A serious intervention is required as cholera continues to hit many parts of South Africa and the Limpopo province in particular.

According to reports, the number of reported cholera cases continues to rise in many parts of the country. However, the Limpopo govern-ment has declared cholera-afflicted Musina a disaster area. The decision was taken during the executive council meeting in Polokwane last week.

The provincial government spokesman, Mogale Nchabeleng, confirmed that the area had been declared a disaster zone. “It requires urgent attention on the part of the government to confront cholera head-on. This will include deploying more resources, both human and capital, to Musina to deal with the cholera situation there,” said Nchabeleng, adding that the Exco had also decided to invoke the services and intervention of the national government and other stakeholders to bring the disease under control.

Nchabeleng further acknowledged that they would interact with the national treasury with a view to making re-sources available to fight the outbreak, which is continuing to hit other areas of the province.

Meanwhile, the spokesman for the Limpopo Department of Health and Social Development, Phuti Seloba, said there were 27 new cases of cholera reported in the area last week. Of this number, only two of the Zimbabwean patients had come through the Musina border. The rest had come in through the Madimbo area. The total number of cases that were dealt with was 688.

“We are really concerned about the rate at which the patients are flocking to our institutions. It shows that the disease is still serious in Zimbabwe,” Seloba said, adding that the situation was making it difficult for them to target the Beit Bridge border post as many patients were now us-ing Madimbo to cross into South Africa.

“So far, the disease has claimed at least eight lives in South Af-rica. At least 20 people have died from cholera in Limpopo – nine in the past two weeks alone,” he said.

The department of Health and Social Development announced four new deaths on Monday. According to Seloba, the test results from people suspected to have died of cholera had come out positive.

Seloba further confirmed that a woman, 54, died on January 16. A day later, a man and a girl died at the WF Knobel Hospital in Moletjie. “Another woman died on January 8 at Helene Franz Hospital in Senwabarwana. Five other deaths were reported last week, two at the WF Knobel Hospital and three at the Dilokong Hospital in Sekhukhune,” re-vealed Seloba.

According to reports, 87 new cases of cholera were reported in Lim-popo this week. Many rural villages across the province have been holding mass funerals almost every week since the cholera outbreak last November. This includes the Mad-odonga village in the Kutama area outside Louis Trichardt, where it was earlier reported that 25 people had died of cholera contamina-tion.

Seloba, however, denied rumours that the Department of Health and Social Development in Limpopo was downplaying the figures, saying that they only put out numbers of cases that have been tested and confirmed as cholera-related. “There is a misconception that anyone who shows symptoms of cholera automatically has the disease,” he says.