Fears over summer rains

RESIDENTS of Petshell in New Germany are at the brink of reliving their trauma as they wait for the summer rains. These fears stem from concerns about the infrastructure that remains unfixed four months after the floods. The residents whose complex is located near the Palmiet River have been living with the unpleasant smell of sewage since then.

Part of the complex’s boundary was washed away by the river. Julie Prinsloo told the Highway Mail that about eight prefabs and H-posts of their boundary wall had been dropped with about two metres of garden paving.

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Speaking to the Highway Mail again on Thursday, September 22, resident Martine Klette said, “Days after that and now five months down the line, we are still trying to get the municipality to come and fix the sewerage lines so that our complex can be rebuilt. We have had several intruders in the complex.”

Klette said the day after the floods, they investigated the damage. “We could see that the sewer pipes had been cracked, and there were faeces floating in the river. Our entire bank that boards the complex was severely compromised by the floods, and still is,” she said. She said the amount of E. coli that is currently in the Palmiet River is disgusting, and this is what is flowing into our seas.

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“Every day, all day, we have the stench of the sewage, and it’s just getting worse and worse and worse. People are going to get sick. All we are asking is that the municipality commit and come and fix the sewage line,” said Klette. Prinsloo attested to this, and said that apart from the awful smell, the unfixed boundary wall poses danger should rains come again.

“The wall here is very close to falling off, and we are afraid of what will happen to our properties. Some of us want to sell these properties,” she said. The residents said they fear the upcoming rains as this would cause more damage. “Summer comes with a lot of rain, and with the way things are right now, we could lose our properties. We understand that we are among a lot of people who were badly affected, probably more than we are, but this has been long enough. All we ask is for the municipality to fix their part. We are forbidden by law to interfere with the municipal infrastructure,” she said.

The eThekwini Municipality had not commented by the time this article was published.