A raw sewage spillage has forced an elderly woman of Bloemfontein to abandon her house, while her children risk their health staying there.
Motlalepula Swart (61), a recipient of the state old-age pension, has not slept in her sewage flooded house in Joe Slovo since November last year. She sleeps at her neighbour’s place while waiting for the problem to be resolved.
The spillage originates from a blocked manhole in ward 4 of the Mangaung Metro Municipality.
“The conditions have an impact on my health. I fear for my children too,” says Swart.
Her family, one of them a daughter with special needs, stay in the house despite the unpleasant smell of the raw sewage that floods their home repeatedly. Among the family members are two minors, aged three and five.
“They remain and sleep in the house because of rife burglary and theft. Besides, they have no other place to be accommodated.
“My life is miserable and my desperate pleas for help have fallen on deaf ears.”
According to Swart, life has become miserable for her family too. She says the conditions have subjected them to living like pigs whose owner does not care about their well-being, but is only interested in making money.
According to her, it is the norm to spend days trapped in a house flooded with raw sewage. She says the furniture is being damaged by forever being submerged in sewage water.
“The house is not habitable at all,” laments Swart.
She says they remove the sewage from the house using containers when it floods.
The house also becomes flooded during rainy days, apparently because the foundation is too low.
