Residents along Chariots of Fire Avenue in Ext 8 had a temporary one-day reprieve from the awful smell of sewage.
The leak is from a manhole that was fixed on 7 October after two days of spilling effluent into yards and almost into houses. The problem recurred on the night of 10 October, forcing residents to report the matter again to the city council. The entity gave them a reference number but wouldn’t commit to when a maintenance team would fix the problem.
Matsietsi Kualo, a resident in a house where the manhole is located, said the problem was back and was distressing as it seemed council was unable to resolve it permanently.
Other residents who have been in the area since 2004, said they were ‘gatvol’ with the mess which keeps recurring, with no end in sight. They said it posed serious health hazards to them and said it was sewerage from elsewhere and, as with any sewerage, could transmit waterborne diseases to children and the elderly.
They stated that in one previous leak, council’s maintenance team had linked it to possibly damaged underground pipes which may be sucking in soil, causing a blockage.
Residents expressed concern that other sections in the area experienced similar problems, which could point to shoddy workmanship during the laying of pipes. Others speculated that it could be that the pipes were too small to withstand the sewage coming from other areas.
They also expressed concern that products in nearby spaza shops could be contaminated and endanger their health.
Because the residents spent most of their time at work, they are particularly worried that their children, who remained unsupervised, would play in the effluent. They are worried that, if not fixed properly and soon, the problem could lead to a serious disaster with their homes being flooded by the effluent.
A maintenance team had not arrived to fix the problem by the time this article was published.
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