The residents of Ext 25 in eMbalenhle said sewage spills and the accompanying stench are hazardous to their health. These residents said they have lived in a hazardous environment for months, which they did report to the Govan Mbeki Municipality.
Nofezile Mginqi (64) claims she contracted a respiratory disease because of the sewage in her yard. The spill has made life hard for her entire family for quite some time.
“Since being allocated here, we have faced sewage. My breathing became short, and the doctor diagnosed me with asthma. I don’t have a history of asthma. No one in my family had asthma. I believe the environment in which I have to live caused the illness.”
Mginqi is a pensioner who, years ago, when the problem began, took her grant money to buy pipes to divert the sewage into the street. This at least prevented it from seeping into the house.
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“Every day, we must still use spades to direct the sewage outside our yard. If we do not, our house will be flooded,” said Mginqi.
Thulisile Nkosi said her family can’t eat because the sewage bubbles out of their toilet and floods their entire yard. Reporting this to the municipality has not changed anything.
“Our municipality does not care. We reported our situation many times, but it received no attention.
“Our rights to live in a safe and healthy environment are suppressed because sewage has become our daily work. We have to open trenches to direct it out of our yard. We even damaged our house to divert the sewage because the municipality is no help,” said Nkosi.
Donald Green, the municipality’s acting head of communications, said the problem had been reported to the water and sanitation department and was attended to.
“We do understand that the hygiene of the community is highly affected. All the enquiries brought to the municipality’s attention are being attended to.
“We appeal to the residents to report service delivery challenges to the municipality through the call centre because this will help speed up the response to resolve these issues promptly,” said Green.
Green said they also appeal to the community to follow proper waste management practices to protect infrastructure and the environment.
He said the increase in blocked sewer drains in the area is because people dispose of foreign objects in toilets and waste water drains, causing the blockages and overflows.
