Tsholofelo Motswenyane
The sewage spill in Extension 7 was attended to and has been rectified. The Herald published an article of a sewer leak in Ext. 7 in last week’s edition (25 June).
The sewage leak flowed into several yards and streets. At the time, the municipal spokesperson couldn’t comment due to the temporary closure of the main municipal offices.
The offices had to be decontaminated and disinfected following a confirmed case of Covid-19.
According to William Maphosa, the spill was caused by foreign material that was thrown into the sewer line.
These items include stones, bicycle tyres and diapers.
The municipality pleads with community members to refrain from throwing foreign objects into the sewerage.
“This municipality faces a huge problem of infrastructure backlog in terms of upgrading the existing network and creating new outlays. We have admitted to this on numerous occasions,” said Maphosa.
He added that it would take years to tackle this problem at its current scale.
Keeping the environment clean requires the active participation of all role players, including the municipality, civil society and community members.
“The challenge we face is that some elements in the community have decided to go out of their way to throw foreign objects like nappies, hardboard, tyres and even stones into the sewer system. This blocks the pipes and causes spillage, which is a health hazard to the community.”
“This does not dispute that the majority of community members are law-abiding citizens who care for their communities and value cleanliness and healthy living,” he added.
“We appeal to those who are given to the wanton destruction of community infrastructure to desist from this bad habit.”
