For 15 years, residents of Mahonisi Waterval village in Elim, in Limpopo’s Vhembe District Municipality, have been living with the harsh reality of sewage leaks in their neighbourhood. Rhulani Chavalala, a community leader and member of the African People’s Convention (APC), speaks about the long-standing issue.
“Since 2009, this sewage has not been repaired. Councillors have come in and changed, but no one cares about the sewage,” he says.
According to Chavalala, some residents have been writing letters for over a decade, but “the municipality has not helped, and the residents have not received any response”.
Even the town manager has been informed, but the situation remains unchanged.
Nkhensani Chauke (52), a resident of Mahonisi Block B, says they are frustrated by the lack of action from the local authorities.
“The councillor and municipality have done nothing to help us. They don’t deliver any services. We do not know how to get help or where to go so they can hear us.”
According to Chauke, who lives with her five children, the sewage even runs into their houses.
“We live like pigs,” she says. “The municipality does not see us as human beings. If they thought we were human beings, they would have fixed the sewage long ago.”
Impact on business
A local businessman, who spoke on condition of anonymity, says his business has taken a knock.
“I have livestock, and my livestock drink garbage,” he says. “Even if I wanted to sell my pigs to the public, they will not buy if they think they are eating dirt.”
The man says he mostly sells animals to people outside of his village who approach him because they aren’t aware of the sewage issues. But it is difficult for him to sell animals to people from within his village.
“I cannot blame the residents who do not buy my pigs. But those who we should blame are the municipality and their leaders.”
The man’s livestock, including cattle, horses, pigs, goats, and donkeys, are all impacted by the sewage.
Blame-shifting
Moses Shibambu from the Vhembe District Municipality says the sewage spillage was reported and attended to.
“The sewer line was blocked due to foreign substances or materials which are not permitted to be inside the sewer pipeline, therefore causing blockages and spillages,” he says.
According to Shibambu, the municipality has since observed illegal connections to households and residential buildings.
“In essence, this means that the load contributed by those households and residential buildings was not in the initial planning of the pipe size constructed. Again, the disposal of materials that are not supposed to be introduced into the sewer system were found, including bags of sand.”
He says the municipality would be upgrading the 160mm sewer pipeline to a 200mm pipe from September 2025 to accommodate the new load and excess flow.
In the short term, the municipality has unblocked the sewage pipeline, removing all unwanted materials that had caused the blockage. Shibambu says the cleaning of the sewer line would take place on a scheduled basis. – Health-e News
