It’s one step forward, two steps back for a cash-strapped Steve Tshwete Local Municipality, with the municipality unclogging one sewer line at the Kees Taljaard Stadium, just for an ever nastier spill in the past two weeks in Liter Street, in Middelburg’s industrial heart.

The mess at Kees Taljaard was even dry when the blocked sewer line in Liter Street started coughing up soiled toilet paper alongside visible faeces.

The nasty stream runs between businesses, and into some unlucky ones, with one businessman placing iron-grid steps into place so that employees don’t have to trudge through effluent between workshops.

Multiple businesses have contacted the Middelburg Observer today with complaints that the problem has escalated dramatically after the municipality left the drain clogged during earlier callouts.

Business owners say they were told that the sewer line cannot be unclogged, due to equipment failure.

Mayor Mhlonishwa Masilela has been notified, and videos have also been received by him.

He vowed to intervene immediately.

The sewage water is being discharged directly into the nearby stream.

The crisis comes on the back of a similar recent spill at Kees Taljaard Stadium, where a low-lying sewer line is also regularly blocked.

The latest spill released litres of sewage directly into the Klein Olifants River.

The blockage has since been cleared despite evidence of the pollution remaining.