Over 400 Fall Sick as Tap Water Contamination Hits South Africa's Tshwane

Residents living near South Africa’s capital, Pretoria, have been warned not to drink or cook with tap water after more than 400 people, mostly children under four, fell ill after consuming contaminated water.

The cases were detected in Tshwane, the area which includes Pretoria, after people reported to their local hospital with stomach cramps and diarrhoea over a two-week period.

According to a joint statement by the departments of water and health on Monday, 408 cases were detected between 7 and 18 October in about five townships.

Officials said laboratory tests indicated that the illness was caused by exposure to contaminated water from a local water treatment facility supplying communities east of Pretoria.

Samples tested found high levels of E. coli, norovirus, campylobacter, shigella and other pathogens that cause stomach cramps and diarrhoea. No cholera bacteria was found in the latest cases and no deaths have been reported.

The water supplied to the area has been declared unfit for human consumption, with authorities urging residents to only use it to flush toilets.

Tankers have been dispatched to supply clean drinking water, while officials advised residents to discard previously stored water and disinfect containers using household bleach.

The team’s early investigations found that local authorities failed to warn residents about the contaminated water.

Tshwane has faced numerous outbreaks from waterborne diseases in recent years. In 2023, 29 people were killed by a cholera outbreak in Hammanskraal township linked to substandard water purification, while 48 cases of typhoid were confirmed in the same area in 2025.