Sharpeville residents hit brick wall over sewerage woes

Residents of Sharpeville are facing a serious health hazard due to dysfunctional sewerage system and the absence of refuse collection in Emfuleni.

Sharpeville, which falls under the Emfuleni municipality, has struggled to maintain its sewerage water system for years now.

Time and again the sewerage burst in people’s yards and when the residents call the municipality, there is no one to help.

This has forced a group of residents in Block F of Sharpeville to start an initiative to stop the stench in their neighbourhood.

Thandi Mthikhulu, who is part of the group, said the initiative started a year ago. Residents met and then took their concerns of services to the councilor, who informed that there is no money to provide the services.

Seeing that the municipality was unable to help, residents formed a committee to lead an initiative to address service delivery.

Each month, the household contributes R20 and the funds are used to address service problems. With the collection they make, they have been able to the fix Apollo street lights in the neighbourhood and pour sand into the potholes on their roads.

However, the sand has now been removed by heavy rains that have hit Gauteng over the past few weeks. About 50 households are making contributions.

“We decided to purchase the rods that are used to unblock the sewerage system. If one of us has a problem, we call a person who knows how to unblock the system to come and do the work and we pay them cash….We’ve lost hope in the municipality. We have cried about these issues for a long time but we do not get help,” Mthikhulu said.

When Sowetan visited the area, there was sewer spilling from a nearby church running into the streets.

One of Mthikhulu’s neighbours, Joyce Moemise,  recently had a sewerage burst in her yard.

“It is really bad. We have to keep the windows closed to keep the smell and the flies away. When it is hot, I go out and pour a disinfectant in the yard just to contain the smell. It has really been hell to live like this,” Moemise said.

The stoppage in refuse collection and sewerage has also hit one of the schools in the area.

One of the teachers at Matsi-Steyn Primary School said several times the sewerage system burst and waste water flowed into the yard.

Unfortunately for the school, the manhole covering the sewerage system is situated next to the room where children are fed. The room, situated next to the gate, also stores perishable foods used to prepare meals for the children.

“School management has moved the food to the teachers' staffroom. Today, interviews were conducted there with tomatoes inside the room. In 2018, the school had to temporarily close because of the sewerage. It is really hard to teach children in a filthy environment,” the teacher said.

Just over the fence of the school, residents have converted the open space into a dump site because Emfuleni municipality no longer collects refuse. This adds another layer of problems for the school.

“Dogs come and rip the garbage apart. There are also nyaope boys who come to search for recyclable material inside the refuse bags. There are rats and flies are all over. This is what we have to deal with on a daily basis,” the teacher said.