Durban family blames contaminated water for wife's death
A Durban man says he and his children are struggling to come to terms with the death of his wife, which they believe was caused by contaminated water.
Thirty-eight-year-old Rashnie Baijnath died on 10 August after suffering from severe diarrhoea.
Her family says it started after she drank tap water at their Birchwood Park home, west of Durban.
Speaking to Newswatch, her husband Suraj says she died six days after.
READ: Birchwood Park residents warned of unsafe tap water
"She drank the water on the Thursday. Friday she got sick - on Monday, then very server. So we took her to the doctor. They gave her rehydration and medication. It never helped 100 percent.
On Tuesday morning, I called for the ambulance, it came and we transferred her to St Marys. They tried to give her antibiotics with drips. She came back home, but unfortunately, on Wednesday, she became critical.
"We went to get transport to take her to the hospital, but unfortunately, around quarter past eight, she passed away in the car, in my hand on the way to hospital."
In a statement released on 18 August, eThekwini Municipality said that water testing revealed that tap water in the area did not meet acceptable standards.
The City said it was investigating the source of contamination and urged residents to boil their tap water before drinking.
Baijnath says had the municipality communicated to the community quicker about the compromised water, his wife would have never fallen ill.
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He says all his attempts to get answers from the municipality have fallen on deaf ears.
"It is heartbreaking because I have got to be a mom and a dad to both my children now. When you phone and beg them, they put it on deaf ears. My son is taking toll because he was very close to his mom. She used to take him to school and bring him from school.
"It is affecting him now. After the death, it never affected him so much, but these past couple of days, it is affecting him quite a bit. My daughter gets up in the middle of the night she says 'mom, mom, mom' and she cries."
eThekwini spokesperson, Msawakhe Mayisela said: "As a city, we would like to send our heartfelt condolences to the family of the deceased. But our position is quite clear with regard to this matter.
"There is no conclusive evidence that suggests that the deceased lost her life because of the quality of the water. There are investigations that are currently underway.
"Our teams are working hard to ensure that the situation is back to normal. The results that we keep getting - because we keep on testing our water in that part of the city - they are pointing out that the water quality continues to improve.
"But we are appealing to members of the community to continue to boil water up until the city gets the go-ahead from those conducting the tests."
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