A Somali shop owner in Philippi is crying foul, citing a damaged sewer as a deterrent to customers.
The shop owner, whose business Xhamela Spaza Shop is situated in Bristol Road, says he has been struggling to attract customers since the damage and is appealing to the City to intervene.
The owner, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of victimisation, said it has been a month since the problem began. This has caused a decline in customer numbers.
“The sewage passes in front of my shop and it makes it difficult for the customers to come into the shop. Also, there is a water pipe that is broken from my neighbour which is causing chaos on the street,” he said, adding that some of his loyal customers now go to other shops.
One of the customers, who only identified herself as Mama ka Athi, described the sewage in front as disturbing. “We can’t ask children to come to the shop because of the mess that is in front of it. And we don’t blame my friend (Somalian owner) because there’s nothing that he can do,” she said.
She accused the City for failing to take care of the area, citing that the whole area is dirty. “The City must fix all the broken drains. Fix the potholes and clean all the illegal dumping sites,” said Mama ka Athi.
When City Vision visited the house which had a broken water pipe on Saturday 29 January there was no-one inside and the gate was locked. However, water was coming under the boundary wall into the road.
Ward 35 councillor Melikhaya Gadeni said the spilling of the sewerage system is a challenge in Philippi as a whole.
He cited the problem as old infrastructure that needs to be upgraded. “We do have a challenge with the poor drainage system and we report it continuously. But it doesn’t last because the City employees are fixing it today and a few days later they leak again,” he said.
Gadeni said only a change to the entire sewerage system in Philippi will assist to improve the situation.
“The whole underground infrastructure is old and it can’t cope with the population of Philippi and it needs to be changed,” said Gadeni.
