On Thursday last week Taw Hubbard came home to a sewage-flooded home. This was not the first time it happened.
Sewerage pipes on Lelie Street in Homelake were full and the excess pressure resulted in a spillage from a manhole as well as Hubbard’s toilet. He angrily states that he contacted the municipality immediately after finding his home filled with sewage – it took them three hours to get to the spectacle.
The flooding according to Hubbard was nearly a metre high. It damaged all the belongings in the house. Hubbard says this is the second time that flooding and damage to this extent have happened. The last occurrence was eight years ago.
He says when the first incident occurred, a municipal worker told him that the pipes in the area are too small for the amount of waste going through them and need to be replaced with bigger ones.
Hubbard explains in exasperation that these pipes never were replaced and simply are unblocked every time. He claims this happens every three to four weeks.
With no other place to go, he and his fiance had to sleep on a bed that earlier that day had been standing in human and other waste. He says as a result, they have been experiencing vomiting and other consequences of cleaning and sleeping in other people’s filth.
On top of having a sewage-infested house, Hubbard’s generator was damaged in the flooding. He then experienced a power cut and could not use the generator, leaving him without electricity and a house full of filth.
Numerous attempts were made to contact the Randfontein Local Municipality regarding the issue, but to no avail.
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