Video: Residents struggle to cope with continous sewage issue

Since the beginning of the year, Greenfield residents in Areaganeng Street have had to deal with continuous sewage.

According to 75-year-old resident, Oom Jappie Jacob Moeng, the issue has been ongoing for over seven years.In a former interview with Moeng, he told the Herald he constantly fought with the municipality about this, but no one was willing to assist them. “They come and take photos and promise to get back to us, but that is the last we ever hear from them,” he said.

A few months later, the situation has only got worse. The water flow is more rapid and the stench of the sewage is unbearable. So unbearable, that street vendor David Mantja, who has been selling directly opposite the sewage for the past two years, still wears a face mask to cope.

“This situation is really bad,” he lamented. “I sometimes knock off early or don’t even come to work at all because my health is deteriorating,” he said. “We cannot continue to live like this; we are getting sick” he added. Mantja said he has lost count of how many times he has been to the clinic with breathing problems caused by the sewage.

According to him, the only reason he continues to sell in that area is because of the built-in municipal stand he uses. “If it were possible, I would have organised a few guys to help me and I would have moved and sold somewhere else ages ago,” he said. Mantja added that he was fortunate to sell snacks that are sealed or else his business would suffer.

Due to Oom Jappie’s deteriorating health, his wife has forced him to find a temporary place to stay until someone finds a solution to the sewage problem. “This issue has been a great inconvenience for us,” he said. “Earlier this year, we had to move out of my house because the sewage stench was unbearable in extremely hot weather,” he explained.

However, the smell isn’t the only inconvenience for Oom Jappie; he also has to use his grant money on medication due to infections and must ask his neighbours for clean water to drink. “I should not be living in such circumstances at my age, I am sick because of this. To make matters worse, dirty water comes out of the tap,” he said.

“I can’t afford to buy water so I am constantly bothering my neighbours.” Almost every month, Oom Jappie needs to take out cash loans to visit different doctors for medical assistance. “As a pensioner, I cannot afford to hire people to fix my sewerage; all my grant money is used to pay back loan sharks,” he explained. According to residents, the sewage stops for three days, then continues again. “We have become used to it,” they said. The Herald asked the municipality for comment but had received nothing by the time of print.