Problem worsens with summer rains, residents say.
Residents in the west of Pretoria say sewage from backyard drains has been overflowing onto their properties and streaming down the street for months on end.
Booysens resident Magriet Breedt said she did not know who to contact about the sewage that has been flooding her backyard for the past couple of months.
She said it was becoming a major health problem and, with summer rains on the way, it would only worsen.
Then the sewage does not just overflow; it starts piling up.
“I am in a very desperate situation and have tried everything, but the sewage keeps running into my yard and that of my neighbours,” she said.
“I don’t know what to do or who to phone. It feels like no-one really cares about solving the problem.”
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Residents frustrated
Breedt said some of her neighbours claimed the sewage overflow had been going on for four years, but she only noticed it last year.
“This has been going on since November. I started reporting it in February, but since then nothing has happened,” she said.
Breedt said she suspected her Labrador’s sudden death earlier this year was caused by the germs in the sewage.
“She went into the sewage water. It was difficult to keep her out of it because Labradors love water,” she said.
Breedt spoke to officials at the municipality, who said it was an issue for the provincial health department to deal with.
“The health department said they were going to hold a meeting with the municipality, but I have heard nothing for a long time. I sent an e-mail and they said it was handed over to the head office. But now there is much more sewage,” she said.
A resident down the road, James Bratt, said: “We have contacted the city about this multiple times. We have drawn up a petition. We wrote letters and the city said it wasn’t their problem,” he added.
Bratt said he suspected that illegally dug drains were overflowing because people were building houses on the wetlands.
The City of Tshwane did not respond to questions.
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