Pretoria - Lawyers of families of people who died in the cholera outbreak in Hammanskraal were hard at work yesterday afternoon collating reports that would assist in an urgent application for a class-action lawsuit.
Advocate Moafrika Wa Maila, who has been at the forefront of the looming lawsuit, told the Pretoria News that the intention was to file an urgent application at the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, yesterday.
However, he said there was still an outstanding report which should form part of the application, adding that in the absence of such a report, the latest date for submission would be tomorrow.
The imminent lawsuit emanates from at least 32 fatalities that occurred in the wake of the cholera outbreak.
Families want the government to be held liable for causing the deaths and loss of income of their lost breadwinners.
Legal recourse, Wa Maila said, would be sought against President Cyril Ramaphosa, Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi, City of Tshwane mayor Cilliers Brink, Minister of Water and Sanitation Senzo Mchunu, MEC for Human Settlements, Urban Planning and Infrastructure Development Lebogang Maile, Tshwane Human Settlements MMC Ofentse Madzebatela and Health Minister Joe Phaahla, among other defendants to be listed in the application.
“First, we want the court to determine who should take responsibilities in the loss of lives and the cause of cholera in Hammanskraal, and once we find who should be blamed for that we are going to pursue a lawsuit claim against that office and also a criminal case against the individual,” he said.
He decried the fact that deaths were still being reported as a result of cholera and that many people were dying while at home. “Today (Wednesday) we got another new family. yesterday (Tuesday) two sisters lost their lives,” he said.
He said while the official death toll stood at 32, there were cholera-related deaths that were unaccounted for.
“Unofficially, we are close to 55 to 65 (deaths),” he said.
He said lawyers were also finding it difficult to reach out to every affected family because some didn’t have phones or access to radios or television sets.
Other affected families, he said, were discouraged from participating in the lawsuit by politicians.
“There is a family that lost three children. The DA councillor went there many times to speak against the class action, an attitude which I actually find racist and narcissist,” Wa Maila said.
He accused local councillors of being behind intimidation of the bereaved families.
“There are some who would be intimidated by local councillors, who have been told to sit down or risk losing everything if they go with us.
“They told them that the government would do something about their situation, but we know that they are lying because they never even assisted them to bury (their loved ones). They still went to my office for help. We are the ones who helped them to bury,” Wa Maila said.
Pretoria News