WATCH: Sewage from unknown source poisons Soweto livestock

For more than four years the community of Snake Park in Soweto has been swamped in raw sewage from an unknown source.

The polluted water floods fields and farmers in the area said their animals had died after drinking the water and eating grass immersed in it.

Jikile Sajini said that after their livestock drank the water their hair started falling out and they got sick.

He said the intestines of the dead animals were darker than normal and lumps had been found on their lungs.

He added that the poisonous dust from the mine dumps behind the farms also negatively affected the eyesight of many animals.

Residents added that they found it difficult to breathe when the temperature was high as the smell from sewage in the fields was too much to bear.

“When the smell gets too much our chests start closing up.

“At night we have to cover ourselves so we can breathe. It’s been years and no one is helping.

“We constantly have to wear masks for the smell and the dust, but the livestock is left to suffer as we have nothing that can protect them,’’ one resident, Cunukele Phephalakhe, said.

Residents want the government to clean up the sewage or move them to a different location.

Attempts to contact Joburg Water for comment were not successful, as the phone calls were not answered.

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