Funds from the district municipality's disaster relief package must be used to fix a broken sewerage line that has made life hell for residents in De Villiers Close and Belmont Valley, say councillors.
Funds from the district municipality's disaster relief package must be used to fix a broken sewerage line that has made life hell for residents in De Villiers Close and Belmont Valley, say councillors.
At a recent Infrastructure Development Committee meeting, councillors railed at an apparent lack of action over citywide sewage spills.
Brian Jackson told the meeting he had for weeks been reporting ongoing sewage spills at De Villiers Close in Sunnyside, south of Beaufort Street.
A pump station and main sewerage line near the houses there were damaged in floods last October, and raw sewage has been running across the road, into the Bloukrans River.
The river, into which much of the city's stormwater network drains, flows through farms in Belmont Valley. During the dry weeks leading up to Easter weekend, Grocott's Mail received frequent complaints from Sunnyside residents about the spills.
Bertha Street resident Joos Vos described an “unbearable sewage smell”.
The rains over Easter flushed out the water systems and brought some relief. Technical and Infrastructure Director Thembinkosi Myalato's explanation at the recent meeting that last October's floods had damaged a sewage holding pond in the area was met with calls for urgent action to fix it.
"If the pond was [damaged], why not find money in our coffers and fix the pond?" asked Les Reynolds. "We are going to have a disaster if the problem persists," he warned.
"Fix the problem now."
Councillor Piryawaden Ranchhod agreed that the situation was unacceptable.
"We cannot allow raw sewage to flow through the river. The stench is unbearable… really we cannot carry on in this fashion," he said.
Myalato promised an action plan for the committee's next meeting. Councillors said people from every part of Makana were complaining about sewage on the streets and pointed out that Cacadu District Municipality had given Makana R3 million towards repairing damage from the October floods.
At the time, Technical Services Portfolio Chairperson Nomhle Gaga said flood damage was estimated at R158 million or more.
Days of heavy rains had extensively damaged homes, roads and electricity and water infrastructure.
