Anger over sewage overflow

RESIDENTS in Emerald Street in Shallcross are still left with sewage overflowing from manholes and toilets following the April floods.

Some residents said flushed toilets returned waste, and they complained about the stench from the nearby Mhlathuzana River.

Neeran Singh has helped lead efforts to fix Emerald Street, where he has lived for 31 years.

“All our suffering began between April 11 and 12. That was when the riverbank burst and destroyed our homes. The river is at the bottom of many backyards, and it rose to between six and eight metres high,” he said.

Singh lives with his wife, two children and elderly mother, who uses a wheelchair.

“We were evacuated during the floods for our safety. All we could grab were important documents, medication, clothes, and my mother’s wheelchair. The floods were the worst disaster we have endured. Then the problem with overflowing manholes and toilets started."

He said the matter was reported to the eThekwini Municipality and Chris Van Der Berg, their local ward councillor, in April.

“We had many questions, including how we could rebuild after losing so much. It was a difficult time, and many of us were trying to recover from our losses.

“In our case, the backyard was washed away, and the foundation of the house was exposed. The back of the property is being propped up by wooden poles, and it is not safe,” he said.

Singh said the municipality sent an assessor to the area on June 8 after residents followed up with complaints.

“We were still suffering at this point and have lost faith. People still cannot flush their toilets, and their backyards are filled with sewage. The smell is as horrid as it was following the floods, but we still pay our municipal fees for sewage and infrastructure even though we don’t have any.”

He said they did not get sufficient help from the municipality through conventional means, so the residents started a petition to have the sewage removed and infrastructure rebuilt. They garnered 750 signatures. About 130 of these are from residents on Emerald Street.

A copy of the petition was submitted to the municipality's water department on September 20 in the hope that the issues could be sorted out.

Uagen Chetty, a community activist in the area, said: “The goal is to get 1000 signatures by Monday.

“We will then submit the petition to the South African Human Rights Commission. Even if we don’t hit the target, we will still submit the petition to them because we feel our basic human rights are being violated.”

Sash Singh, a human rights activist, said a meeting would be held with the municipality on Wednesday.

Van Der Berg said he had worked with both the residents and municipality to address the issue.

“The municipality’s current temporary fix is having sewer pipes being led from homes and fed into the river. The area sustained heavy damage and is still reeling. I have raised the issue provincially and nationally. We are currently waiting for assistance,” he said.

Van Der Berg said following inspections, the pipe that took sewage out of the area was blocked with sand, cracked and non-functional.

“The pipeline is meant to move about 100000 litres of sewage per day. Now it moves nothing.

‘This is just one of 17 plants out of the municipality’s 21 that were damaged by the floods.”

The eThekwini Municipality did not respond at the time of publication.