The Eastern Cape Health Department has issued a formal apology following distressing scenes at Settlers Hospital in Makhanda, where women were filmed carrying buckets of water on their heads. The incident has sparked outrage and raised concerns over patient care and hygiene standards at the facility.
The video, which went viral on social media, showed mothers and grandmothers of admitted children fetching water from outdoor taps at the hospital. According to a News24 report, the hospital was experiencing a water outage at the time.
Eastern Cape Health Department spokesperson Siyanda Manana apologised on behalf of the department, explaining that the water disruption resulted from a municipal infrastructure issue, not hospital failure.
“It’s a very unfortunate situation and I just want to reiterate again that as a department we are very apologetic,” Manana said.
He explained that a screen supplying water to the hospital became blocked with soil, disrupting the supply. The municipality has since issued its own apology and explanation.
Manana clarified that the women carrying buckets were “border mothers” — caregivers who stay at the hospital to look after their admitted children — not patients themselves. He stated they were fetching water for their own bathing, not for the children, as nurses are responsible for bathing paediatric patients.
“What they did was really to go and get the water so that they could really wash. That is all that they actually did,” Manana said. “We then said, don’t do that. There are people that you can really ask so that they can go and draw the water for yourselves.”
When asked where hospital staff were at the time, Manana suggested the images were captured very early in the morning before some employees had reported for duty.
The spokesperson insisted there was always water available in critical areas of the hospital, including a borehole that supplies operating theatres and the maternity ward. He also noted the municipality delivered water tanks to the facility.
Nonprofit organisation Grahamstown Deserves Better was quoted in the original article demanding a full investigation and warning of an “unacceptable risk to patients.” The group also alleged that when water is restored, it is frequently discoloured, odorous, and consistent with sewage contamination.
Manana confirmed that his department had met with the organisation’s committee. “We explained to them that there was really no risk that was faced by the children or anybody in Settlers Hospital,” he said, adding that further engagements are planned.
While Manana did not deny that discoloured water occurs in Makhanda — acknowledging high chlorine levels and ongoing municipal investigations — he insisted the health department takes precautions, sourcing clean water and purchasing bottled water and sterile supplies for equipment and handwashing.
Asked how frequently Settlers Hospital runs out of water, Manana said the problem affects the entire town of Makhanda due to municipal infrastructure issues. He estimated water outages occur roughly three days per week, though he maintained the hospital’s borehole provides coverage.
The interview concluded with the observation that President Cyril Ramaphosa had convened the Presidential Coordinating Council on the same day to discuss water challenges facing the country.