CAPE TOWN - It was a stinky Christmas for a Kuilsriver pensioner and her family after numerous attempts to get their overflowing sewerage pipe fixed via the City’s 24/7 call centre yielded no results for six days.
The City meanwhile said it was a private property, hence it was not their responsibility.
Felicity Titus said that on December 23 at around 8am she had discovered that their sewerage pipe was blocked.
“There are two lines running through our yard, a municipal line and one that feeds into the municipal line.
“We are not the only people on that line and all that faeces was lying in our yard, starting to stink.
“At 9am on the 23rd we called the 24 hour online municipal service.
“They guarantee a 24-hour turn- around time.
“We were happy about that because we were planning and preparing our Christmas lunch for 10 family members.
“The municipal workers pitched up late in the afternoon. Using drain opening rods, they were unable to unblock the pipe.
“The driver of the attending vehicle informed us that he would contact his supervisor to sort it out but nobody ever got back to us.”
The next morning Titus called the online service again, as she says she did several times a day for several days.
A neighbour who was indirectly affected by the problem also flagged it to the ward 11 councillor, Wouter de Vos.
“I sent Wouter de Vos reminders. By December 27 we had sent him five reminders, instead he just gave me a rude response instead of feedback on what was happening.”
Approached for comment, De Vos said he would look into the matter and get back to the Cape Times.
Titus said they had to relocate their Christmas lunch and one planned for December 27, as they still had no clear answers by then.
“Eventually on the December 28 we called in a private company who fixed the problem.
“This means that for six whole days we could not flush our toilets as this caused disgusting and unhygienic effluent to flow from the drain and into our yard, affecting our neighbour’s property as well.
“Its about more than who had to fix the problem, it’s about respect and communication.
“We are ratepayers, we called them out to check, why did nobody provide any feedback, if they found it was our responsibility to fix, explain that and say why, instead of leaving us in deplorable conditions,” Titus said.
The City’s mayco member for Water and Sanitation, Zahid Badroodien said the matter was investigated.
“The matter was attended to and on investigation, it was discovered that the blocked sewer pipe was inside the client’s property.
“The City does not work on private properties. The resident was then informed to deal with the matter as this was deemed to be his/her responsibility,” he said.
Cape Times