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JOHANNESBURG - Amnesty International South Africa says the deaths of 15 people due to cholera outbreak in Hammanskraal, north of Pretoria, is deeply troubling and unacceptable.
The organisation’s executive director, Shenilla Mohamed, said people are dying of a ‘preventable and easily treatable disease’.
“Cholera is caused by the intake of contaminated food or water,” said Mohamed.
“The provision of safe water and sanitation is critical in preventing and controlling the transmission of cholera. Despite the Gauteng health department’s warning to residents not to drink the tap water, and confirmation that further samples are being tested, now is the time for the department of water and sanitation (DWS) to work with municipalities, such as the City of Tshwane and across the country, to act in the short- and long-term, and invest in and manage South Africa’s basic water and sanitation infrastructure.”
She said the current outbreak “must be brought under control immediately, and the spread of, and possible future outbreaks, must be prevented”.
“The right to access safe, sufficient and reliable water is enshrined in the Constitution, and will continue to be threatened – and lives risked – unless the government prioritises investment in infrastructure and tackles corruption and the mismanagement of public funds.
UKRAINE - Ukraine’s foreign minister began a tour of African countries this week, stepping up Kyiv’s diplomatic push to challenge Russian influence in the ‘Global South’ and cement the vision laid out by Ukraine as the only path to peace.
Top diplomat Dmytro Kuleba said his main priority was to get African countries to endorse President Volodymyr Zelensky’s peace plan as he travelled to Morocco on his second tour of Africa since Russia invaded in February last year.
Negotiations
“Important negotiations lie ahead with African leaders and business,” he wrote on Instagram, saying he aimed to win support for the uninterrupted flow of Ukrainian grain via the Black Sea and secure new openings for Ukrainian business.
The tour follows three days of diplomacy by Zelensky at the Arab League of Nations on Friday and then at a Group of Seven summit in Japan. As well as G7 leaders, he met those of
India, Indonesia, Iraq and the Saudi crown prince during his travels.
Political analysts say Ukraine is accelerating its push to court the Global South - a term meaning Latin America,
Africa and much of Asia - and that the effort has taken on greater importance as rival peace proposals to end the war in Ukraine have popped up in other capitals.