Residents from Ngqwangi Road in Lower Crossroads are threatening to take to the streets if their complaints are not addressed.
They say they have been living in appalling conditions for seven months and are accusing the City of Cape Town of ignoring them.
According to disgruntled residents, a local street has been closed for months due to a drain blockage. Motorists have, as a result, stopped using the road putting everyone’s life at risk.
When City Vision first visited the area last year residents had barricaded the road with heavy objects to avert escalation of the problem (“Residents in sewage predicament”, City Vision, 9 December 2021). During a visit to the area on Saturday 12 March another street (Siphingo) was also barricaded with stones and sand to prevent sewerage from spilling over into people’s homes.
Residents claimed they have not received help from the City since last year.
Resident Sizakele Ndima threatened to march to the municipal offices in Gugulethu to demand action. “We are going to mobilise motorists, particularly taxi drivers and march to Fezeka offices to demand the road be fixed. We’ve been reporting the mess since last year. They come and fix it, but after a few days it leaks again. No one from the City came here this year. It is clear that the City does not have a solution with regards to the system in our communities,” said Ndima, adding that they are giving the City until the end of the month to come up with a solution.
He claimed their lives are in danger because of the City’s carelessness. “The sewage turned green to show that it has been here for a while. We even put the dust bin as a sign to demonstrate to the motorists that the road is closed,” he stated.
The City’s Mayco member for water and sanitation Zahid Badroodien said the pump station was cleaned on the same day and the City continues to work in order to find a lasting solution. “The problem is that foreign objects, which residents throw or flush into the sewer system, blocks the pipelines which affects the pump station’s operations and causes overflows. The City continuously repairs damage from vandalism and clears sewers blocked by inappropriate items that shouldn’t be in the sewer pipeline. Overflows, will continue to happen, as long as vandalism occurs, and sewers blocked by items that should not be in the system such as material and fats,” said Badroodien.
He said residents are reminded that only toilet paper and human waste should be flushed anything else can create a blockage. Badroodien stated that landlords with backyard tenants need to ensure that there are enough wheelie bins to accommodate the volumes of waste generated on the property so that it can be removed by the City in the weekly refuse collection service.
“Without this, the refuse is often disposed of into toilets, drains and manholes. Anyone who has any information about vandalism incidents needs to please report it to the police as soon as possible so they can investigate. We need the community to be our eyes and ears as we cannot afford to see service delivery to vulnerable communities hijacked by a few opportunistic criminals,” he stated.