‘Cash flow challenges’ hinder sewage leak repair
"The fact of the matter is that we will attend to all the sewer problems we have, even though we are experiencing a lot of challenges that impact on our service delivery"
Repairs to the raw sewage line that is flowing into the Bushman’s River near Paradise have been delayed due to ‘cash flow challenges’ being experienced by uThukela District Municipality.
This is according to communications manager Jabulani Mkhonza, who was responding to a media enquiry about the sewage leak that has been plaguing the area for years.
READ: Sewage spill continues to contaminate Bushman’s River
Residents of the area say they noticed the leak more than two years ago and timeously reported it to the district municipality, which is the water and sanitation provider.
The problem was not attended to and a month back, during the heavy rains, the sewage pipe was damaged. This caused a break in the line, which in turn resulted in a massive flow of effluent into the river.
Contamination
This river provides an essential source of water for hundreds of people who live along it, and this goes as far as Weenen.
Concerned locals reported the sewage leak and contaminated water to the district municipality and thereafter the Estcourt News.
They fear that diseases could easily spread, as animals drink the water and people use it for household chores. When questioned, uThukela gave a time-frame of two weeks to repair the broken sewer line.
However, more than a month has passed and the leak continues.
uThukela responds
Responding to follow-up questions from the Estcourt News, Mr Mkhonza last week said that the repairs had been hindered.
“Our area engineer visited the site with the former general manager and he promised to source an external service provider for us, due to the challenges we have internally. He then later informed the area engineer that we have cash flow challenges, but the pipeline will be attended to,” Mr Mkhonza said.
He did not give an indication as to when this will be done.
Furthermore, he said the district municipality is striving to repair a number of sewer leaks that have been reported.
“I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the Bushman’s River pipeline is not the only sewer problem we have. We also have others we are currently attending to and we are working to fix those damaged pipes. The fact of the matter is that we will attend to all the sewer problems we have, even though we are experiencing a lot of challenges that impact on our service delivery,” he commented.
NOW READ: Plans for private hospital are in the pipeline
Click to receive news links via WhatsApp. Or for the latest news, visit our webpage or follow us on Facebook and Twitter
