South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa has promised to end the country's latest cholera outbreak as the death toll climbed to 31 people across three provinces on Thursday.
The country's commercial capital, Gauteng province, accounts for 29 deaths while the Free State and Mpumalanga provinces had one death each, according to the national department of health.
Ramaphosa visited Hammanskraal, the most affected township, on Thursday and admitted that the authorities had "dropped the ball". He said investigations were ongoing to find the source of the outbreak.
"We are going to get on top of this problem and solve it. The commitment from government is there and it's going to make sure that," he told journalists after the visit.
Over 600 people with suspected cholera symptoms have visited the hospital since the outbreak was confirmed and mobile hospitals had been set up to deal with the high numbers, the department's spokesperson said.
Residents of Hammanskraal said their tap water was brown and dirty, according to news agencies.
Africa is witnessing an exponential rise in cholera cases amid a global surge, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Cases recorded on the continent in the first month of 2023 alone have already risen by more than 30% of the total caseload reached in the whole of 2022.
An estimated 26, 000 cases and 660 deaths have been reported as of January 29, 2023, in 10 African countries facing outbreaks since the beginning of the year.
