Kokosi residents endure years of sewage leaks as municipality fails to act

Residents of Kokosi are forced to live among constant sewage leaks. The yard of house no. 6328 and its two neighbours in Kokosi Extension 6 look like small wetlands to passersby.

The yards are wet and have been soggy for so long that reeds have started growing between the homes. According to a resident, Christina Modiboga, the mess stems from a manhole that has been leaking at the back of her neighbour’s yard for the past six years. “My home, which I share with my children, is a mess as the sewage dams up and leaks in when it rains,” says Modiboga.

She showed the Herald how one of her wardrobes has started to pull apart because of the sewage leaking inside the house. She has had to replace several other wardrobes already. Modiboga says that they have contacted the Merafong City Local Municipality in the past, but received no help from officials.

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“They just come here and look at the problems and then leave again without fixing the manhole that is full,” she says. The backyards of the Modiboga family and their neighbours are so full of sewage that no one can walk there. Meanwhile, other residents across the street also showed that they have sewage leaks in their yards as well.

Some complained that the leaking sewage is affecting their health. “Many people here have chest problems because of the sewage,” complained one young resident, Motlatsi Monyakhe. Although the Herald took the issues to the municipality’s marketing and communications manager, Temba Fezani, the problems prevail. Add The Citizen as a preferred source to see more from Carletonville Herald in Google News and Top Stories.

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