Sewage runs through streets
2009-11-05
Sieb Sieberhagen
DUE to the influx of thousands of people to Langrug, an informal settlement in Franschhoek, the sanitation has become totally inadequate, leaving pools of polluted water in the streets. Now the provincial government has taken Stellenbosch Municipality to court to force them to address this problem, which has put drinking water sources and fruit export in the surrounding area at risk. Nimrod Baqiweyo, a resident in Langrug for the last ten years, says that the situation is painful for the community. “This is not healthy. This overflowing water is coming from the toilets and our children are playing in this water. This can lead to the outbreak of diseases and major problems,” he said. Lubabalo Mcinga, a resident for the last two years, said that the community had complained, but nothing had happened. “And this leaking of the toilets and unhealthy situation did not happen last week. For almost a year we have had this problem. We have to live with this smell every day. “The residents dig furrows themselves to get rid of the smelly water,” he said. There are more than 5000 people living in the settlement which only has 50 toilets provided by the municipality. The Department of Environmental Affairs says in an affidavit before the court that discussions were held with the Stellenbosch Municipality. They had given the municipality guidelines on how to solve the problems at Langrug, but Rudy Ellis, the acting provincial head for the Department of Enviromental Affairs, said that the municipality had failed to undertake any steps to improve the situation. These guidelines included the installation of 100 extra toilets, the repair of the existing ones, the installation of a drainage system, the investigation of contamination and remediation measures and the report back to the department every month. Stellenbosch is to oppose the application, as they are “in the process of taking measures” to upgrade the sanitation.
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