Durban — A Durban resident has described her life as “a long, hard, misery of living with an unbearable stench”.
Flies and mosquitoes infested the house for more than two years, because of a sewage spill that happened in 2020.
Arlene Augustus from Redhill said the problem began two years ago when a sewage spill started oozing out from the ground in the corner of her yard on Ardrossan Road, her neighbour’s and five other houses down the street.
“When I first reported it the council took months before they came to inspect the problem.”
She said when the council workers finally came, they inspected it, took some pictures of the mess and then left. Augustus added that the municipal workers came back again and tried to clear the spillage, but it kept coming back.
“For months I have had to deal with their back and forth around this stinky mess, and the last time they were here was about a month ago.”
“I have had to live with this messy, stinky situation – a house full of flies, mosquitoes and a mushy, smelling yard for so long now. The situation is so bad that my yard now looks like a sewage stream. I am now getting sick from the stench. I can’t even enjoy eating in this house.”
She said the situation had become unbearable.
“I am a widowed woman, and therefore have no strong hands of a man that can help clean this mess for me.”
“Like any other resident I pay my rates to the council, and this is how they are treating me. They have come here more than 10 times now, but they have failed to clear this mess.
“Even my local councillor has failed to help me, but he keeps saying my gate is always locked. I never lock my gate, it is always open so that when I am not here, the council employees can come in to fix this mess,” she said.
Augustus narrated a situation when one day her son noticed sewage-filled water bubbling out of the ground, with human faeces.
She accused the local ward councillor and the municipality of lying, instead of helping her with the disaster she faces every day of her life.
eThekwini Municipality spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela said, “We attend to all faults reported with speed. The public must play its part by refraining from disposing of foreign objects into the sanitation system because they are a reason for it to clog.”
Daily News