Pretoria - There are days when the smell from the sewerage drains get so unbearable that she can’t even go outside for fresh air.
So says Lindiwe Nkosi, a Winterveldt resident, who is forced to endure a stench of sewage overflowing from a manhole in her yard.
Like many other residents, Nkosi has for years been exposed to the bad odours, but her pleas to authorities for help have fallen on deaf ears.
All the residents have heard are empty promises, which were often made by politicians canvassing for votes during elections.
Nkosi’s life has been a living hell due to the unhealthy environment, which is always littered with faeces and wastewater.
She was forced to send her two children to her grandparents’ home because one of them is asthmatic and couldn’t stand the acute smell from the manhole because of her condition.
The stagnant water in her yard is a breeding ground for mosquitoes, biting her while she sleeps at night.
“I can’t open the door and windows any more because of this bad smell,” she said.
The settlement, according to residents, has been in existence for decades, but there is little to show in terms of infrastructure development.
Out of desperation, many people built their yards on the underground sewerage system, which runs through the settlement.
Many lamented the fact that the roads’ condition worsened in the event of heavy rains.
Others complain about the unhealthy environment, which is caused by the smelly sewerage system.
Nkosi said residents were disturbed by the fact that they are exposed to a sewage smell despite the fact that they don’t have a flushing toilet at home.
Residents said their problem started some years back when residents from the nearby RDP houses connected themselves to a sewerage system after the contractor failed to do so.
“The sewerage system would block when the whole thing started, and the municipality would come and unblock it, but as time went by the problem worsened as it could not be easily unblocked,” one resident, who refused to be named, said.
When the Pretoria News visited the place this week, there was still wastewater running over the manhole and spilling into her yard.
Nkosi’s neighbours, who include Sibongile Ntombela, are also affected by the foul smell coming from wastewater.
Ntombela said numerous efforts by the locals to raise the problem with a ward 9 councillor had been in vain.
Ntombela told members of the portfolio committee that the municipality appeared to be at wit’s end when it came to fixing the sewerage system.
Many parents said children are unable to play in the streets because of the spillage.
Early last year, some members of the Gauteng legislature led by the incumbent MEC for Transport and Logistics Kedibone Diale-Tlabela visited the township’s section called Tefu Stand located next to Bushveld Road.
At the time, Diale-Tlabela promised that a service provider would be appointed to redirect the sewage from the houses by November 14, 2022.
It was said that an amount of R400 million would be required to bring about a long-lasting solution.
However, to date, work to fix the problem has not yet started. Instead, residents were recently told that it was likely to begin in April this year.
Nkosi said: “Last year in October they didn’t come as they promised to monitor progress. I had to make a plan by digging a trench to redirect the wastewater not to come into the house.”
Ntombela said: “They came back in January this year and they said the project will start in April. I told them that they are liars. The budget was set aside last year for this project.”
Pretoria News