Residents affected by sewage spillage in parts of ward 8 in Grasslands 2, Bloemfontein, are left counting costs due to damaged furniture and repairs to their homes.
Added to this are the effects on their health, which they blame on leaking sewage pipelines in the area.
They lament the negative impact of sewage on their immediate environment, yards, and homes, as well as the unbearable stench.
Patches of damp on the walls, both interior and exterior, are visible. Some residents have begun to quantify financial costs while others – unemployed – are grieving.
Their devastation became public after Express published a story about the plight of being trapped in raw sewage for months, despite efforts to report to relevant officials at the Mangaung Metro Municipality.
According to Julia Letsaba (66) costs to revamp her house exceed R20 000, while the furniture that include appliances is estimated at R21 000.
“Trying to avoid further damages, I placed furniture on bricks as the house was flooded with wastewater seeping from beneath the ground surface,” said Letsaba.
“The discomfort to always wear gumboots and staying in a house flooded with sewage is devastating,” she said.
Elizabeth Ntsoelengoe (66) has been forced to rebuild her house, costing an estimated R55 000.
The scope of work entails raising the floor foundation and the roof as well as painting. This a concerted effort to avoid the effect of sewage. Ntsoelengoe is yet to quantify the costs of damaged furniture. The two elderly women reside in the affected street.
Despite temporary relief in sewer water drained by a private contractor last week, the street is still a no-go area.
It took the contractor two days to drain tons of litres of sewer water on Wednesday and Thursday.
Pools of stagnant sewage water stretch over a distance of about 100 m in the street they live in, and the street is only accessible on foot – by wearing gumboots.
Over the weekend, a few motorists reportedly got stuck in the mud. They include a police van and the hearse of a local funeral parlour which was rendering a funeral service.
