[WATCH] Stumped! Tree removed in latest report of Cape Flats drain unblocking
|Published
WOW: Workers retrieve a tree in Heinz Park.
A tree is the latest unlikely object to be removed from sewage drains on the Cape Flats.
Earlier this month, a TV set was removed from a drain in Philippi.
The shocking find came just days after a whole mattress was fished out of a 900mm sewer pipeline in Lavender Hill.
This week, Heinz Park did one better after a 3m-long tree was pulled out of a manhole.
The discovery on Monday came after the City was alerted to the sewer system that was overflowing.
A video shared on social media shows City workers pulling out the large tree from the open manhole.
A suspicious Mayco member for Water and Sanitation, Zahid Badroodien, said: “The City became aware of this through service requests that had been logged of sewer overflows in the area.”
He says that taking out strange objects from blocked drains and pipes is becoming an expensive exercise for the City.
“The City’s Water and Sanitation operational teams work regularly in all areas to address sewer blockages that may be associated with materials entering the sewer system unlawfully,” Badroodien explains.
The City has already spent about R417 million in the past financial year due to misuse of the sewer system and illegal dumping.
“The City’s Water and Sanitation team clears and cleans over 300 sewer blockages and overflows daily across Cape Town,” Badroodien adds.
“Illegal dumping into sewer infrastructure is a city-wide problem, and all of us need to work together to help keep our sewers clear from blockages.”
However, Heinz Park community leader Gabriel Peters tells the Daily Voice that the City sewer system isn’t adequate for the area.
“They must admit it isn’t equipped for Heinz Park,” Peters said. “The roads need to be lifted and other pipes should be laid, because Heinz Park expanded [and] the pipes were not equipped for the total of households.
“Baie van die dreine flood en baie van die rioolwater is ‘n kiem vir die kinders.”
Meanwhile, just like many other areas on the Cape Flats, Heinz Park is plagued by gang violence and according to Badroodien, this makes it gevaarlik for council workers to stiek uit in these areas.
“We need to have security providing support to the officials as they are working. It is a war zone out there! Our officials are dodging bullets while they are pulling out trees and other objects from the pipes,” he said.