KARIEGA – Residents of Gerald Smith, who say they have been living with raw sewage flowing through their yards and streets for months, have approached the UD Express after alleging that repeated reports to the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality and their ward councillor have failed to bring a lasting solution.

During a walkabout with the Express, residents pointed out areas where sewage had accumulated, including pools containing what appeared to be faecal matter, while alleging that temporary repairs had repeatedly failed and that they had received no assistance or communication from their Ward 47 councillor, Lungile Langbooi.

Tim Christoffels shared that he had reported the raw sewage leaking from the drain in front of his house two months ago.

Two months ago, I reported this drain to the water and sanitation department. The municipal officials only came to inspect the situation and said a water truck would come. No one arrived.

“The sewage is so close to my house that it seeps in under the wall, and my dogs are there. What if they drink the sewage water and get sick?”

Christoffels added that the open drain is a health and safety hazard not only to him and his family, but also to the neighbouring children.

“If a child falls in there, who will be to blame?” he asked, stating that he reported the matter through the proper channels.

“I cannot even open my windows to get fresh air because of the strong smell. Even at night, I can smell it because my bedroom is next to this,” he said.

Another resident, who is an informal plumber, explained the issue he experiences in his yard.

“The main drain down the road is the issue. When the main drain blocks up, the water pushes up and clogs in my yard. What I do is I take an iron rod and push the blockage down just to relieve the flow, which happens every three to four months.

“So every three months, I have sewage in my yard. My conclusion is that these pipes have corroded and are dirty. That’s why the dirt pushes up constantly. In addition, I have not seen these pipes being serviced, so if that happens, perhaps the issue will be better.”

His wife, who is an informal food vendor, shared that she has to cook food meant for the community with the stench emanating from her backyard, which is a health hazard.

“I would love to make my place a sit-in, but because of the smell, the people have to buy the food and go, because who can eat with this smell? It is hurting my business too,” she said.

The residents shared that they are cognisant of the fact that some may not have money for toilet paper, resulting in their using newspapers as a substitute, which could have contributed to the blockage, but criticise their ward councillor, who they claim is too far for them to see, for not communicating the issue to them.

While they state that they ought to hold the municipality accountable for service delivery, residents also ought to be held accountable, should the illegal dumping worsen the blockage. They added that it does not excuse the long time they have had to wait for assistance from officials.

A community representative, Jerry Harker, who has sewage flowing in front of his home, said that over the past few weeks, his yard and the walkway next to his house have been flooded, and when the place is flooded, the raw sewage dries up, creating an unsafe and unhealthy environment where children play.

“This has been going on for three months now; I can’t even open my front or back door because the smell is too much. My wife has to cook food with that smell, which cannot be healthy,” he said. “I contacted all the people I could think of, the councillor, the environmental department, water and sanitation and even town rangers, but no one has helped me. I cannot live like this anymore.”

Harker added, “We moved from Ward 48 to 47, which means we must take two taxis just to go to see our councillor, and two back. Where must that money come from, if sometimes we struggle to buy toilet paper?”

Their ward councillor, Lungile Langbooi, was contacted on multiple occasions to provide comment, but upon being reminded on Friday, 7 August, he told the UD Express that he did not need a reminder for enquiries and that he was too busy to respond in the week he was given.

In response, the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality (NMBM) spokesperson, Sithembiso Soyaya, claimed that it has identified a long-term engineering solution to address the recurring raw sewage spillages in the Gerald Smith area.

“Following a technical assessment and site inspection, it has been established that the nature of the problem requires significant infrastructure intervention, including major excavation and road reconstruction works,” Soyaya said.

The scale of the intervention requires coordination between the relevant municipal directorates, as well as the allocation of both operational and capital budget resources.

Additionally, Soyaya said that as an immediate intervention, the Municipality is allegedly progressing with the necessary work to unlock and restore the affected sewer infrastructure.

“This includes the construction of an access road to provide the required access to the sewer line and enable the Municipality to undertake the necessary remedial works safely and effectively,” he said.

Soyaya added that the Municipality has also identified a more sustainable long-term solution to prevent the recurrence of the problem.

This long-term solution, they said, “will involve the redesign and relocation of the affected sewer line away from the flood-prone area,” adding that relocating the infrastructure will reduce its vulnerability to flooding and contribute towards improving the reliability and resilience of the sewer network in the area.

“The Municipality acknowledges the impact that recurring sewage spillages have on residents and surrounding communities and understands the urgency of addressing the matter. The intervention is therefore being approached as both an immediate operational matter and a longer-term infrastructure solution,” he said.

“The relevant municipal teams will continue to monitor the situation and coordinate the required interventions until the necessary infrastructure works have been completed.”

The Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality also claimed that it remains committed to providing reliable and sustainable municipal services and to implementing infrastructure solutions that address the root causes of service delivery challenges, rather than relying solely on temporary interventions.

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