Building houses on wetland a costly mistake, says mayor

“There’s solution but no cash for it”

Residents of Boipatong who live with sewage on their doorsteps will continue being exposed to these conditions for a longer time as the cashstrapped Emfuleni municipality has no immediate solution to their problem.

For more than eight months, raw sewage has surrounded Mapule Mabesele’s RDP house in Boipatong Extension 2, south of Johannesburg.

The situation is so bad that Mabesele does not sleep in her home anymore. She just comes over some days to check on her property.

“I’m now staying with family friends and what pains me is I don’t know how long I must live like this,” she said.

Mabesele said the sewage spillages had been going on intermittently for many years but appeared to be getting worse of late.

“We have been living like pigs long enough and we are scared for our health. It’s very frustrating, we are being stripped of our dignity by our own municipality,” Mabesele said.

She said when locals reported the matter to the municipality they are told of problems in the council and lack of resources to fix the problem.

Mabesele said meetings had been held but no positive actions have come out of them.

Another resident, Thabang Makhanye, said he was frustrated by his living conditions and feared losing his RDP house whose walls have cracked because of the damp condition.

“My house is wet from the