Durban - Overport residents say a continuous sewage problem and illegal dumping at an informal settlement are posing severe health risks to residents and affecting their daily lives.
Residents in Sheringham and Hope roads spoke to The Mercury yesterday about the issues plaguing the community.
Tariq Sarkhot, manager of a company which owns a residential building across from where the sewage problem is, said the stench was unbearable.
“Residents can’t open their windows because of the stench. The other issue is that in the informal settlement there are no ablution facilities and people are using the place as a dumping zone. It’s a bad situation. I have tenants who want to move out because they can’t bear it and I also can’t get other people who want to move into the flats because of the situation.”
Abul Kay, 70, who has lived in the building for 15 years, said the area had deteriorated significantly over the years. The informal settlement on a vacant plot of land continued to grow.
“The dumping situation is out of control and we have informal housing that is just coming up. To add to all this, we have sewage flowing in the streets. How are we going to survive, I’m an elderly person? We desperately need something to be done about this situation.”
Zarina Mohamed said she opened a medical centre in Sheringham Road two months ago.
“We have elderly people coming for treatment. It is not fair that they have to come in for treatment in such unhygienic conditions. Some of the elderly can’t afford to go anywhere else; they need to use our medical centre.”
Ward 31 councillor Remona Mckenzie said there had been a recurring issue with sewage overflow in Sheringham Road, while the informal settlement had no ablution facilities.
“I have raised this with various departments and even the Durban Solid Waste (DSW) unit.”
Mckenzie said she had inherited this issue when she became a ward councillor in the area in 2021.
“We have also been raising the fact that there are no ablution facilities for informal dwellers and that needs to be attended to. I can’t physically resolve this problem myself, but I have taken all the necessary steps to get help from the relevant departments.”
Farhana Kadwa, who has lived in the area for the past 30 years, said she was considering selling her house.
“We are paying rates, we can’t carry on living like this. We have children. How do we expect them to walk past the stench and unhygienic conditions? We have reported this matter and still nothing has been done about it.”
Ahmedy Fakroodeen, an Overport community activist, said they were concerned about health and safety.
“Not enough has been done about maintenance that is why we find that pipes are repaired and we still have sewage seeping into the roads. It is a recurring problem. Residents’ property values are dropping due to the sewage issue.”
EThekwini Municipality’s head of communications Lindiwe Khuzwayo said: “The City always attends speedily to sewage leaks or overflows that are reported, but the challenge in our communities is that manholes are clogging because people dispose of foreign objects into the system.
“We are appealing to all our residents to desist from doing that and use the correct materials for sanitation purposes. We have escalated this matter to the relevant unit so that they can attend to it. We apologise for the inconvenience this is causing the public. However, we are again appealing to the public to work with us by ridding our system of alien objects.”