Sewage cesspools in Nomzamo continue to negatively affect residents of the townships and disrupt everyday life, and concerns are mounting of even worse scenarios come the winter rains.
“We’ve had this problem for about two months, there’s sewage openly flowing in the streets and past our homes,” said Akhona Mtima, a resident of Koyini Street.
“It’s a terrible situation. We’ve reported it numerous times, but it appears that the solution is not an easy one. City workers came last week and worked on the problem a bit, so at least now our toilets can flush. But the streets are still flowing with human waste, with some people’s yards clogged and raw sewage even seeping into homes. We are desperate for a solution.”
Just last month, the continuous battle simply to cross the road or send children to school in Nomzamo reached boiling point when a group of residents staged a blockade of the entrance to the City of Cape Town’s multifunctional depot in Strand. (“Protesters take to the street over sewerage spills”, DistrictMail & Helderberg Gazette, 10 April). At the time they were demanding that a honeysucker truck – specifically for liquid-waste removal – be dispatched to address the sewage dams.
Before, the community had expressed frustration over sewage overflows and blockages, which have dammed-up entire streets with little-to-no prospect of City action to resolve the issue, and blockaded the entrance.
Responding to the latest service requests, Mayoral Committee member for Water and Sanitation Zahid Badroodien explained that teams were constantly clearing blockages in Nomzamo, which usually occur due to abuse of the sewer network. “Work in the area is ongoing as the operational teams continuously remove vehicle tyres, stones, rags and so on blocking the sewers are removed daily,” he said, adding that the Koyini Street blockage was due to a sewer manhole that had been blocked with rubble and stones, and sealed by the community, limiting the operational team’s access to attend to the problem.
“The City is undertaking various activities to prepare for the winter season,” he said.
“Where there is deliberate misuse of the sewer system it is important for the community to assist the City. Report vandalising of the sewage reticulation system and stolen or missing sewer manhole covers and use the City’s drop-off facilities to get rid of any solid waste.”
