In the past week parts of Grahamstown have been flooded by sewage due to blocked drains across the city, and despite several complaints made by residents, the municipality is yet to address the problem.
In the past week parts of Grahamstown have been flooded by sewage due to blocked drains across the city, and despite several complaints made by residents, the municipality is yet to address the problem.
One such resident, Lynne Gerdner, reported having lodged three complaints at the municipality offices since last week about blocked drains in six streets. These ranged from the area around Pepper Grove Mall to more residential areas like West Hill and Currie Park.
Makana Municipality's spokesperson, Thandy Matebese, told Grocott's Mail that the municipality would ideally like to attend to sewage problems as soon as a complaint was issued. After a complaint is handed over to the relevant authorities, he said that they would like these to be addressed within a day, but the municipality's resources do not always allow this to happen.
Due to the overflow of complaints and problems that need attention, Matebese said that emergency cases would be given preference and sorted out first. However, this doesn't seem to assuage any of the hostile feelings that some members of the public have towards the municipality.
A resident living in the Oatlands area, who asked to remain anonymous, said: "This is getting ridiculous and I really hope the municipality does something about it." Although a good number of blocked drains are still overflowing with sewage, Matebese said that they are being attended to as soon as possible, and he encourages Grahamstownians to keep reporting leaks or overflows by calling the Department of Technical Services during office hours on 046 602 6136 or 046 603 6000 after hours.
