WATCH | Sewage spills onto premier tourist beach in KZN

One of eThekwini’s premier tourist destinations‚ the seaside town of Umhlanga near Durban‚ was hit by yet another beach promenade sewage spill on Wednesday.

A video posted on Facebook by local ward councillor Heinz de Boer captured raw sewage pouring from a pipe onto the promenade and local beach - popular among locals and tourists.

De Boer said in the video that the eThekwini municipality had been informed months ago that the pipes needed to be replaced.

"About a month ago we put in a notice of motion to the full council meeting actually asking them for a complete replacement of all the sewer pipes in Umhlanga and an investigation into those pipes.

“Now today I stand on the Umhlanga promenade‚ one of the premier tourist destinations within eThekwini and we have another sewage leak‚ which is leaking directly onto the promenade and across onto the beach. It’s a major contamination.”

He said the ANC‚ the ruling party in eThekwini‚ had voted against replacing the sewage pipes.

The footage showed joggers running through the raw sewage leaking onto the beach.

The municipality could not be reached for comment but the Umhlanga Urban Improvement Precinct (UIP) told TimesLIVE that while the problem was recurring‚ the municipality had made efforts to address the issue.

The municipality shut beaches in February after a pipe burst‚ spilling sewage onto the same promenade.

Cara Reilly‚ a UIP spokesperson‚ said: "This is an infrastructure issue that is not only exclusive to Umhlanga‚ however the municipality has been coming to the area regularly to try to find the source of the leak."

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