Note to editors: Attached please find a soundbite in English here by Jade Miller MPL.
• Mohlakeng Extension Four and Five (Ward 15) residents are being forced to live in conditions hazardous to their health as raw sewage flows through the streets
• Clean drinking water is being lost through leaking infrastructure.
• To get in and out of their homes, residents are forced to lay down wooden boards, while children play in the raw sewage.
Mohlakeng Extension Four and Five (Ward 15) residents are being forced to live in conditions hazardous to their health as raw sewage flows through the streets. At the same time, clean drinking water is being lost through leaking infrastructure.
To get in and out of their homes, residents are forced to lay down wooden boards, while children play in the raw sewage. Raw sewage flowing through residential areas poses a public health risk and should not be treated as merely an inconvenience or an unpleasant smell.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) will submit questions to the Office of the Speaker of Rand West City Local Municipality to establish exactly what is being done to address the deteriorating sewer and water infrastructure in Mohlakeng. In the meantime, the DA in Gauteng has reported all the leaks to the municipality.
This is one of the many failures of the current government that the DA encountered while visiting Mohlakeng. The DA observed multiple sewage leaks in a small area, including in Sekati, Ganyane and Ndogeni Streets. The sheer number of sewage leaks in such a small area is deeply concerning and points to a serious failure to maintain basic municipal infrastructure.
See photos here, here, here and here.
Children should be able to play outside their homes without parents worrying about them stepping in or falling into raw sewage. Residents should not have to walk through sewage to get to and from their homes.
Adding to the frustration is the unnecessary loss of clean water. In Biyane Street, a freshwater leak has been flowing for so long that the escaping water has damaged the tarred road and carved a visible pathway through it.
This is particularly unacceptable when communities across Rand West City frequently experience water interruptions, and residents are repeatedly expected to conserve water.
Every litre of clean water lost through a municipal leak should be reaching residents’ taps.
Residents of Mohlakeng deserve a functioning municipality that maintains infrastructure, responds to complaints, protects public health, and delivers the basic services communities are entitled to receive. Mohlakeng’s sewage spills and water infrastructure issues must be urgently addressed. This situation also negatively impacts the local economy and jobs because businesses will not invest where streets are flooded with effluent.
A DA-led municipality would prioritise reliable basic service delivery, infrastructure maintenance and accountability.