Bishop Phakeng woke up to find a burst sewerage pipe outside his house. Stinking and nauseating sewage water was all over his yard, making it difficult for him to get out of the house last month.
“The water level kept rising and looked like the sewage would go into my kitchen,” said Phakeng of Ikageng township in the JB Marks local municipality.
Phakeng put his boots on, went into the garage, picked a shovel and started removing all obstacles so that the sewage could flow out of his yard.
“It was a mess. When I called the municipality about the problem, they took a week to resolve the issue,” Phakeng said.
The municipality never explained why it took so long to fix the problem.
Phakeng's story was similar to what other residents in the North West township go through due to collapsing infrastructure and service delivery that has resulted in burst sewerage pipes become a regular occurrence.
Another resident, Kethiwe Bokwa, has been staying in the township since 2014 and said she inherited the house after her grandmother died.
She said the sewerage blockages began long ago and it was a problem the municipality has been failing to permanently fix.
Her neighbours' sewerage pipes are connected to her house's sewerage pipe, which carries the waste water to the main system. All the pipes are running above the ground.
As a result of the spillages, Bokwa avoids using the toilet at her house. She instead goes to her friend's house to relieve herself.
“I am now so used to the situation to a point that at night I no longer drink water or beverages to prevent myself from getting pressed,” she said.
The municipality plumbers, she said, have been coming to unblock the pipe over the years when she lodges a complaint.
“However, recently when I asked why they were failing to upgrade the sewerage system, they told me they would do the upgrade if I go to the municipality to pay for it,” she said.
Another resident, Catherine Phiri, said they've had sewage problems for many years.
“We had a well-functioning sewerage system that gave us little problems. However, in 2019 the municipality built a new system. We initially said the new sewerage system was a revamp but only realised soon after it was installed that it was in actual fact a downgrade due to a high number of blockages and spillovers.”
She said when residents complain about a blockage, the municipality takes up to a week to fix it.
Phiri said the regular sewerage blockages were a sign that the system was badly designed and built and the municipality should consider overhauling it.
Driving in the streets of townships is no easy fit as you constantly have to zigzag to avoid parts of roads riddled with potholes.
Another challenge is that some streets are not tarred and cars get stuck on mudslides when it rains heavily.
According to residents, the municipality stopped fixing potholes three years ago.
When Sowetan recently visited Ikageng, there was one pothole which was more than six metres long.
Taxi driver Sello Swart bemoaned the state of inferior roads, saying they were affecting his profit margins.
“These potholes are damaging our vehicles. A person has to buy tyres now and then. In addition, the suspension and shock absorbers are also affected by potholes. A lot of the money I make from driving a taxi goes towards this damage control,” he said.
“The potholes are so bad that it is hard to avoid them. This means I hit a pothole each and every day and the tyre gets a puncture regularly. I spend up to R2,000 a month fixing my car due to these potholes.”
Swart said his only wish was for the municipality to start fixing the roads so that he could be able to make more profit and improve his life.
Motorist Israel Magome, 51, has been a resident of Ikageng for more than 30 years.
Magome said the community tried to fix the roads by using shovels to pour gravel and sand into the potholes, including the 22 feet (6.4metre) pothole located on Keamogetswe Street but when it rains, their efforts are in vain.
Winifred Letsholo, who lives in an untarred street, said whenever it rained, mudslides are created and cars and pedestrians struggle to move.
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