Sewage nightmare in Batswaneng

Residents of a street in Khutsong’s Batswaneng (Tswana) section cannot even get out of their yards due to a massive sewage leak.

For years the biggest problem in this area’s main road, Sompani Drive, has been the
several sinkholes that forced residents to move.

The sinkholes were caused by water and sewerage leaks, and these became even worse as time went on.

One of these leaks, in particular, floods Adatite Street next to Sompani Drive. Although this leak has been continuing for months, it has gotten much worse since municipal contractors
started to fill up the sinkholes about three months ago.

As Adatite Street, which is not tarred, was used as an alternative road for several years while
Sompani Drive was closed because of the sinkholes, it has been badly damaged by the
extra traffic. Sompani Drive is a major access route to three primary schools and thousands
of houses and many vehicles, especially minibus taxis, were forced to drive in Adatite Street.

Now that this street is flooded by sewage nobody can see the deep potholes caused
by the extra traffic. The leaking sewage also cause a health risk and can even cause more
sinkholes if it is not attended to.

“It is really not nice to live like this,” an elderly resident of Adatite Street complains.

“We want the municipality to tar this street,” another resident noted.

“There is a project of upgrading of water and sewer services that will be executed this
financial year, to resolve sewer issues that have been affected by collapsed sewer
lines due to sinkholes. Upon completion of that project, the problem is expected to be
resolved. Routine maintenance in a form of re-gravelling will be carried out on the road until
such time the municipality is in a position to tar the road. All gravel roads are being
prioritized according to their state of use/urgency, starting with roads alongside
community facilities such as schools, clinics etc,” the municipal spokesperson answered questions about the matter.