New home-owner Nyiko Baloyi had great plans for his new home in Estate Street, Country View, but an apparent mistake by an Ekurhuleni metro appointed contractor has left his home and garden constantly drenched in raw sewage.
On December 13 last year contractors working at the building site of the new Rynfield Reservoir struck a sewage pipe whilst digging trenches to lay stormwater drainage pipes.
“The laying of stormwater drainage becomes necessary when the soil that was excavated for the construction of the reservoir was used to level the site. It, unfortunately, raised the ground level to be higher than neighbouring properties,” said Ricky Coelho, chairman of the Country View residents association.
“The result was that the all rain run-off ended up flooding the adjacent properties. While digging to lay the stormwater pipes, the contractors damaged one of the sewage pipes but instead of repairing it they simply covered it with soil. The result has been catastrophic.”
According to Baloyi, his family is unable to enjoy their garden due to it constantly being soaked with sewage.
“We moved here in June last year as I wanted to provide my wife and children with a safe living environment. A place where children can safely play in the street. Now we can hardly leave our home as everything is covered in sewage,” said Baloyi.
Walking through the Baloyi household the overwhelming smell of sewage is evident and in places mould can be seen as the moisture seeps into the home. Interior paint is evidence of the growing damage.
“We have recently been suffering from respiratory and digestive ailments and I am sure it is a result of the inhalation of mould and faecal matter,” said Baloyi.
Nape Madiseng, project manager for the Department of Water and Sanitation, along with Ward 24 Clr Nicola Da Silva visited the site on April 29 and to the joy of the Baloyi-family, a team followed to repair the damaged pipe.
However, the moment was short-lived when the joining pipe was found to be too big, subsequently resulting in the sewage merely spilling into the excavated hole.
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Teams will return to the site to remedy the problem and it is hoped that it will be resolved.
“I have requested that a clean-up crew is sent to not only clean the street but also the family’s garden, but this can only happen once we are certain that the leak is properly fixed,” said Da Silva.
“The victims in this entire saga are the family, whose health has been negatively impacted by how this problem has been handled.”
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