Just weeks after the city hosted the inaugural Investment Summit to attract investors that can assist with the maintenance of infrastructure within the Mangaung Metro, Councillor Vusi Soqaga took to Facebook to urge residents to refrain from clogging sewer networks or opening manholes, as it sets the maintenance and upgrades back.
“We plead with our communities not to reverse the work we are doing. This not only wastes money but also affects the environment they live in. Spillages have a great negative impact on road infrastructure, and it is a health hazard,” he said.
As a member of the Mayoral Committee for Infrastructure Services, Soqaga added that the city has several internal and external challenges when it comes to sewer spillages. The main challenge at the moment, he said, is the unchanging behaviour of community members who, most of the time, contribute to the clogging of the system, intentionally or unintentionally. Despite the capacity to respond to sewage spillages, the city can respond to 99.4% of spillages.
“We have people who open manholes and throw in foreign objects, be it nappies, plastic, bottles, stones, bicycles, tyres, or tennis rackets, for example. All such items lead to blockages and spillages,” he added.
Furthermore, opening manholes on rainy days allows water to flow into the system. Soil, stones, and other objects end up flowing into the system, which leads to blockages.
According to Soqaga, some challenges arise from alleged intentional acts by shepherds, for example, blocking the system by throwing rocks and bottles so that water can spill onto the grass for animals to graze on and to have access to water. “This happens mostly in open spaces where they normally take their animals to graze,” he said.
Soqaga would like to yet again make a plea to the broader community to note that spillages negatively impact the road infrastructure and are a health hazard.
“We have to work together, as the municipality and community, so we can put an end to the sewage spillages in our municipality and move to other areas of service delivery,” he concluded.
Follow Cllr Vusi Soqaga on Facebook for updates on their current drive to eradicate sewer spillages and water leaks across the city.
Gypseenia Lion
gypseenia@mahareng.co.za
