The mess is due to a municipal sewage pipe that is broken and it spills over into her house due to the house being in a low-lying area. She reached out to the Herald after being in contact with the Ba-Phalaborwa Municipality for assistance, but to no avail. “The mess started on Tuesday, May 24. I called the municipality for help and they came to fix it, but after they left, it just got worse.

“My whole yard at the back is covered with toilet papers and water, this also affects my toilet and kitchen drain, water keeps coming up. I have been calling the municipality to no avail,” she said. Bezuidenhout also accused municipal employees of filling up the hole with branches instead of fixing the pipe on the day they came to repair the pipe. They apparently also promised to return, but they never did.

Also read: Ba-Phalaborwa Municipality budgets R672M

She further added that her family can’t have a braai in their backyard. “This is also not healthy for us, I look after a two-year-old child and I’m scared she might get sick from the sewage and the air that we are inhaling,” she added. The Herald spoke to the spokesman of the Ba-Phalaborwa, Jonas Mahesu, who said that he spoke to the team and they will soon attend to her case. At the time of going to press the Bezuidenhout family was still without help.