Sewage outrage

JON HOUZET and SIPHELELE NDZAMELA

SEWAGE spills in Marselle and Ekuphumleni have residents up in arms over the stench and health hazard.

Marselle resident Julius Mabutsana, a member of the Ward 3 committee, slammed the municipality for its alleged apathy, saying officials did not treat the situation with the urgency it deserved.

A widespread sewage spill in Marselle which began in December was only attended to last Saturday, the day after TotT directed queries to infrastructural development director Xolani Masiza.

Mabutsana said he had reported the spill at the Kenton municipal offices on December 31 and followed up with the works foreman two days later.

"He only came on Friday, looked at it and said he needed a TLB,” said Mabutsana. "He said there was a pipe damaged 300m down the street.”

When TotT visited the site, Mabutsana showed us how sewage was coming up from several manholes around the township and pooling in people’s yards.

"It’s terrible, it’s all over,” he said. "It’s a health hazard. We have children playing here.”

Elderly resident Jimmy Gxekwa, who enjoys spending time in the sun when it gets chilly indoors, said he could not do so with the sewage that had formed a pond in his yard.

A relative who shares the house, Khululwa Gxekwa, told TotT that this had been going on for a long time and had been continually ignored.

"I went to the [works] department yesterday to report this but when I got there the offices were closed,” she said.

Ward 3 councillor Eric Khoatani and his Ward 4 colleague Zache Ngxingo also visited the scene and expressed concern.

"This is more evil than apartheid was,” said Ngxingo. "The constitution guarantees people the right to a clean environment.”

Khoatani said blockages were occurring because of the small diameter of the sewerage pipes and the fact poor people used newspaper as toilet paper.

"The problem has been ongoing for years,” he said. "The entire system needs to be replaced.”

Three years ago a R16,4-million municipal infrastructure grant was allocated to Marselle to upgrade its sewerage system, but Khoatani said this had helped only part of the township.

Ngxingo felt the main problem was lack of supervision of municipal workers, pointing to a worker sitting idly and texting on his cellphone.

Mabutsana said families had stopped used their waterborne sewerage toilets because the sewage came up in their yards.

"We can deal with no roads, we can even deal with no water – the municipality can bring tanks or I can buy bottled water – but we can’t live with overflowing sewage,” said.

Ngxingo took TotT to the scene of another sewage problem in Ekuphumleni, where a rudimentary open-air conservancy tank system had been installed.

"It often overflows and the sewage goes directly into the Kariega River,” he said.

Before the holding tanks were installed, sewage overflowed from a manhole further up the hill, he said

Nearby residents told TotT they had asked the municipality not to place the tanks there, but their pleas fell on deaf ears.

Thembisa Sineli said the municipality had not sucked out the sewage in six months and the smell in the area was "horrible”.

She and other residents attributed recent TB cases to the health hazard posed by the sewage.

Municipal spokesman Cecil Mbolekwa had not responded to TotT’s queries at the time of going to press.