The Democratic Alliance (DA) is fighting to end sewerage spills in Upington and has launched a petition to demand that Dawid Kruiper municipality addresses the recurring flooding of people’s homes and yards in the area of Progress.
Since April this year, the DA has made repeated calls on the municipality to attend to a series of blocked drains that are wreaking havoc in ward 4.
Drains bubbling over with bottle green sewage in Vygie Street, Papawer Street and Violet Crescent have become a regular occurrence, affecting the greater community with a permeating stench and attracting pests like flies and mosquitoes.
Spills flow down roads like rivers, and into neighbouring properties. Several homes have suffered flooding, resembling lakes with their yards completely underwater. Sewage pushes up against walls, eroding structures and foundations. A shanty was also engulfed with water, with possessions including a mattress being soaked in effluence. At another home, a bed frame and mattress was trapped like a raft in the sewage. Washlines have also been stranded and storm water canals backed up with sewage.
It is unacceptable that people cannot access their homes and cars or even hang up laundry without wading through muck.
Community members, alongside the DA, have reported the complaints to the municipality numerous times. In some instances, municipal staff have come out and even done repair work, only for the drains to remain blocked, or for the blockage to start-up again a short time later. In other instances, the municipality has blamed its broken reporting system for sewerage complaints not being captured and attended to.
Through our petition, which is gathering support within the affected community, the DA is taking a stand against the ongoing destruction of peoples’ homes, properties and lives through sewage contamination.
Dawid Kruiper municipality cannot continue to ignore the seriousness of this situation. Through the petition we will insist that Dawid Kruiper conducts an assessment of the sewerage situation and develops a remedial plan.
Our communities deserve to live in dignity, not in sewage.