Residents contend with sewage woes in Ekuvukeni
Ward Councillor Mzamo Mbatha said he is aware of the situation, but it is out of his control
“We are living in conditions like a gigantic sore oozing puss and no one cares,” says a furious Phumulani Nsele, who cannot go to the toilet in his Ekuvukeni home without wearing gumboots. This is due to a broken sewer pump.
Nsele is unemployed and was making a meagre living through his small spaza shop. However, he was forced to close the shop because people were no longer buying from him due to the dam of stinky sewer water in his yard.
“Now I have no other way of making a living. I cannot even enjoy food cooked in this house, because the first thing you smell is the sewage running through my yard. Not to mention that going to the toilet, I have to first put on water boots. People are no longer visiting my home,” says Nsele.
Other Ekuvukeni residents face similar problems and according to them, some people are even leaving their homes due to unpleasant living conditions. Ekuvukeni resident Lungile Vilakazi claims that people are in and out of hospital due to unhygienic living conditions.
“These sewers have been leaking for years now.
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“My grandmother suffers from TB (tuberculosis) and when we go to hospital, the doctors always ask us about the cleanliness of where we are living. We explain the situation and they advise us to stay out of such places, but we have nowhere else to go,” complains Vilakazi.
She says her grandmother drank the TB medication without getting any better until it changed to MDR (particular type of drug-resistant TB).
Ward Councillor Mzamo Mbatha said he knows about the matter but it is out of his control.
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