Pit left open at family home in Eastvale
The yard was dug up after he allowed municipal workers to unblock a pipe.
A large hole excavated on the property of Eastvale resident Henry Nyambiya has left him concerned about his family’s safety.
The yard was dug up after he allowed municipal workers to unblock a pipe.
Nyambiya claims he received a call from municipal workers asking for permission to access a pipe in his yard.
“I agreed because I knew the blockage affected one of my neighbours. I allowed the municipal workers onto my property and left them to do their work,” he explained.
This took place on June 1 and Nyambiya says after they were done, the workers informed him they suspected the real problem was due to a poor functioning pumping station.
“They did not tell me when they would come back. I just assumed they would check the pump station and then tell me what needs to be done moving forward,” he added.
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The neighbour’s sewer blockage remained unresolved.
Nyambiya claims he did not hear from the municipal workers for weeks after.
“My neighbour went back to the metro to find out why they had not returned to resolve the issue. After that, someone was sent to my house and all they did was cordon off the area with an orange safety net,” he explained.
He believes the hole is a danger to his family.
Nyambiya says he is especially concerned about his young child and family dog falling into the pit.
“It is really deep. One time the children were playing and their ball fell in,” he said.
He adds that raw sewage also seeps through the manhole at the bottom of the hole.
“I wanted to be a good neighbour, and now I am left with this problem. It is unreasonable to expect my family to live like this for more than a month without any explanation,” he said.
In response to the Advertiser’s inquiry, the municipality admitted a team visited the neighbour’s property and tried to unblock a pipe with the manual rods.
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Their first attempt failed.
“They tried using a high-pressure jetting machine, which also did not work. Then we organised with our contractor to expose the pipeline to effect repairs to the broken sewer line,” explained Zweli Dlamini, the metro’s spokesperson.
He said the purpose was to repair a four-meter broken sewer pipe.
“The sewer pump station pump got damaged. We arranged to do level control but it doesn’t seem to be effective enough to relieve the network from pressure.
“Our contractor was been arranged to install a pump on July 8. Once installed and running, the contractor can repair the pipe and close the hole,” said Dlamini.
He added that the turnaround time on such issues depends on the damage that caused the pump to be dysfunctional.
“The pump needs to be assessed first,” he said.
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