Students sick of sewage stench

SO-CALLED “honeysucker” tankers that extract sewage from a block of student accommodation flats in Amalinda in East London have been blamed by residents for causing a stench in the area.

Residents claim the honeysuckers make more than five trips daily drawing sewage from the student residence, which is owned by SKG properties in Calypso Gardens.

The issue came under public scrutiny when the Daily Dispatch published reports about Walter Sisulu University students placed at the flats, which were incomplete at the time earlier this year.

Resident Nombulelo Mdladyana said she was fed up with the stench and spillages from the truck, which she often had to clean.

“This has been going on for close to a year now and it is unbearable. Initially I thought the honeysucker belonged to the municipality and I went to report it at the City Hall.

“After a few months I was called by the municipality, which told me that the honeysuckers belonged to a private company and that they could do nothing about it.

“However, I never received any response about how those flats were built without the proper infrastructure in place because clearly there’s an infrastructure issue,” she said.

The Daily Dispatch visited the site on Monday and saw the tankers extracting sewage from 10 000-litre Jojo tanks on the construction site.

This was about 50m south of the student accommodation.

Another resident, Nomlingano Msonywa, said she had become so accustomed to the stench she now only noticed it when she returned to the area, and would later forget about it.

“I for one have always smelt this terrible stench but could never pinpoint where it was coming from.

“It is terrible and obviously very bad for our health.”

Answers to e-mailed questions to SKG spokesman Rhett Shaw and Buffalo City Metro spokesman Samkelo Ngwenya had not been received at the time of writing yesterday afternoon. — co.za