Sterkspruit : Health, Protests Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sterkspruit

Place in Eastern Cape, South Africa

30°31′26″S 27°22′12″E / 30.524°S 27.370°E / -30.524; 27.370CountrySouth AfricaProvinceEastern CapeDistrict Joe Gqabi MunicipalitySenquGovernment

• CouncillorChief MagadlaArea

^[1]

• Total4.02 km² (1.55 sq mi)Population

(2011)^[1]

• Total1,893 • Density470/km² (1,200/sq mi)Racial makeup (2011)

^[1]

• Black African96.2% • Coloured0.9% • Indian/Asian2.1% • White0.4% • Other0.4%First languages (2011)

^[1]

• Xhosa73.5% • Sotho14.2% • English4.3% • Afrikaans1.0% • Other7.0%Time zoneUTC+2 (SAST)Postal code (street)

9762

PO box

9762

Area code051

Sterkspruit is a town in the Senqu Local Municipality in the Joe Gqabi District Municipality in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa.

The town is located about 45 km south-east of Zastron, 80 km north-east of Aliwal North, and 24 km from the Lesotho border.^[2] It takes its name from the Sterkspruit, the watercourse on which it is situated. The name is Afrikaans and means ‘strong stream’.^[3]

Health

The town houses the Empilisweni District Hospital, a public government-funded and managed district hospital. It is a level 1 hospital with 93 usable beds. As it is situated close to Lesotho and Free State borders, it also renders health services to cross-border citizens visiting Sterkspruit.

Water quality has been a problem, with 140 babies dying in 2008 after drinking contaminated water.^[4]

Protests

In 2013, the town was shut down for two weeks in protests led by the Sterkspruit Civic Association, with the goal of forming its own, separate, municipality.^[5]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Main Place Sterkspruit". Census 2011.
^ "Saexplorer.co.za".
^ "Dictionary of Southern African Place Names (Public Domain)". Human Science Research Council. p. 416.
^ "Why Sterkspruit wants to secede". TimesLIVE. Retrieved 29 December 2021.
^ "Sterkspruit protests condemned". News24. Retrieved 29 December 2021.