Communities in Mangaung are at their wits’ end with the persistent sewer spillage on their streets.
According to resident Thabang Motoko, the spillage is getting worse and flooding Freedom Square Township. He blames the municipality for taking its time to fix the problem.
“Mangaung is failing to make our lives a priority because imagine pools of sewer on the roads and inside our yards. This is worrisome and it needs to be fixed urgently. We cannot walk or drive well on the streets because of the stinking pools,” says Motoko. He adds that the ongoing spillage is flowing into the Toka Primary School and people’s homes.
Another concerned resident, Thozamile Madondo says the spillages are exposing the poor workmanship.
“We walk in town or the suburbs but there are no spillages like in the township. These manholes were installed just under 25 years ago, while most of those in town were built during apartheid, yet they are still of good quality,” says Madondo.
“We are heading to local elections, but I’m yet to hear any party mentioning anything related to health. It’s clear we are led by people who only care for their pockets, not our lives.”
Andiswa Skefu’s yard is overflowing with sewage, but the municipality is not responsive to her complaints. “I went to the municipality last week, but to this day, nothing is happening. We are not taken seriously in townships. We reported the spillage last week when it started. Our kids are getting sick, we don’t know what it is,” Skefu says.
Infrastructure MMC Vusi Sogaqa he says some of the residents were responsible for the disruptive flow of sewer and leakages.
“Some of our people intentionally use objects that cause spillages or block the pipes. I have seen so many of these on my official social media platforms. I always warn our people not to use anything that is not required in a sewer pipe,” Sogaqa says.
He also blames companies and business owners for using foreign objects to block the sewer systems.
“We have noted that some companies that service us block the sewer so that they can be given jobs. We found clothes and tyres inside the manholes,” he says. “I want to call on our people to never use foreign objects because they cause repeated blockages.”
Sogaqa insists that the municipality’s plumbers are duly qualified.
“It is not true that we don’t have workers with the skills to unblock the pipes. We have been fixing some pipes throughout the metro with our own municipal workers,” he continues. “It is not true that we take time to fix the pipes. We are controlled by manpower and the number of logged cases.”
According to the South African Human Rights Commission Report on Sewer Spillages in some municipalities, the usage of low-quality materials, such as small pipes may also be a reason for spillages.
“In this regard, the size of sewer pipes is small, and the gradient of the pipes is incorrect, resulting in regular backflows. Investigation has shown that inferior material was used in the construction of the network and that some parts of the pipes were not joined together,” the report reads. – Health-e News
