EENDRACHT – Residents of Eendracht are unhappy with Govan Mbeki Municipality because of the sewage problems in this little town that has been ongoing for years.
According to residents, they only see the truck that is supposed to clean the septic tanks once every three months.
The sewage began pushing up in the toilets of residents’ houses and is overflowing into their bathrooms.The stench is unbearable.
Mr Tony du Preez, who lives in one of the retirement houses in Eendracht and is dependent on an oxygen machine, said that since the sewage situation worsened, he battles even more to breathe.
“I have been telling Govan Mbeki Municipality I cannot take this smell, but they do not care,” said Mr Du Preez.
Ms Mariaan Chamberlain, DA councillor, also visited Eendracht numerous times and tried to get the municipality to clean the septic tanks regularly.
According to her, the contract of the previous contractor who cleaned the septic tanks expired and the application to appoint a new one has been laying on the supply chain department’s desk for two weeks now.
“It has not been signed yet and until that happens, nothing will happen with the septic tanks,” said Ms Chamberlain.
Ridge Times‘ questions to the municipality about this issue in September and again in October are still unanswered and not even acknowledged, although it was sent via WhatsApp and e-mail to Messrs Donald Green, Lucky Mhlongo and Benzi Soko of the communications department of Govan Mbeki Municipality.
The municipal MMC of water and sanitation of Govan Mbeki Municipality visited Eendracht on Wednesday, 14 October and said the municipality takes note of the situation and will give residents feedback within seven days.
“This situation is unacceptable, the sewage tanks need to be emptied and cleaned once a week,” said Ms Chamberlain.
She heard that all the sewage trucks in the Govan Mbeki municipal area are currently non-operational and therefore not attending to sewage problems anywhere.
