- Boreholes, groceries, and clean water were provided through church and civic support.
- Affidavits and consultations sought accountability for cholera deaths.
- Intimidation, money offers, and fear ended the case abruptly.
I was at the office with my brother, Molefe Loate, a director of Loate Attorneys at Pretoria North. He said to me that someone asked him how my Hammanskraal cholera case ended. I then had to spend about an hour explaining the whole situation to him.
You will remember that there was a Hammanskraal cholera outbreak in June 2021, in which 23 people died in two weeks, and numbers skyrocketed untraced. The number I could record and trace personally reached 48 deaths. I began to feel a need to speak and fight for justice.
I was at the forefront of the campaign against the government in relation to the water crisis and cholera outbreak. We set up efforts to challenge the cholera outbreak, including having Reverend Chris Mathebula sponsor the Hammanskraal community with six boreholes around Sekampaneng and Kanana, and Pastor Bert Pretorius assist with groceries for affected families and bottles of clean water for the affected community.
Mobilising legal action
I began to mobilise legal action for the affected families. We invited affected family members and individuals to a group consultation at Shammah Bible Church at Kanana, assisted by Moretele Community Radio, Hammanskraal News Temba, and Hamitown TV. The meeting happened the day President Cyril Ramaphosa came to Hammanskraal at Temba Stadium. The meeting was successful and drew attention to family members and affected individuals.
We then set up a consultation centre for affected families and individuals at Ebenezer Bible Church, under the leadership of Bishop Phillip Mogwera at Temba. We hosted a week of consultations with three legal practitioners from Hammanskraal Adv Ngobeni, Adv Christina, and I was present at all material times.
After consultations, we had at least 68 confirmatory affidavits, and 47 were family members of those who died of cholera symptoms during the two weeks of the outbreak. Many were admitted to Jubilee Hospital, but survived with worsened health conditions.
I felt strongly that all evidence pointed to the water tankers dominating the streets of Hammanskraal as water suppliers. I felt an obligation to speak out about the deaths after hearing affected individuals describe the water they drank from truck tankers.
I took the confirmatory affidavits to the Tshwane Bar Association at Menlyn Maine, at the chambers of Advocate Donald Sekwakweng. We worked on a solid founding affidavit with one young man, Lucas from Kanana, whose mother died and whose siblings were hospitalised. The entire family was hospitalised over the weekend.
After the founding affidavit was done, I took it to the main applicant, and he signed it. I then had one attorney from Hammanskraal process the filing. The attorneys with vested interest in the matter were Ipeleng Motshegoa, Obakeng Mthombeni and Lesego Kwakwa. One of them had to file the matter. I had one of my juniors take the commissioned affidavit to Mr Ipeleng Motshegoa’s office at Pretoria Central.
Threats and intimidation
Two or three days later, Pastor David Megalane asked me to distance myself from the cholera case because he was told by some men that I would die soon if I kept talking about the water crisis and truck tankers. I laughed it off. He said those trucks were under “Mkhulu uBaba.” I did not know who that person was.
A week later, in Pretoria Central, I parked at the State Theatre underground. Inside my car was a man who spoke softly in Siswati. He told me to drive to Hammanskraal. We drove through multiple gates at a heavily guarded farm near Kekana Gardens.
I was searched, stripped of personal items, and led into a house. An elderly man arrived, praised my suit, and told me to stop interfering with water trucks because they were his. He said he knew my family, my children, my wife, and even my father. He showed me pictures of them at malls, restaurants, and at home.
He warned me that if I continued leading the case, he would be forced to kill me. He said people had to die for money to be released and spent on water. He offered me money to walk away.
The collapse of justice
I declined the money but withdrew for my family’s sake. Families were offered R30 000 each, and the matter ended abruptly, disappearing like smoke.
I was there. I am here. I am haunted by injustice. I know what will and can happen if I make a move. I want to move on with a burden in my heart.
I remain The Lion of Azania!
Get your news on the go. Click here to follow the Conviction WhatsApp channel.
