Florence Cupido from Manenberg called on the help of Daily Voice as she was fearing for her health and those around her who have been dealing with the smell of arrige poo water since the beginning of the month.
She says that they have been struggling with this issue since 8 April, and on 9 April, they contacted the City of Cape Town to fix a blocked sewerage pipe in Dwyka Road, but as soon as the council workers left, the problem returned.
“The council is failing us. I don’t know what they came to do as nothing was really fixed because that very same evening after they came to fix the drain, it was blocked again and now it is overflowing heavily,” says Florence.
“We cannot keep our doors or windows open and the children cannot play outside because it’s not safe for them to do so.
“It is in front of my house and I have been contacting the council so many times, but all I keep getting is reference numbers and nothing comes from it. They do not even send someone to come and check what is happening.
“We are a lot of elderly people in the road who cannot stand the smell of the stinky water.”
After the Daily Voice reached out to the City for assistance on Tuesday, the problem was fixed the same day.
The City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Water and Sanitation, Councillor Zahid Badroodien says the Water and Sanitation Directorate was informed of shootings in the area on Friday, 12 April, and Saturday, 13 April, and withdrew the teams from the area for safety purposes.
“The teams are currently working through a backlog that has developed due to volatility in certain areas. This service request will be addressed as soon as possible. A team has been assigned to attend to the issue,” he said.