Note to editors: Please find attached English and Afrikaans soundbites by Cllr Lyle Bouwer and Sesotho by Cllr David Masoeu.
What used to be called blocked drains has become a sewage waste norm in the ANC-led Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality. Residents live with waste every day, and when the municipality eventually unblocks the drains, they post about it on social media as if it’s an achievement. Please see the pictures here, here, here, here, here and here.
One would think that sewage pollution spillage should be rare and treated as a high-priority case once reported to the municipality. Instead, together with failures in waste refuse removal, electrical services, water meter maintenance, and burst water pipes, sewage problems are reported daily in Mangaung Metro Municipality.
Reports of blocked and overflowing sewer street drains and manholes in residents’ yards are daily issues that the municipality fails to remedy. The same blockages reoccur a few weeks or even days after being dealt with, or another drain just two streets away starts to block once one is opened.
The cause of the blocked drains is not only due to the failure of waste and stormwater infrastructure maintenance and solid waste management but also a result of poor environmental and town planning. Communities are located in areas with no access to infrastructure and services, which places pressure on town planning departments. Without proper planning, new mass drainage channels are linked to dilapidated drainage systems. Poor waste management education is one of the main reasons for the blocked drainage systems, as items such as toddler nappies, sanitary pads, and plastics find their way into the wastewater systems.
Tackling the waste management infrastructure head-on by repairing and refurbishing the failing systems and keeping them well maintained, along with in-depth education for communities, will ensure that the current sewage nightmare will not recur.
The deterioration of essential government services disproportionately affects the lives of underprivileged South Africans, as they are often unable to afford the high cost of private-sector alternatives. One of the priorities of a DA government will be to establish an effective, professional, and merit-based public service system with a sole focus on delivering quality services to all South Africans.
We will always prioritise the needs and rights of all residents. Once in government, we will fight against municipal service failures such as these.