Johannesburg - A Fleurhof pensioner has been forced to live with human waste in her house for the past three weeks, allegedly because a developer did not install the sewerage pipes properly.
Suzan Malekutu, 68, lives in a ground-floor flat in a block of RDP units that were developed by Calgro Holdings.
When the neighbours, who live above her, flushed their toilets, the waste would be diverted to Malekutu’s bathroom through the toilet bowl and bath plug hole then spill over into her house.
The Star was shown a picture of the family’s bathtub filled with sewage into which Malekutu fell last Wednesday after slipping in the mess on the floor.
On Friday, Ahmed Hajat of Calgro said the company had completed the units and handed them over to the City of Joburg so it was the city and Malekutu’s responsibility to maintain them and resolve any problems.
However, later that day, Hajat said Calgro had instructed its construction team to assist the family.
The family confirmed on Sunday that the problem had been sorted out.
Calgro was allegedly informed of the problem three weeks ago and told to fix it but allegedly refused to do so, saying Malekutu should get a plumber.
The family said their woes started on May 6. They were sitting in the lounge when they heard loud gurgling sounds coming from the bathroom.
When they went to investigate, they found their bathtub and basin filled with faeces that were coming through the plug holes.
The toilet was also brimming over with faeces that were quickly spilling over onto the floor.
Malekutu’s daughter, Maria, said she went to Joburg Water in Florida to tell them about her mother’s problem.
“They came with their equipment and investigated.
“They said there was a problem with the sewerage system. They went to Calgro and told them to put in a new pipe,” she said.
Maria said that when people from Calgro arrived at her mother’s house to investigate the problem, they said they would not be able to remove the pipe and that people living in the block needed to contribute towards buying acid that would unblock it.
She said she kept going back and forth to Calgro to no avail.
Maria said her family would empty the bathtub and the basin of faeces, but when they woke up the next morning the house would be flooded again.
Malekutu said she had been in the bathroom last Wednesday when she tripped on the messy floor and fell into the bathtub that was full of faeces.
City of Joburg spokesman Nthatisi Modingoane said on Sunday that the problem had been fixed.
The Star