Internal municipal affairs put stink on the Bluff
Multiple emails, WhatsApp messages and phone calls have been sent to senior Parks, Water and Sanitation as well as Health officials to urgently address the sewage leakages.
THE sewage woes continue on the Bluff, with the most recent incident being an overflow raw sewage just outside Bluff Meats Supply on Beach Road, Bluff.
Bluff Community Policing Forum (CPF) chairperson, Andy Rossell emphasised the health hazard of this leakage. “Passer-by’s are exposed to and walk on the raw sewage. Not only is this unacceptable, but this also results in people carrying around these bacteria which could become problematic should it enter and infect the products and meat at the butchery. Then we’ll have another big issue on our hands altogether.”
Multiple emails, WhatsApp messages and phone calls have been sent to senior Parks, Water and Sanitation as well as Health officials to urgently address the sewage leakages. Municipal workers managed to attend to the issue on Tuesday morning, 28 January where they began digging underground to access a blocked pipe that feeds into a manhole nearby.
Bingham Place also recently experienced an overflowing of sewers since the middle of last year which was finally attended to a week ago. “Residents endured sewage gushing into resident’s properties, which further flowed down the storm water drains, which leads onto our beaches. When do we say enough is enough and stand together in order to demand the services we pay for?” he questioned.
Community members residing near Highbury Road sports field, also put forth complaints regarding raw sewage leaking onto the field, allegedly for the past three months with no effective service from the municipality.
Ward 66 councillor JP Prinsloo confirmed that he is aware of the prevailing issue and said that he has liaised with eThekwini Municipality officials, who informed him that the City is currently facing a shortage of deployed external contractor workers.
This has resulted in backlogs and most of the municipal work to rest on internal staff’s shoulders, hence slowing down effective service delivery. “Although resources are limited, residents who have reported sewage issues and have a reference number may contact myself or the ward office and we will make efforts to assist where we can as well as escalate the issues to the relevant parties to resolve the problem,” said Prinsloo.
The ward 66 office can be contacted on 031-467-0056 or email at Bluffservicedelivery@gmail.com
Efforts to reach eThekwini Municipality for comment were unsuccessful by the time of going to print.
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