Residents of Alabama outside of Klerksdorp in the North West are outraged by the malfunctioning sewage system which floods their streets with human waste and causes an unbearable stench.
Kelebogile Dasoi said her house receives the sewer overflows from a stream of houses surrounding her. She said she can tell when her neighbours use their toilets because the sewage starts spilling in front of her door.
She said this has caused constant bickering and arguments with her neighbours.
“I understand that they need to use their toilets, but it affects me the most because everything they do ends up in my yard, and what’s worse is that the sewer pipe is right next to my kitchen door, so every time we go outside, we can see everything lying there, which is not nice,” she said.
One of the concerned residents Sello Moletsane collected contributions from those affected and bought and fitted sewer pipes to drain the sewerage away from the yards into a nearby field. But even this endeavour failed because the pipes were too short and the sewerage still spilled very close to the homes.
“We decided to take matters into our own hands because we have complained and reported this to the municipality, but it appears that they are unable to assist us. Our children are coughing continuously, and we suspect it is due to this smell; it has been over a year, and we still can’t get used to it; it will kill us; we need help,” he said.
A Member of the Mayoral Committee in charge of infrastructure at the City of Matlosana Local Municipality, Stoffet Barrens, said the municipality was working to resolve the issue.
“There was a contractor appointed and after he left we found out that certain pipes were not connected. In our new financial year, there is going to be a contractor that is going to be appointed, he is going to replace all these sewer pipelines, and they are going to put bigger pipes so that all the sewers cannot block every now and then,” he said.
