Malacca sewage leak a health hazard
Residents say the stench and the pooling of sewage around their homes have become a nightmare.
RESIDENTS of Malacca Road Informal Settlement have voiced their anger and frustration over a steady sewage leak affecting two Communal Ablution Blocks or CABs (sanitation chambers). According to the residents, the leak is in part due to a severe blockage of the piping system running from the sanitation chamber to a soak pit nearby.
When Northglen News visited the settlement last week, raw sewage had overflown flooding the walkway outside the chambers and had soaked a large swathe of grass near residents’ homes. Arianne Hayes-Hill, who has been helping Malacca Road Informal Settlement residents through her NPO, the Amaphupho Yezingani (Dreams of Children) Seed Fund, said the situation was unacceptable.
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“The waste in the soak pit is normally vacuumed by a honey sucker truck sent out by the City however, the process isn’t done regularly due to the bureaucracy. The residents have to contact the City to ask them to vacuum out the waste in order for it not to overflow. The current sewage leak is down to two factors, one the piping system running through to the soakpit is blocked forcing human waste and grey water back up the pipes and seeps everywhere.
“The other factor is when the soak pit is full, it overflows on to the ground outside residents’ homes and where children play. I think the infrastructure needs to be addressed. It is shocking that the City allows a situation to develop like this. This is a health hazard for the entire settlement,” she said.
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Chairperson of the settlement committee, Fikile Mtwa, said residents were increasingly frustrated and were using the bushes behind the settlement to relieve themselves.
“It is a nightmare for residents who have no dignity. 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,” he said.
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