The Mercury

Big stink continues…

- Durban

AMID municipal office-thievery, from inside and outside, the big stink continues 8km from the City Hall at the intersecti­on of Alpine and Crescent Street in Overport.

For over a week now. Reported so many times. Sewage outside a store that sells fresh vegetables… One cannot smell curry leaves, only the bad fragrance of spent curry and breyani that has passed through somebody’s alimentary canal.

Outside a famous outlet for fresh handmade bread, the yeast and gluten cannot be detected in the air any more. One of the busiest spots in Overport. And apathy? Flashy cars that whizz and splash through unholy water as pious drivers rush to mosque, temple and church. Discarding the ablution needed for their expensive tyres and fancy bodywork.

Civic phone calls not part of their holy vocabulary. “Somebody else will report it! Don’t worry.” And homeless beggars continue to stand and wait like the poet Milton. As always with babies in hand, come hot ultra-violet rays from sunshine or tsunami-rain from Tengri.

Right in the midst of that faeces-filled snake pit. Facing the elements of unhealthy disease, skin cancer, lusty looks from drivers and toiletless existence. All to pay for “shelter” at night.

Does anybody care?

EBRAHIM ESSA |

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from South Africa