Golf club's sewage stench driving visitors away as eThekwini tries to fix broken infrastructure

The sight and smell of a sewage overflow — due to a malfunctioning municipal pump station — is driving visitors away from the picturesque Amanzimtoti Golf Club, south of Durban.

The IFP on Wednesday accused the eThekwini municipality of “turning a blind eye” to the dysfunctional pump station, which has resulted in sewage spills onto the golf course.

The party conducted a recent site visit to the Athlone Park pump station, where it found it was “malfunctioning and deserted”.

But the city denied that no effort has been made to repair the pump station, saying it had been vandalised several times this year.

Club chair Kurt Reinbach told TimesLIVE the situation is “extremely bad”.

“The Athlone Park pump station has not worked properly since the floods due to a number of reasons.

“This causes sewage to push back into the lower-lying club’s system and it overflows in the car park, course and storm water systems.

“This is unsightly and causes a stench, affecting everyone who visits the club. This results in some people staying away,” said Reinbach.

The club is in constant contact with the municipality “who do send a honey sucker vehicle occasionally”.

He said the persistent problem will be resolved only when the pump station is fully repaired.

Municipal spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela said the city is aware of the problem at the golf course “and work is under way to get it back on track.

“The pump station was vandalised several times this year. An electrical panel was purchased and installed, several pumps have been installed. Durban Electricity [company] repaired the damaged power supply. 

“It is untrue that the pump station has been offline for over two years.”

TimesLIVE

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