Pretoria - Bereaved families of people who died after a cholera outbreak in Hammanskraal are in line for ex gratia payments of R30 000 proposed by City of Tshwane mayor Cilliers Brink.
Brink said a consultation process involving the 28 identified affected families was under way to eventually make the donation possible.
The mayor’s good gesture of donating funds was made known amid a looming class action lawsuit pursued by families who want the government to compensate them for their losses.
Represented by a number of lawyers led by Advocate Moafrika wa Maila, the families are gunning for President Cyril Ramaphosa, Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi, Brink, Minister of Water and Sanitation Senzo Mchunu, Gauteng MEC for Human Settlements Lebogang Maile, Pretoria Human Settlements MMC Ofentse Madzebatela and Health Minister Joe Phaahla, among other defendants expected to be listed in the application.
Eva Phengwa, who lost her sister Johanna Phengwa, recently expressed frustration regarding how she was struggling financially to take care of the deceased’s four children. She said she would like the government to assume the responsibility of taking care of them because their mother had been a breadwinner. Three of the children were still attending school, while the elder one who was 25 years old was unemployed.
Brink said: “The commitment from my side is to commit from the mayoral fund an ex gratia payment of R30 000 per family affected.”
He said it was unfortunate that the payments would be made after the funerals because “we have our own processes to follow in terms of verifying information”.
“What I have done is reached out to the premier of Gauteng (Lesufi) to say we are able to give R30 000 per family. Will you be able as a province to top it up? I have written to him three times and he has responded zero times. We apologise that it has taken so long but we do have to follow the systems,” he said
Wa Maila previously told the Pretoria News that there were cholera-related deaths that were unaccounted for, saying that many people died at home and not in hospitals.
He said: “Unofficially, we are close to 55 to 65 (deaths).”
During a media briefing last month, Brink said: “People affected by this must follow their rights. They must get independent legal advice and see if a court of law should adjudicate this matter. As the City we wouldn’t like to dictate to folks how to treat the matter.”
He also said it would be crucial for those behind the class action suit “to establish causality” and find out where the problem came from, and somebody who was responsible for it.
Pretoria News