Located a stones throw from Edenvale, Sizwe Tropical Disease Hospital, formerly known as the Rietfontein Tropical Disease Hospital, is an iconic part of South African history.
Starting as a lazaretto (quarantine station) made of tents and metal huts, the hospital grew over 124 years.
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Before becoming what it is known as today, the station was one of three lazarettos around Johannesburg located at Hospital Hill, Geldenhuys Estate and Luipaardsvlei.
In 1893, 2 215 patients were treated at the three lazarettos, under the authority of a Kinderpokken Komite (chickenpox committee), in response to a smallpox outbreak.
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The decision to build the hospital on a portion of Riefontein Farm stemmed from protests about the proximity of smallpox treatment to residential areas and the need for proper medical institutions.
Another deciding factor was the distance between the farm and Johannesburg, a full day’s march or cart ride which was considered a safe distance for the isolation of smallpox.
Once founded in 1895, Rietfontein Hospital continued to resemble a camp and was run by the chickenpox committee which later became the Speciale Komite van Gezondheid (special committee of health).
It was not until Dr John Max Mehliss was appointed as the hospital’s first medical superintendent that the hospital started to develop.
Under Mehliss’ and the committee’s leadership, the hospital grew and replaced temporary structures with permanent buildings.
Two years after Mehliss’ appointment a leper asylum was constructed in the area of the present Edenvale Hospital.
Countless patients of various nationalities, including South Africa’s beloved Archbishop Reverend Desmond Tutu, were treated at the hospital.
Over the years, approximately 7 000 people were buried on the hospital’s property in five separate cemeteries.
After 32 years of service at the hospital, Mehliss was also buried on its grounds.
The hospital, which was one of the first of its kind, provided treatment to patients with smallpox, tuberculosis, malaria, leprosy, typhoid, Congo fever, Spanish flu, bubonic plague, anthrax and Ebola.
In 1898 the smallpox epidemic subsided, allowing the hospital to accommodate patients with venereal and other infectious diseases.
The area around the hospital in its early years was described as being an open expanse of land with the closest large settlement being Edenvale.
In Reminiscences 1895-1995 Rietfontein Hospital compiled by the Edenvale Museum and Cultural Society, Johan Rossouw, who grew up on the hospital’s property, described Edenvale as a shanty town where poor white people lived while Sandringham was a bare veld.
Edenvale, established after the Anglo Boer War, came to be approximately seven years after the hospital and developed around the Rietfontein Gold Mine.
A large portion of the town’s residents at the time were Cornish miners.
Sandringham was only developed after World Ward II to accommodate troops returning from the war.
“The area was a huge playground for a young boy in the midst of nature,” described Rousouw.
Rossouw further elaborates on the undeveloped area, describing sightings of guinea fowl, peafowl, francolin, hares and even steenbok.
In 2017 Peter Barrett, a former charge nurse, told the NEWS of his work in the hospital’s TB and haemorrhagic fever wards.
“While working in the fever ward you had to be extremely careful. You had to wear a face mask, gloves and double bag anything with blood on it,” said Barrett.
Having worked in TB wards, Barrett knows how dangerous the disease is.
“TB and many of the other diseases treated at Sizwe can remain active for many years after a patient’s death and can survive in the soil.”
Many of the patients’ graves on the property were identified as numbered metal markers.
Over the years these markers have been vandalised, stolen or just disappeared, adding confusion to the exact number of individuals buried on the property.
At the hospital, Barrett watched educational films about smallpox and other diseases.
In his opinion, smallpox patients were affected badly and often their families were infected too.
Information and photographs from:
• Rietfontein Tropical Disease Hospital. One hundred years of Proud History [Brochure] 1995.
• Reminiscences 1895-1995 Rietfontein Hospital.
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