A Hospital Hill resident says he has endured years of raw sewage spilling onto his property due to what he believes is a blocked and failing sewer network, despite repeatedly reporting the matter to Johannesburg Water.
Josef Panyane, who lives at Hospital Hill, Ext 28, next to the scrapyard in Block F, told GLOBE POST that the problem began only months after the sewer infrastructure was installed in 2017.
According to Panyane: “There’s a manhole next to Stand 983. When that manhole is blocked, all the waste coming from the eastern part of Hospital Hill cannot pass through towards the outfall.”
He added that the blockage causes sewage to back up through the sewer network until it reaches the pipes connected to his home: “To avoid sewerage spilling into my house through the toilet, I am forced to open the rodding eye so that the sewage comes out and spills all over my yard. To stop the spillage by opening the rodding eye, I connected a pipe to lead the sewage to the back of my yard. It has created a pool of sewage that flows towards the mosque and Wimbledon Street. The whole property is affected, except inside the house.”
Panyane said he first reported the latest incident to Johannesburg Water approximately six weeks ago. Although he received a reference number and later a message indicating the fault had been resolved, he returned home to find the sewage still overflowing.
He logged another complaint and continued following up, but says little progress has been made. “I kept on making follow-ups, but nothing happened. I even contacted the councillor, who took up the issue with Johannesburg Water. One of the officials from the Corobrik offices also came to inspect after being informed by the councillor,” he added.
Panyane added that he was eventually provided with the contact details of the foreman responsible for sewer maintenance at the Ennerdale Depot. He told me him that he would get a “Vacuumjet truck to unblock the manhole, but nothing happened. That was two weeks ago.”
While unblocking the manhole would provide temporary relief, Panyane believes a more comprehensive intervention is needed.
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