- The central plant in Meloding is totally defunct
- The 200 000 residents of Meloding and Virginia suffer daily discomfort
- The company awarded the R27 million contract in 2022 to refurbish the sewer pump stations in Meloding and Virginia has disappeared
- The municipality is pumping raw sewage directly into Sand River, and the thick green scum on its banks and water testify to this.
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The sewage crisis engulfing and flooding virtually every town, settlement and even waterway in Matjhabeng is heading towards a major ecological and health disaster.
Towns like Meloding, Hennenman, Nyakallong and Odendaalsrus are flooded in sewage.
The central plant in Meloding is totally defunct and manholes throughout this township are gushing and bubbling sewage into the streets.
The 200 000 residents of Meloding and Virginia suffer daily discomfort. The municipality is pumping raw sewage directly into Sand River, and the thick green scum on its banks and water testify to this.
An 82-year-old resident of Meloding says her property has been flooded for six months now. The smell is terrible and the situation is causing health problems.
The company awarded the R27 million contract in 2022 to refurbish the sewer pump stations in Meloding and Virginia has disappeared.
The sewer works were never built and this has resulted in raw sewage literally gushing out of every manhole in Meloding.
In Nyakallong (Allanridge) some houses have already collapsed into Voëlpan which is full of sewage.
In Hennenman raw sewage is flowing in and around the town and its farms, as well as through Phomolong.
In Welkom there is sewage up and down Stateway, in the industrial area, St Helena (St Helena Priary School), Doorn, Thabong, and also Bronville.
Dr Igor Scheurkogel, ward councillor in Matjhabeng, says the declaration of Matjhabeng as a sewerage disaster in 2022 was merely a publicity stunt to gain popularity with residents.
“Every day residents of Matjhabeng are faced with the sewage in their backyards and toilets that cannot flush.
“There is sewage running down the streets and this has a negative impact on businesses, some of which will have to close because it is a health risk. This will most definitely negatively impact the already shrinking economy of Matjhabeng.”
Matjhabeng has 13 Waste Water Treatment Plants, but only three are operational, and there 56 pump stations of which only five are operational.
“This results in sewage flowing into pipes with nowhere to go. They cannot be pumped to the plants and now need to be extracted from the sewerage line into the stormwater drain. This is illegal and a serious environmental hazard,” says Scheurkogel.
He says the infrastructure has not been maintained in over two decades, and where a line has collapsed the sewage builds up and spills over into residents yards or into the street.
“Matjhabeng is drowning in sewage and yet the mayor goes on the radio and says that 70 to 80% of the work is complete, he is clearly not in touch with the people on the ground or in tune with ward councillors that have to face residents every day,” says Scheurkogel.
