Residents relieved to see team working on suburb’s sewage spillage problem.
THE RESIDENTS of Electra Park in Kimberley were given a glimmer of hope on Monday morning when a team of engineers arrived who apparently promised to resolve the suburb’s sewage flooding problem.
The team of engineers are reportedly from Transnet in Bloemfontein and Johannesburg.
While it could not be confirmed what the team was working on and when they would finish, it was relief enough for the residents to see trucks busy sucking up the sewage from the main manhole while workers moved from one drain to the next to do inspections.
The suburb has suffered from sewage spillages for a number of years.
One resident said that she intends to take legal action after her three-year-old daughter was diagnosed with stomach infections that could lead to cancer, due to the sewage flooding at their home.
This is after the child’s pathology results revealed that she tested positive for at least four infections and she has been hospitalised a number of times, leaving her family financially strained.
While the Sol Plaatje Municipality and Transnet were apparently “playing the blame game” last week, the Northern Cape Department of Agriculture, Environmental Affairs, Land Reform and Rural Development dispatched the Green Scorpions to perform an oversight inspection in the suburb.
Department spokesperson Zandisile Luphahla said on Monday that they have not had any engagements with Transnet yet, as they are still busy compiling a report based on their inspections.
He added that there was a possibility that a criminal investigation could be launched once the report was compiled.
Transnet could not be reached for comment as the relevant contact person did not answer their phone.
