Daily sewage overflows and foul stench frustrate Limpopo residents

“It is absolutely disgusting, it is a disgrace to live in Musina.”

Maggie van Staden, a resident in the northern Limpopo town, is referring to a stench she has to endure due to sewage pipes that are either constantly blocked or leaking.

Musina is one of the towns in the Vhembe district municipality plagued with overflowing drains, with raw sewage flowing down roads, passing through schools and businesses.

“I am suffering. Right next to me a big manhole is overflowing and the smell is disgusting,” she said, adding it has been a daily struggle.

She said raw sewage is spilling over in various streets in the town, and though residents report it to Musina local municipality, which often repairs the leaks, there are constant bursts.

“It is affecting our lives, it is affecting our children because right opposite Nehemiah Christian Private School and Laerskool Messina Primary School there is always sewage overflowing.

“We try to see what we can do to get things fixed. The situation is bad. It is sewage and water; it is messy,” she said.

Councillor Joseph Mariba agreed that the situation was dire, with nonstop water cuts, water leaks and free-flowing raw sewage on the streets.

“We have ageing infrastructure in our municipality. There is a major leak on the main pipe and has been leaking for months,” he said.

Vhembe district municipality is responsible for water and sanitation in Thulamela, Musina, Collins Chabane and Makhado municipalities.

District municipal spokesperson Matodzi Ralushai conceded that there is a challenge but said the municipality had several projects on how to address the ageing infrastructure.

He said increased load-shedding was also putting a strain on infrastructure

“It is true spillages are there in some of our townships. We have a maintenance programme to upgrade the infrastructure. We have a team dedicated to dealing with a sewer challenge,” he said.

Ralushai said Musina and Makhado local municipalities were dry areas and most of the rural villages and townships rely on boreholes to supply water.

“In Musina, they rely on water from the river. We have drilled and connected our boreholes in the river. During flooding our boreholes are flooded because they are inside the river and there are times where only a few of them are working,” he said.

Ralushai conceded that Musina relies on the ageing main line distributing water to the town directly from the river. “It is one of the oldest lines and has a lot of leakages.”

He said the municipality does not have a backup generator during escalated stages of load-shedding which affects the pumping of water.

“When there is no water even the flow of sewage is affected because there is no water flowing in the sewage pipe and this affects sanitation,” he added.

Ralushai stressed that the municipality constantly maintains water and sanitation infrastructure but vandalism and theft were contributing to the plight.

“There is ongoing maintenance but we have to make a plan to get a new pipeline and we need to change the old system.

“We are no longer talking about Musina with a small population — it is growing, and with the demand and the high temperature, this means the consumption of water is high and the pressure is huge. Unlike other areas, there is no alternative source to provide water other than the river,” he said.

DA Musina constituency leader Risham Maharaj has written to Limpopo premier Stanley Mathabatha asking for the municipality to be placed under administration for continued failure to maintain sewer infrastructure and provide water to residents in some areas.

“Vhembe district is the sanitation and water authority but they don’t have the resources, skills and knowledge to deliver water to the residents of four municipalities [which has been going on] for the past four years,” he said.

He said sewage leaks in Musina were a big issue. “This has been going on for years; we have reported this to the local municipality and to Vhembe and they failed to get these things resolved.”

Ralushai said the report by Maharaj from the DA painted a picture of some of the challenges there were facing but it wasn’t the whole image as the municipality was busy with projects to address the challenges.