Pensioners sacrifice Sassa income to fix overflowing metro sewer
Residents were forced to fork out money from their own pockets to hire a private plumber to fix the sewer.
A Mamelodi West family and their neighbours had to dig into their own pockets to hire a private plumber to unblock an overflowing sewer recently.
The Kgopanes had been stuck inside their house for almost a week, while awaiting the Tshwane metro to send workers to unblock a sewer.
Pensioners, Dimakatso and her husband Kgomotso Kgopane from Section A, in Mamelodi West, reported the matter to the municipality last Monday and Tuesday, only to be told the system was down and that municipal workers would be sent to fix the overflowing sewer.
The pensioners, including their daughter and nine-year-old grandson, who has since been diagnosed with bronchitis, ended up trapped inside since the yard was flooded with raw sewage for a whole week.
Dimakatso Kgopane said the municipality is failing them because they never showed up to fix the sewer, putting their health at risk.
Kgopane said the burst sewer flooded their and the neighbour’s yard.
“We had been in and out of the municipal offices complaining, but to our surprise, the officials were rude and did not attend to the complaint,” said Kgopane.
She said the stench was too much and expressed concern about their health. She added that they bought personal protective equipment to protect their health.
“The sewer overflowed on May 4, and we had to spend the whole week in a flooded yard with no sign of municipal workers coming to fix the problem,” she said.
The neighbours also reported the matter to the municipality, thinking that more complaints would speed up repair work, but nobody arrived.
Kgopane said that together with their neighbour, they had no choice but to pay a private plumber R600 to unblock the sewer.
She said they were forced to fork out the money because their health was at risk.
Kgopane said, “we are paying for municipal services with our social grant income, but we don’t get those services”.
Three weeks ago, a similar problem in Mamelodi East Phase 3 affected businesses and forced tenants to abandon their homes.
Raw sewage had been flowing down Mmorwa Street into the houses for almost a month, posing a serious health risk.
Sakhile Molambo Mashaba sells fruit and vegetables on the corner of Mmorwa and Mabena streets.
He complained that the overflowing sewage affected business. He said the stench chased away his customers.
“The sewage system has been overflowing for over four weeks. Our health is at risk, and everyone is coughing non-stop from inhaling the fumes,” said Mashaba.
He said the sewage not only affected his business.
He said tenants had moved out of their rental homes because of the unbearable smell and children in the area are getting sick.
At the time of going to press, the metro had yet to respond to Rekord’s enquiries.
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