Sewage and suffering for Ikageng residents
Tsekiso Motiti, an Ikageng resident says that Potchefstroom residents should see the circumstances in which they live daily.
Tsekiso Motiti of ZZ Baipei Extension 7, Ward 26 cannot see a future for himself and the residents
in the area after a persistent sewage leak.
The leak started in January. “They came to fix it, but after two months it was blocked again,” Tsekiso says. “They sent a lorry but it was not cleaned properly. The leak started again on 27 April and has been leaking since then.”
There is a persistent stream of garbage-filled sewage that flows past Tsekiso’s house and the air is thick with an unbearable sewage-stench.
Tsekiso tells a grave story of more than 200 residents who have to make do without running water and electricity every day. “We have no drinking water,” Tsekiso expresses, “The toilets we have are flushing toilets but it can’t be used as there is no water. People use buckets and then empty the buckets into the storm water canals.”
The storm water canals are filled with any kind of waste you can imagine, even dead chickens. “In 2011 an 11-year-old boy fell into the storm water canal and died,” Tsekiso explains. “We have asked the mayor time and time again to come and close up the storm water canals. It is dangerous. Look at all the kids walking past the canal after school. They come to play in the canal and get hurt.”
“Once our leaders enter the offices, they don’t fight for us,”
Tsekiso confirms.
“During elections, they come here and make empty promises. Till today, we miss Stone Mathlabe; he was the best councillor,” Tsekiso refers to a
previous councillor.
Tsekiso goes on to talk about three dumping sites in the area – a result of no service delivery. “The Mayor doesn’t want to fix this place, it’s almost 21 years that I’ve been staying here without services,” Tsekiso says. “The roads are starting to close up because of the dumping sites. People are getting sick and they don’t know why, but it is the dumping sites and sewage. The mayor made a lot of promises but did nothing to keep it. We live like pigs.”
Kids and elders are suffering, there are no taps here. “This is what they call a tap,” Thekiso laughs resignedly.
“People must see how we live. The town people must see,” Tsekiso says almost pleadingly. “I plead for this councillor to tell the speaker and mayor to take care of the people. It’s not fine in the location.”
J.B. Marks municipal spokesperson Jeanette Tshite says ageing infrastructure and inadequate capacity on existing infrastructure cause sewage leaks. She adds that the municipality cannot maintain the infrastructure due to population development.
“The municipality is busy creating a long-term strategy to address issues caused by sewage spills. We could not verify if the sewer spill in question was reported to the municipality before,” Tshite stated.
*Councillor Papi Mogorosi of Ward 26 could not be reached for comment.
