The housing and sewerage problems that have plagued Khutsong Ext. 3 for years do not seem to have improved in the new year.
Seventy-four-year-old Mrs Maria Motone is not a happy woman. She has been waiting for more than 20 years for a house. Her dream almost came true in November 2015 when the government started building her a new house. Full of expectations, she moved her shack to the back yard to make way for the new house but, on 6 June of the following year, it was demolished. Since then, the foundations have served as a painful
reminder of what could have been.
They also prevent her from moving her shack back to its original position. The project, through which Motone was supposed to have acquired the house, should have seen more than 200 houses being built in Khutsong Ext. 3. None of them has materialised.
The hopes of residents were once again raised toward the end of last year when the government announced that the houses would be built in Welverdiend instead as the
ground in Ext. 3 was too unstable.
It now seems as though these plans have also fallen flat, with the Merafong City Local Municipality and the Gauteng Department of Human Settlements apparently pointing fingers at one another over problems with the appointment of a contractor.
In the meantime, two other longstanding problems are also upsetting the residents. One is that many manholes were once again overflowing into the streets. A part of the only tar road through Ext. 3 was under sewage while several other streets were also
flooded again. Just before the road to Hlanganani Primary School, residents were hard at work repairing the potholes, themselves. Many of these had been caused by the huge volumes of sewage streaming from the manholes on this corner in the past. Other roads have also been damaged by the ongoing leaks.
The second issue was the streetlights that are not working.
‘Of the total of 19 streetlights in the whole of Ext. 3, only two, which are both in Ward 2, are working. We have complained about this so often but the municipality has done nothing about them. The new council has already been in their seats for over 100 days,’ lamented Mr Chuku Kerileng, a community leader.
On Tuesday, the Herald asked the Merafong City Local Municipality whether it had a plan of action to address the problems.
‘The sewer challenges in Ext 3 are due to the outfall sewer line that collapsed and the backflow of the effluent. The repairs are pending disaster process,’ the municipality explained.
Merafong has directed all the queries about the housing issues to the West Rand region of the Gauteng Department of Human Settlement.
‘The community is fully aware of the situation because it was communicated in a public meeting facilitated by the Gauteng petitions’ committee at the end of last year.
‘We have advised community leaders to inform their communities to approach this committee for any further clarity,’ the municipal spokesperson said.
