PE residents fight endless battle with blocked drains, raw sewage
● Problems due to foreign objects, refuse being dumped in manholes, municipality says
Several Nelson Mandela Bay families have been forced to endure months of unbearable stench as raw sewage spills not only onto their yards, but also inside their properties, with others forced to abandon their homes.
And whenever the municipality is alerted to the problem the spillages are fixed, only for drains to be blocked within days — and it is back to square one.
While irate residents have blamed the city for what they say is shoddy workmanship when fixing the blocked drains, the municipality says there would not be any need to unblock them if residents did not throw foreign objects into the drains.
But residents, including a five-month-old infant, have not only had to contend with the stench, their health has been put in danger as the raw overflowing sewage poses a health risk.
Finding the Mgibe family home in Rholihlahla Street in Walmer township is easy, as the sewage running down the street leads straight to their home.
A frustrated Lingeka Mgibe, 68, said the past three months had been a nightmare as the blocked drain inside their yard had started overflowing early in December.
The family had to dig a trench in a bid to prevent the overflowing sewage entering the house.
Mgibe said they were a family of five including a fivemonth-old baby and a child with a disability.
“It’s been three months of hell in this house. The sewage is now also running to the neighbour’s yard. We cannot live like this, we are also humans.
“We spent our Christmas in disgust — you know when you get hungry, but can’t even digest food because of the smell from the sewage,” she said.
The blocked drain was reported to the city in December, with municipal workers only coming out on January 1.
“When they got here, they were in a hurry and did a very quick job, benza uphela sonwabe [a rush-rush job] because within a couple of days after they left the leaking started again,” she said.
Siyanda Makwabe, who wrote to The Herald, said the municipality did not care about residents in townships.
“Recently I went for a jog towards the Ninth Avenue suburbs and I came across a burst meter.
“I called the 0800-205-050 number and was given a reference which I then gave to the house owner. To my surprise, the same day it was fixed.
“When I checked the one in Rholihlahla, it was not fixed,” he said.
Municipal spokesperson Mthubanzi Mniki said the problem was fixed last Thursday.
The affected area was cleaned and disinfected and rags were found to be the cause of the blockage, Mniki said.
Meanwhile, irate residents of Voisen Road in Helenvale are demanding a permanent solution to the constant drain blockages, which result in sewage leaking into their homes.
Marlon Moses, 43, who wrote to The Herald, said the street had been battling with sewage and blocked drains for years, with some forced to vacate their homes as the sewage was flowing and damaging their houses.
“I have reported this several times to the municipality and the ward councillor. It’s been years now, when they fix the issue, a day later it starts again,” he said.
Moses said he had decided to mobilise the community to at least clean the stormwater drains themselves.
“Unfortunately we can’t fix leaking sewage, and we have a problem with the SMMEs that say that it’s their job to do so but are not competent for the job,” he said.
When The Herald visited the street, residents showed the team some of the blockages.
Joslynn Joseph, 57, said for weeks raw sewage had been leaking from a drain in her backyard.
She said it had been four years of frequent drain blockage.
“We live with children in the house and they are constantly getting sick with infections from the filth of leaking sewage,” she said.
Charleene Classen, 41, said her neighbour had to leave his house because of the sewer overflowing into his house.
She said her five-year-old was sick because of the wet floor.
“I don’t know how many times I have reported the matter to the municipality and they do nothing about it. My wooden floor has been broken and will collapse one day because of the sewage,” she said. Rats were also a problem. However, after The Herald sent an inquiry, a team was dispatched to try to locate the new blockage, which they said was traced to a blockage to Olifant Street.
Mniki called on residents to ensure foreign objects were not dumped into manholes.
He said objects commonly dumped into manholes were sticks, stones, rags, tyres, fridge doors, buckets, car parts, paint cans, and even shopping trolleys.
“It has also become a common trend in certain areas for residents to dump their refuse into sewer manholes, which blocks the system on a daily basis. This is a common cause of blockages in Helenvale,” he said.