‘Sewage even coming up from shower’
WHILE reports are received almost daily of overflowing sewage in parts of Roodepan and Galeshewe, Greenpoint residents are also forced to wade through streams of raw sewage bubbling up from manholes in the suburb.
Residents in Redwood, Sneezewood and Umdoni streets in Greenpoint have reported overflowing sewage to the Sol Plaatje Municipality for more than three months already.
According to the residents, the municipality, which is well aware of the situation, has blamed the problem on a faulty pump.
“All the toilets in the houses in the area are broken and at one house the sewage is even coming up from the shower. This is not conducive to healthy living,” one resident said.
“In Liphuko Street, one of the residents suffers from asthma, while there are also little children living in the area. The situation is very bad and no one should live under circumstances like these.”
Municipal spokesperson, Sello Matsie, said yesterday that the municipality’s sanitation teams were currently busy with the unblocking of the sewerage pipes in Seeduif Street in Roodepan and on the sewer line from Gogga Pump Station, which affects the Baba Gopane Street area in Redirile (Stock n Stock), which has also been blocked for some time already.
“The area of Liphuku Street in Greenpoint will also be tackled by the teams for unblocking even though this has been done on previous occasions.”
Matsie said the municipality’s main challenge was, what appeared to be, deliberate acts of vandalism. “Large rocks are thrown into the system while infrastructure is also damaged.”
He added that often large items were thrown into the manholes. “Unfortunately it is the community that has to bear the burden of these activities.”
He stated that the matter was raised with the councillor. “It forms part of a behavioural change that needs to take place. The Gogga line, for example, is filled with all sorts of clothing material that we have removed. These items are not supposed to be in a sewer line and they block the entire system.”