VIDEO: Ga-Rankuwa sends SOS to GP govt
“We are forced to live with the bad smell and its harmful effect on our children. How are we expected to live and to eat in this stench?”
Ga-Rankuwa residents have appealed for the provincial government to intervene in fixing sewage spills in the area.
Residents said they had pleaded with the Tshwane metro to fix the increasing number of sewage spills without any luck.
Zone 6 community leader Thabo Khoetsa residents had been complaining about bad smells prevalent in the neighbourhood for more than three years, but the municipality had failed to respond.
“We are forced to live with the bad smell and its harmful effect on our children. How are we expected to live and to eat in this stench?” he said.
He said residents would not put up with the smell anymore.
“We have lost faith in our local municipality. We hope the provincial government will do something about it,” said Khoetsa.
Resident Bertha Letsie told Rekord her two children were asthmatic, which was aggravated by the smell.
Another resident, Mary-Jane Maela, said children played near the water unaware of the risk of contracting diseases from the contaminated water.
Maela said the sludge from the overflowing sewers masked large potholes.
“It’s all a mess here. Cars are damaged, and the kaka is flowing into our homes. We can’t be left to wait while our health is being placed at such a risk.”
Khoetsa said the stench was unbearable during the day.
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“It’s easy for the metro to tell us to wait while they attend to the problem, but they don’t have to live with this day in and out.”
Tshwane mayor Solly Msimanga said he was aware of the sewer crisis in Ga-Rankuwa, but blamed sabotage for the sad state of affairs.
“Not only are they vandalising electricity infrastructure but also shoving dead animals, bricks and other random objects into the sewers,” he said.
Msimanga said he had reason to believe “these people” know exactly what they’re doing because they targeted all the infrastructure that for high impact.
He said he believed his government was being targeted because of the programmes it was implementing.
However, Tshwane ANC spokesperson Teboho Joala dismissed these claims, saying the DA municipality “did not have the capacity to deliver”.
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