Municipality addresses spillage

Residents of Modimolle’s Phagameng, mainly those who live nearby the main Joe Slovo Street and Jay Naidoo Street, have been experiencing challenges with the sewer spillages posing a health threat.

The problem has also been affecting residents who commute on Joe Slovo Street on a daily basis, on their way to and from work.

On Tuesday 2 July, The BEAT spotted a team dispatched by the Modimolle-Mookgophong Municipality, to attend to the sewer problems on Joe Slovo and nearby streets.

Due to the extensiveness of the problem, the municipality had to use a high pressure sewer jetting truck to unblock the sewer.

Modimolle-Mookgophong Mayor Marlene Van Staden said this was part of the municipality’s broader efforts to address the issue.

“It will be an ongoing process because residents put things (solid objects) inside our sewerage outfall,” she said.

Van Staden said during the hydro jetting process, the municipality officials found among other things, dead animals, bricks, bags of cement, clothing, shoes and bottles.

“I would really like to plead with members of the public not to dispose of any solid objects in our sewer manholes and in their toilets,” Van Staden pleaded.

The Mayor said the cooperation from local residents would help both the community and municipality, as that would reduce blockages.

“It should be a collective effort. Remember, all the money we have to spend on fixing things could have been used to provide basic services to residents,” she said.

— The BEAT