VIDEO-Toilet blockage frustrates Malacca residents
Residents are using the bushes behind the settlement to relieve themselves says chairperson of settlement.
FOR the last month, Malacca Road Informal Settlement residents have not been able to use two recently installed Communal Ablution Blocks or CABs (sanitation chambers) because of a severe blockage. Chairperson of the settlement committee, Sibonelo Mketwa, said residents were increasingly frustrated and were using the bushes behind the settlement to relieve themselves.
When Northglen News visited the settlement on Saturday, raw sewage had overflown flooding the walkway outside the chambers. The sanitation chambers, as well as the showers all feed into one pipe which flows into a underground storage area. The waste water has to be vacuumed out by the City on a weekly basis. However this has not been done for a month.
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“It is a nightmare, we have to go to the bushes behind the settlement to relieve ourselves. We can’t use the shower facilities either and have to resort to collecting water to bathe. We are fed-up with the current situation because we’ve sent various emails and spoken to the City about the situation and nothing has been done. We are concerned also for the children in the settlement, many of them may not know they walked in the waste water. The sewage is also flowing down the hill and it may soon reach the land which the farmers are using to build crops which will be very bad. If you look closely you’ll see a steady stream of raw sewage, with floating faeces and bits of toilet paper flowing.
Mketwa said residents are now asking for a separate pipe for waste water and normal water.
“We are asking for a pipe that separates our waste water and normal water. We believe at the moment that because our water and waste is going to the same place, it’s causing an overflow, which means it keeps spilling out. At the moment this situation is not good. When its hot, the smell just spreads through the settlement. It’s hard to carry out your daily tasks with the smell permeating everything you do,” he said.
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