Despite Merafong City Local Municipality’s promise that the deep holes they opened as part of a project in Khutsong’s Xhosa Section would be filled by now, the work is still unfinished.
Residents in the area of house No. 848 have worried about the safety of their houses for most of the past decade.
Ongoing sewer leaks have led to sinkholes and the demolition of several homes in the area, including that of some elderly residents.
Although the municipality eventually appointed contractors to replace the sewer pipes in the area, the project has led to numerous issues.
The contractors dug massive holes to replace the pipes and maintenance holes, which made the street where the work continues unusable to residents.
Considering that rainwater dams up in these cavities, that there is sewage leaking from the unfinished pipes, and the project stalled several times in the past year, residents worry that the work could worsen the problems instead of improving them. The wasteland between houses also gave criminals a hiding place.
“The community stopped the project. The municipality will soon meet with the contractor to resolve all the disputes. We plan to complete the project by the end of February 2024,” the municipal marketing and communications manager, Mr Temba Fezani, promised on 30 January.
However, the work at the site was still far from complete on Monday.
The contractors were still using the TLB, and the road was impassable due to massive heaps of ground and numerous cavities large enough to swallow a house.
The municipality failed to commit to a completion date in time for print.
