The death toll from an outbreak of cholera in Gauteng has risen to 21, with another death being recorded in the Free State. The question now being asked is how does the government plan to contain the Hammanskraal outbreak if the source is unknown?

Government officials on Thursday visited Jubilee District Hospital in Hammanskraal to monitor the effectiveness of current interventions to curb the spread of cholera and save lives.

The visit came after more deaths were recorded in Hammanskraal. There are now more than 170 people at the hospital with symptoms of the disease.

The government has established a command centre to combat the outbreak in collaboration with the City of Tshwane and the departments of health, water and sanitation, social development and others.

The source of the outbreak remains unknown. Tshwane mayor Cilliers Brink recently blamed it on what he described as a "network of corruption".

Daily Maverick spoke to representatives from the Hammanskraal Residents Forum and the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC):

"As the Hammanskraal Residents Forum, we are saddened by the cholera outbreak because lives have been lost and scores of people are receiving medical attention as a result," said Tumelo Koitheng.

"In 2015 we warned the City of Tshwane and the Gauteng department of water and sanitation, as well as the parliamentary portfolio committee on human settlements, water and sanitation, that a disaster is waiting to happen. Now that it has happened, we are not being engaged.

"We wish...