eThekwini Councillor Sharmaine Sewshanker looks at the paving with a sink hole which has a putrid smell was emanating from it. The hotel is bearing the effects of a technical failure experienced at the municipality’s Mahatma Gandhi Pump Station near Point.
Image: Zainul Dawood
Guests at a Durban hotel are met with a sewage overflow and a foul stench due to a municipal pump station failure, leaving the hotel manager frustrated with the lack of repairs.
The hotel bears the effects of a technical failure experienced at the municipality’s Mahatma Gandhi Pump Station, near the Point area. The technical failure has also caused some beaches to close, and has enraged the sailing fraternity based at the local harbour.
For more than a week, sewer water overflowed from pipelines onto parts of Margaret Mncadi Avenue (previously known as Victoria Embankment) and into the harbour.
The manager, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the hotel, said the problems with the sewer pipelines outside his business have been ongoing, but in March 2026, two sinkholes formed outside his fence, exposing cables and raw sewage flowing underground.
“On routine inspections of the premises, we noticed a paving brick had sunk into a hole. When I took a closer look, I noticed it was deep, and a putrid smell was emanating from it. The level of water fluctuates during the course of the day,” he said.
To make matters worse, the collapse of the area and sidewalk damaged his main water pipe, leading to the hotel.
“The entrance, exit and delivery zone are compromised. We will consider using the back entrance. Some of the stock coming into the kitchen has to pass through the restaurant, causing inconvenience for clients. We are trying to run a business. There are huge events like the Comrades Marathon happening in Durban in a few weeks,” said the concerned owner.
On Monday, the City's Executive Director of Technical Services, Ednick Msweli, said the pump station experienced technical failures affecting electrical and mechanical components required for routine pumping operations. On Tuesday, the municipality said it continued to implement measures to contain and mitigate the sewer overflow as well as clean-up and disinfection operations.
Msweli said the pump failures were attributed to excessive dumped rags and foreign objects that damaged the screens and clogged the pumps.
Msweli said during the repair and recommissioning processes, additional technical complications were identified, resulting in further delays in restoring full operational capacity.
He said that the station was already constrained as only two of its four available design pumps were operational at the time.
As a precautionary measure, the municipality temporarily closed the Bay of Plenty, North Beach and Battery Beach to ensure public safety while continuous water quality monitoring and remediation work were underway.
Msweli said there was a need for infrastructure improvements at the pump station including upgrades to electrical, mechanical systems, ventilation and gas management infrastructure, replacement of ageing equipment, and improving on maintenance and spare capacity.
Sharmaine Sewshanker, eThekwini DA councillor, said the municipality ordered the part required on Saturday, and it was expected to take three days to arrive.
Sewshanker said she requested for a cover and for safety measures to be put in place to avoid injuries to people venturing outside the hotel.
“Contractors have come out to the site but no work can commence until the system is drained. The North Beach area has a putrid smell,” she said.
Sewshanker explained that the Somtseu Road pump station was in operation but cannot pump wastewater to the Point station.
“As a councillor, oversight visits to the pump station were conducted several times. We urged the department to upgrade these facilities. The floods in April 2022 also damaged several pump stations," she said.
Point Yacht Club's Rear Commodore of Youth, Dr Thomas Funke said the yacht club was preparing for the 505 KZN Regional Championship scheduled for June 2026 and the sewer spills hamper a sailing school for previously disadvantaged children at the club.