While the residents of Soul City and Club 2000 in Galeshewe blame the Sol Plaatje Municipality for failure to find a permanent solution to raw sewage running down their streets, the municipality has accused them of vandalism.
WHILE the residents of Soul City and Club 2000 in Galeshewe blame the Sol Plaatje Municipality for failure to find a permanent solution to raw sewage running down their streets, the municipality has accused them of vandalism.
The streets of Club 2000 have become a nightmare and residents are concerned about a possible health crisis.
The pump station at the corner of Tebogo Kock and Forest View streets is not functioning most of the time.
Raw sewage boils out of manholes in Soul City and is running through most of the streets in Club 2000, creating sewage pools.
The sewage flows until Noka Street and then into the main water canal in Absolom Street.
Although the pump station was fixed recently, the sewage has not dried up and continues to flow down the streets.
The sewage currently boils out of an open drain near the pump station, apparently after being damaged by a truck a few days ago.
The residents said they did inform the municipality but nothing has been done about the damaged drain.
The head of the Call Centre at the municipality, Moses Nhlapo, said the drain blockages are caused by cable theft and vandalism at the pump station.
He pointed out that residents also add to the situation by throwing foreign objects into the drains.
Nhlapo believes that criminals wait for the right time after the municipality replaces stolen cables.
He said as soon as the pump station stops working, the sewage pushes up in the yards in Soul City and Forest View.
In Phidisanang Street, it has formed a large pool where the street intersects with Tebogo Balepile.
It then runs down Motshabeng, past Tello’s tavern, into Noka, damaging the surface of the road at the intersection of Noka and Joe Selai streets.
The water passage in Noka Street is covered in dark green sewage, causing an unbearable stench.
Businesses operating at the busy Forest View and Tebogo Kok intersection expressed concern that the stench is affecting their businesses negatively.
There is a supermarket and hardware store, a fruit and vegetable stall as well as fish and chips business at the intersection.
The owner of the vegetable stall, Themba Madihlaba, said he has been operating from his premises for 13 years and the problem persists.
He said that most of his customers are the ones buying from the supermarket opposite him.
“They have to cross over the sewage river in order to come and buy from me. Sometimes the situation is so bad that the customers are unable to jump or step over the sewage,” he said.
The fish and chips stall owner, Tony Gore, also raised concerns that his customers complained that it was a health hazard to eat his food.
“The municipality comes to fix the pump station and within two days the situation is as bad as usual,” he said.
Nhlapo said the municipality is still committed to ensuring that security guards look after infrastructure.
He warned scrapyard owners that the municipality will soon clamp down on the buyers of stolen copper cables.
According to Nhlapo, the stolen cables are sold at the same scrapyards that claim to be co-operating with the police and the municipality.
