eMbalenhle Ext 15 residents plead for no more sewage

Residents of Ext 15 in eMbalenhle are tired of sewage spills and the accompanying stench and health hazards.

According to the residents, they have lived in such conditions for at least eight months and are not getting help from Govan Mbeki Municipality.

They believe GMM deliberately installed sewage manholes in their yards to make their lives more difficult.

“Our municipality failed to plan for us when we were allocated to these stands. The manholes are health hazards,” said Smangele Nkabinde, a resident.

Some said the stench is so bad, they cannot eat, especially in the summer heat. They claimed to have been reporting the spill since April.

Their ward councillor allegedly told them that the municipality will excavate the road to remove old pipes that are causing all the blockages.

“GMM only knows how to clean up the spills, not how to stop or prevent them. They should come up with another maintenance plan,” said another community member.

Lucky Mhlongo, the acting communications manager for the municipality said the sewage blockage in Ext 15 only affects four lines and not the entire neighbourhood.

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“The sewerage is not blocking heir. The main lines and manhole benches have collapsed. This simply means we must replace the entire line. It will probably take days to fix.

“We are daily attending to sewage spills as reported by the community members, and it is not true to simply generalise and say the whole of Ext 15 is overwhelmed with sewage spills.”

Mhlongo said sewage leaks are a major concern to the municipality and all residents, but our research indicates a level of negligence in most instances where foreign objects are thrown into the sewer, causing unnecessary blockages.

“We also call upon the community to work together and to refrain from throwing foreign objects into the sewer system as this puts strain on the municipal infrastructure,” said Mhlongo.