A young mother has told how she delivered one of her twin babies inside a hospital toilet, unaided by nurses who shouted orders at her.

Tiyiselani Loveness Mayinge, 28, said she was admitted at Mapulaneng Hospital in Bushbuckridge on June 3, and she and other pregnant women were forced to sleep on the floor due to lack of beds.

"I was shown a room where many pregnant women were sleeping on the floor. I decided to sit on a chair and while I was sitting, I called for help as I felt the baby was coming.

"Nurses shouted, saying I must wait as they were helping someone else to deliver.

"I walked to the bathroom and as I got in, the baby came out. I lied down and pushed," Mayinge said.

"I thought the nurses were going to help me deliver but they waited outside, shouting that I must carry my baby to the bed they had prepared for me.

"I carried the baby boy and went to the ward and lied on the bed," she said.

To her shock, she felt another baby coming out.

"I screamed for help and nurses helped me deliver the other baby (a girl). I did not know that I was pregnant with twins.

"I had been going to the local clinic where I was just told that my baby was big.

"It is very shocking to get such treatment at a government hospital in this day and age. But my mother was not shocked when I told her what happened to me."

Mayinge said the hospital also had water problems.

"My children were just wiped and handed over to me like that, I'm lucky they are alive and we are home now."

A community member said the water problem at Mapulaneng Hospital had been going on for years.

"I think the nurses themselves get frustrated. Sometimes there is not enough clean linen, no beds and water," said the man.

Provincial health spokesperson Dumisani Malamule said the department is investigating the incident.

"We are investigating the matter and we will find information and take action when we get [to the bottom of] what really transpired," said Malamule. The DA in the province expressed shock at the incident, saying they would report the matter to the SA Human Rights Commission.

DA provincial leader Jane Sithole said: "Mapulaneng Hospital hasn't had water for a very long time and desperate appeals to the Mpumalanga department of health to ensure consistent water supply to the hospital had fallen on deaf ears," said Sithole.