People in parts of Tembisa say they’ve been living with unattended, blocked and leaking sewage pipes for almost 10 years. There’s constant dirty water from blocked or leaking sewage in the streets and yards of areas including Winnie Mandela Zones, Tswelapele, Ivory, Setshama and Duduza. Residents say this has been their living situation since, at least, 2016. 

“We have been risking our lives for a while now. I’ve been living in Winnie Mandela zone 9 for eight years. The sewage pipes have been leaking since I got here and the municipality is doing absolutely nothing about this issue,” says resident Simon Moloise (32).   

“We are really risking our health here. I sometimes get headaches and lose my appetite for food because of the bad smell of the sewage.”

The free flowing wastewater make it difficult to even walk down the street. In some areas, the roads are so damaged that cars won’t drive there. Even minibus taxis don’t venture. 

“We are struggling with transport due to this situation, especially when we go shopping. We are forced to get off from our homes, because taxi drivers are always complaining that our bad roads will ruin their vehicles,” says Bright Baloyi (26).  

Impact on service delivery

Community members say that, because of the bad roads, they can’t access any services that involve motor vehicles, including ambulances. Residents believe the unattended leaking pipes have caused this damage. 

Proper sanitation and hygiene are crucial for people’s health and well-being. Exposure to untreated sewage carries the risk of waterborne diseases including cholera, typhoid, dysentery and hepatitis A. With proper sanitation and wastewater control, all of these are preventable.

Some Tembisa residents believe that the blockage and leaking of the sewage pipes is caused by the neglect of individuals who flush or dump undissolved materials such as diapers in the toilets or drainage. Others blame the municipality for not providing them with enough services, such as dumping trucks, plastic bags and water.The affected areas are in the process of forming a community forum that will be responsible for fixing leaking and blocked sewage pipes.

Residents are taking matters into their own hands because they believe that the municipality has failed them. The initiative is in its infancy, but the goal is that by the end of this year the community forum will be effective and deliver the services the government has failed to provide. Efforts to get comment from the Ekurhuleni municipality were unsuccessful. – Health-e News