Samora Machel residents are appealing to the City of Cape Town to speed up the process of fixing the broken sewerage pipes citing that the spilling of sewage in the area is causing problems.
One of the busiest streets in the area – Lillian Ngoyi, has been closed while a construction crew is busy trying to fix one of the broken pipes which is carrying the sewerage to the pond in the area.
Resident Nolwando August described the condition that they are living in at Samora Machel as appalling. She said the whole area is filthy.
“The City needs to change the underground infrastructure because it is too old. And it is clear that the old infrastructure does not cope with the population of Samora,” said August.
However, she stated that she is happy with the effort that the City is making to fix the problem thus far.
Ward 33 councillor Lungisa Somdaka said the contractor had started working three weeks ago and is expected to complete the repairs within two weeks.
“This is one of the biggest sewage pipes that is broken.
“The City is busy fixing it so that it can be easy for the sewer to flow. There are another two pipes that are also broken at Helen Joseph Street which the City is also fixing.
“That’s why there’s a lot of seweage on our streets because they are the major pipes that are broken,” he stated.
Somdaka lambasted people for discarding foreign objects in the system.
“In most cases the drains are blocked by foreign objects such as nappies, clothes, pads, stones, tins including rubble etc.
“I believe if people were using what is supposed to be used we wouldn’t be facing such a problem,” he said.
