Sewage floods homes on St Thomas Street

Raw sewage in a pond sump is typically not envisioned for the festive season.

Yet a family on St Thomas Street endured exactly that and after receiving no assistance from the municipality, had to clear the blocked sewage line themselves.

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This has become something of an annual problem there.

During the early part of December 2018, the resident said sewage overflowed between the neighbouring yard and her property, bubbling up near her kitchen window, with a suitably horrendous stench.

She then contacted the municipality for help.

Despite call centre employeers stating workers would be dispatched, none ever arrived at the given address.

“They said they will come but they didn’t. They said they had alerted the plumbers and that was three weeks ago.”

Infuriated at paying for what she considers non-service, and frustrated with the municipality’s seeming indifference, the resident’s husband cleared the blockage with some of his workers.

To date, she has still not received any feedback on the matter.

“[They] did not bother to call back as we sorted the issue. This tends to happen once a year but they used to be efficient and come to clear the problem.”

The resident’s reference number and complaint were communicated to the municipality through its Communications Unit.

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No response was received at the time of going to print.

St Thomas Street residents now wonder when this problem will surface again, given their belief that the municipality simply does not want to assist them.

“I can understand ageing infrastructure but they can’t ignore us or be disinterested.”

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Email: Reveshni Douglas (Editor) at reveshni@caxton.co.za

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