Durban — Merebank and Bonela residents south and central of the city are fuming at eThekwini municipality after celebrating Christmas and New Year’s eve under unbearable stink from the broken sewage pipes in their yards.
Residents who contacted the Daily News on Thursday said they had gone back to wearing masks again because of the unbearable smell coming from the underground pipes.
Merebank resident Nischal Ramesh said they were living like prisoners in their homes since they were unable to open doors and windows.
Ramesh said residents were concerned about air-borne diseases because of the stench. He said the problem started on December 18, but to date nothing had been done despite reporting the matter to eThekwini Municipality numerous times.
Ramesh said the problem was that the municipality had failed to maintain the drainage system and called on the senior officials to visit the area to see for themselves.
“There is something terribly wrong with our municipality. We need the head of water and sanitation to come and assess the situation. He must also explain why it takes so long to get the reference number at the call centre because I reported the matter but got the response after four days,” said Ramesh.
A resident of Burdwan Road in Merebank who wished to remain anonymous, told the Daily News that when he reported the matter he was sent a reference number after four days.
“We were forced to clean the yard because of a funeral on Saturday,” he said.
Another Merebank resident who resides on Gulmal Crescent said residents had a horrible Christmas and New Year’s Eve with their homes surrounded by faeces.
He said family members had caught the flu as a result of the smell and the municipality seemed not bothered by the problem. He said the stormwater team came on Wednesday and said they would come back on Thursday morning with a high-pressure truck which was going to assist in removing blockages in the pipes but by midday no truck had arrived.
The DA PR councillor for Merebank Sithembiso Ngema said he had been contacting city officials including sending emails to the relevant water and sanitation officials, but none of them had come back to him.
Ngema said workers from the department “come and just look at the problem then go but claim overtime while they had not done anything”.
Another area that has been affected by the persisting sewage problem is Bonela in Mayville. Residents there said they had been living with burst sewage pipes since November and the city was not doing anything about it. Areas that have been worst affected are Wyndene Circle, Chorley Close and Deeside road.
eThekwini municipality spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela said the city was aware of the persisting sewage problem and while the municipality was dealing with it, the public could also assist by not throwing objects that were not meant to be flushed. He said for the manhole to block surely means there were objects that were flushed into the system like baby pampers, condoms and other stuff.
Daily News