Unbearable stench and sight take their toll on Queensburgh residents

EIGHT months after reaching out to the paper as the last resort of getting the City to repair the broken sewer pipes, Queensburgh residents are still living in unbearable stench and sight.

The pipe in Le Long Place, which first broke during the 2021 floods, was fixed months after many complaints from the residents.

A resident, Louise Tholet, said they also put up gabions to stop the bank from being eroded after their insurance paid out.

The floods in June 2022 came and caused more damage, and now, months later, Tholet said she and her husband are forever sick.

“Our children were forced to move as they could not take it anymore,” she said.

According to the resident, what made the situation worse is that municipal workers did not cover the pipe after fixing it. “When it broke again in June, the gabions shifted. It is so terrible that it looks like a whole manhole has been damaged.”

The exhausted resident said no one has come out to assess or repair the damage. “Whenever we log a complaint, they ask us for a reference number, and we are told that the problem has been resolved and the case has been closed,” she said with a sigh.

Tholet said they are forever sick. “We are in and out of doctors; we just don’t know what to do anymore. I am just tired; I have no energy left to fight this; I feel so powerless.

Also read: Westville Ratepayers’ Association to tackle sewerage infrastructure issues

“Most of the times we feel dizzy, we are nauseous and we are forever tired.”

She said they believe that their illness is caused by the ongoing sewage flowing into the river behind their home.

What’s worse is that the couple said they cannot afford alternative accommodation. “We are stuck here. I feel like crying all the time – it is like staying inside a toilet. It seems as if no one cares; our human rights are just being violated.”

She said the amount of sewage and number of toilet paper pieces and nappies is shocking.
Tholet said her house used to be a warm, welcoming family home.

“We are now forced to stay indoors; we cannot go and sit outside to enjoy our lunch or dinner. We were used to hosting people as we have a beautiful deck outside. We cannot do that anymore. Our children have moved out; our grandchildren can no longer come and have a sleepover – we worry about their health.”

She, once again, appealed to the eThekwini Municipality to fix this before more damage is done.

When the Queensburgh News reported on this matter last year October, eThekwini Municipality’s City spokesperson Gugu Sisilana responded and said they had referred the matter to the relevant municipal department to investigate the validity of the issues and claims being raised.

The municipality didn’t respond to a query by Queensburgh News about this issue before going to print.

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