President Cyril Ramaphosa has expressed shock over a house and yard that were damaged by a sewage spill in Evaton during his oversight visit.
“I went into Winnie Ndlovu’s house, and I saw what sewage water had done to her furniture as well. I was exposed to havoc and the damage that sewage water has done,” he said.
Ramaphosa visited the Emfuleni Local Municipality, Gauteng, on Friday to oversee first-hand progress in addressing challenges facing the municipality and to discuss solutions that will accelerate service delivery.
He proceeded to the Sebokeng Wastewater Treatment Plant to inspect the water supply and to ensure that the water was not polluted by the sewers.
This comes after the municipality, for years, failed to deliver proper services to its people. Lack of proper roads, water, and sanitation were the main concerns in the municipality.
Residents in neighbouring areas, Evaton, Sebokeng, Vanderbijlpark, and Sharpeville, as well as Vereeniging, have endured constant sewage problems, dirt, a lack of service delivery, and a lack of water supply.
Evaton residents, where Ramaphosa passed by, said sewage spills were their worst nightmare, as they had to dig trenches in their backyards to divert the sewage to flow to the streets. They said government has forgotten the people of Sebokeng.
Addressing the media, Ramaphosa said water treatment in Emfuleni has been neglected for a long time, resulting in people experiencing sewage spills in their homes and into the river as well.
“We decided that as a national government, we needed to intervene, working together with the province, district municipality, as well as various departments,” he said.
He stated that he was confident about the progress made by the municipality, saying real work has been done.
“In a few months, we will be on top of these problems,” he said.
IOL Politics