The Democratic Alliance (DA) has called on the Gamagara municipality to urgently find a cost-effective and long-term solution to address its growing sewerage problem, as towns are left without basic sanitation services.
The municipality’s only sewerage truck allocated for Deben, Kathu and Olifantshoek has been out of order for about three weeks. The number of people waiting for their drains to be emptied is steadily rising. By the end of last week, 24 people in Olifantshoek alone, who had already paid to have their drains serviced, were anxiously waiting for the municipality to perform this function.
Even when the broken sewerage truck is functional, it is not adequate to efficiently service all three towns. With drains spilling over all across the municipality, the situation has now reached crisis point, presenting a health and safety issue, especially at places like the old age homes.
While the municipality’s fleet department still doesn’t know what is wrong with the truck, it has now temporarily outsourced the use of a sewerage truck, at great cost to the municipality.
The DA has been in contact with the Municipal Manager, requesting him to speedily solve this issue.
The municipality cannot afford to further drag its feet in relation to getting the sewerage truck fixed. It also needs to plan and budget for a better capacitated sewerage fleet, as the current situation does not allow for the sustained provision of sanitation services to residents of Gamagara.
Residents of Gamagara deserve to receive all the services they are paying for, and to live in homes that are free of sewage contamination.