Madar (Pretoria) - 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 drinking contaminated water, the BBC reported on Tuesday, October 20, 2026.
In a joint statement on Monday, the departments of water and health said 408 cases had been detected between October 7 and 18 in about five townships in Tshwane, the municipality that includes Pretoria, after residents reported to the local hospital with "stomach cramps and diarrhoea". Lab tests "indicate that the illness has been caused by residents being exposed to contaminated water" from a local water treatment facility supplying several communities.
Tests found high levels of E. coli, as well as norovirus, campylobacter, shigella and other pathogens. No deaths have been reported and no cholera bacteria were found. Early investigations found that local authorities had failed to warn residents about the contaminated water.
The water supplied to the area has been declared unfit for human consumption and residents were told to use it only to flush toilets, to discard previously stored water and to disinfect containers with household bleach. Tankers have been dispatched to supply clean drinking water.
Tshwane has faced several outbreaks of waterborne disease in recent years, including a 2023 cholera outbreak in Hammanskraal that killed 29 people and was linked to substandard water purification, and 48 confirmed typhoid cases in the same area in 2025.
