Eight-year sewage battle for families

It's been an eight-year battle for seven households from Tshikota to get their sewage problems sorted out, but there is still no fresh solution in the air for this stinking problem.

Ms Iris Mogoro said that they had reported the problem to the Makhado Municipality many times, but workers had seemingly failed to fix the main problem. “They just come and sprinkle some white chemical around our homes,” she said. “Initially they would promise to fix the problem, but it seems like they are tired of giving us empty promises – they just ignore us.”

Donald Magoro, Iris's son, explained that the municipal workers visited him on Friday to inspect an electrical cable that supplies power to his home. “They told me to dig it out, so they could see what the problem is,” he said. “But I am afraid the electric power might kill me.”

At the home of Ms Thinavhuyo Bale (48), lush green grass has grown around her RDP house and all over her yard. “The grass might appear green and healthy to any person who doesn’t know that under it lies the sewage,” she said. “We are even afraid of venturing onto the grass to mow it or cut it off, lest we sink into the filthy mud and die.”

Bale’s toilet also spills over with faeces and she uses old clothes to block away the smelly matter. “We soak human faeces with our bare hands,” she said. “We can't even afford to buy protective gloves. We are suffering. They (municipal workers) came here to sprinkle some chemicals around our house yesterday; they have been doing this for all these years.”

Another resident, Mr Vhalimisi Ramakulukusha (50), recently noticed a group of children playing in the sewage near an open sewer hole and reprimanded them. However, a mother of one of the children didn’t take kindly to Ramakulukusha's actions. “She shouted at me and accused me of harassing the children,” he said. “I am a parent and if one of the little ones were to die, it would stab my soul and conscience. The municipality is making us fight among ourselves, because of the failure to address the sewerage problem.”

Margaret Khorommbi (53) said that the issue of the sewage surrounding their homesteads had become a pain in her heart. “This problem started some eight years ago,” she said. “My nephew Rotondwa, who was born three years ago, also plays in the sewage. This is so bad because we have to stop doing our chores in the home to always keep a watchful eye on him.”

In cases of sewerage matters, residents normally report the case to the Makhado Municipality and all the sewerage issues are then referred to the Vhembe District Municipality.

The district municipality's media liaison officer, Mr Moses Shibambu, acknowledged receipt of the media inquiry from Limpopo Mirror and said he would forward it to the office of the technical manager. “The technical manager will then see what kind of instruction to give for the problem to be fixed,” Shibambu said.

Date:14 November 2014

By: Tshifhiwa Mukwevho

Tshifhiwa Given Mukwevho was born in 1984 in Madombidzha village, not far from Louis Trichardt in the Limpopo Province. After submitting articles for roughly a year for Limpopo Mirror's youth supplement, Makoya, he started writing for the main newspaper. He is a prolific writer who published his first book, titled A Traumatic Revenge in 2011. It focusses on life on the street and how to survive amidst poverty. His second book titled The Violent Gestures of Life was published in 2014.

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