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On Friday, 7 March, sewage was running all along Commercial Street in Eltivillas.

Trading with sewage at their front door

 

Imagine doing business with sewage running past your front door.

This is exactly what some businesspeople in Eltivillas in Makhado (Louis Trichardt) had to stomach the past week.

“It was horrible. We sell food and have clients who eat outside. Raw sewage and other personal stuff was afloat, coming out of a manhole in front of the shop … Our cleaner tied something over the nose to block out the smell before starting to try and clean up the mess,” said Ms Charlene Spies from Snappy Snacks in Commercial Street. The overflow apparently started on Wednesday night (5th) with the rain torrents. “We called the municipality three times,” said owner Mr Carlos de Faria. The next day, the mess in front was clean and the sewage spill at the side drain was not running anymore but stagnant. The municipality had come out to attend to the matter.

When this specific spill was stopped, the sewage merely overflowed next door at Surat Books. “The smell affects business and it is a hygiene risk. Yesterday, the raw sewage came flowing down the road and we reported it many times. Someone was seen outside, taking a look, but no one came in to talk to us,” said owner Pretesh Patel on 7 March. Ms Sharon Manganye of Surat liaised with the municipality, who eventually managed to stop the spillage before 13:00 on the same day.

The strong and repugnant smell in Commercial Street had already been mentioned by a resident on AfriForum's Facebook page on 25 February. “They sell fruit and vegetables along that road. How do the people working in that area stand it? I think it could be a health hazard. Please, is there anyone I can contact about fixing that s**t smell? This town seems to be going backwards very fast,” wrote Ms Lynne Novella. The media liaison officer of Vhembe District Municipality, Mr Moses Shibambu, said on the same page on 23 February that the technicians were busy fixing sewage leaks “as there seem to be many leakages.”

Vhembe’s Makhado water services manager, Mr David Mukosi, confirmed this week that they had their hands full with sewage spills. “We have a problem with some of the contractors who worked on the streets in Eltivillas. They performed their duties, but did not communicate with us. While using their TLBs, they damaged some manhole covers and did damage on ground level. Some of the contractors came to lay other lines that are not connected to our lines. We are trying to rectify the lines one by one as sewage spills occur,” Mukosi said and added that they had not yet unblocked the whole sewerage system. “We also have problems in the industrial area,” Mukosi said.

A food business in Commercial Street in Eltivillas had the horrible experience of raw sewage and other personal stuff coming out of a manhole in front of the shop and out of drains on the side on 6 March. Fortunately, the matter was attended to by the municipality.
 

Date:14 March 2014

By: Linda van der Westhuizen

Linda van der Westhuizen has been with Zoutnet since 2001. She has a heart for God, people and their stories. Linda believes that every person is unique and has a special story to tell. It follows logically that human interest stories is her speciality. Linda finds working with people and their leaders in the economic, educational, spiritual and political arena very rewarding. “I have a special interest in what God is doing in our town, province and nation and what He wants us to become,” says Linda.

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