Trichardt Memorial Hospital where they could not be admitted because of a lack of space.
 
“The department then established a rehydration centre at the health centre very late, after so many lives had already been lost. We cannot hide the fact that there was negligence that caused the loss of lives,” they said.
 
The funeral was attended by, amongst others, the mayor of Makhado Municipality, Cllr Mavhungu Luruli, the municipal manager, Ms Faith Muthambi, representatives from the Vhembe District Municipality, traditional leaders, and pastors of the various churches in the area.
 
In her address during the funeral, the mayor of Makhado Municipality, Cllr Mavhungu Luruli told community members to protect themselves by obeying all the instructions provided by health practitioners, such as washing hands before eating anything at all times and also to make sure that their toilets are clean. “You must always go to the nearest clinic if you suspect that you have been infected. The municipality will ensure that the reservoir is clean and that the water is purified correctly at all times,” she said.
 
Meanwhile, the chief executive officer of the Louis Trichardt Memorial Hospital revealed during the mayor’s visit to the hospital last Friday that the hospital had already treated 93 patients for cholera contamination. “We have admitted nine Zimbabwean nationals who are also suffering from cholera,” he said.
 
Four more cholera cases have been reported at Elim Hospital, while three others were reported at Siloam Hospital last Friday.
 
The headman for Madodonga Village, Mr Ntanganedzeni Kutama, is pleading with community members in the area to cooperate with the health practitioners who are engaging in the awareness campaign. “I believe that prevention is better than cure. I also want to thank the mayor of Makhado Municipality, Cllr Mavhungu Luruli, and her municipal manager, Ms Faith Muthambi, who came down here to assist. If we can have 10 more people like them in our municipality, then things will be fine. May God bless them. A vha ri tshileli,”
 
Asked about the rumours that are rife in the village that the deaths were the result of muti that was spread inside the water tank that distributes water to the households, Kutama responded that the people who are saying these things are not telling the truth. “People must stop pointing fingers at one another. Some of the patients being treated have their own water in their home, so we cannot blame muti poisoning,” he said.
 
The Department of Social Development provided food to all the affected families for the funerals last Friday.
 
Sixty-eight new cases of cholera were reported in Limpopo over the weekend. This the total number of cases throughout South Africa that have been reported since the outbreak of the disease in November last year brings to 2 348. Cholera was first diagnosed when Zimbabwean victims of the water-borne disease crossed the border to seek treatment.
 
According to the report, cholera continues to hit many parts of the country and in Gauteng the number of cholera cases rose from 162 to 173. Eleven new cases were reported in Tshwane. KwaZulu-Natal cases have increased to six, while the Western Cape still had seven. Mpumalanga also reported more cases in the three municipalities of Dr JS Moroka, Thaba Chweu and Bushbuckridge.
 
The spokesperson for the Limpopo Department of Health and Social Development, Mr Phuthi Seloba, said that the department was concerned about the rate at which the disease was spreading in the province.
Seloba said they were continuing with the campaign to educate communities to ensure that people know what measures to take to deal with the disease. “We have resorted to an infotainment kind of approach in which communities will watch a drama about people suffering from the disease, which will inform them about the dangers of the disease,” he said.