Homes flooded with sewage and covered in flies while a three-year-old girl suffers from a lung infection, her mother from diarrhoea, and a senior citizen from tuberculosis.
These are just some of the examples of the dire conditions some Helenvale residents have been forced to live in for the past few months.
Desnay Pullen, 25, said the sewage problem in Martin Street — affecting dozens of households as well as the Gelvandale Secondary School — dated back to at least November.
It is believed to have been caused by a blocked sewerage line, which tends to overflow when it rains.
Community activist Christian Martin and council speaker and Northern Alliance president Gary van Niekerk toured the area on Wednesday, and found a community living in inhumane conditions.
Community members said the problem was recurring one and called on the council to replace the ageing sewerage infrastructure in the area.
Battling to sleep because of the smell, Pullen, who stays with her boyfriend and two small children, has been forced to risk their safety by opening the doors at night to try get rid of the smell.
“Last week, I took my three-year-old to the doctor because she was coughing for three weeks.
“The doctor said she had a lung infection and asked if there was moisture where she was sleeping at night.
“I told the doctor my home is wet and she never goes outside.”
The woman said she has also missed work for a week because of diarrhoea.
“It’s so frustrating because the leak will be fixed and then in less than a day it starts again,” Pullen said.
Charlene Kramer, 55, who lives in the same road a short distance away, suffers from TB.
Her backyard has become a thriving ecosystem for flies as a result of the sewage spill, which has overflowed into her front yard, which is now covered in faeces.
“Blocked drains with recurring sewage spills started in December.
“We cannot wash our laundry, and we cannot cook or eat.
“This has affected me taking my TB medication.
“We have young children in the house.
“My grandchildren every now and again have tummy aches and vomit.
“My youngest grandchild had to be taken to the doctor for gastro issues.
“Even us, as adults, have tummy aches and discomfort.
“It’s really disgusting to see how my yard looks,” Kramer said.
“My grandchildren can’t even sleep in the house and we have to go around asking people to accommodate them.”
Sadé Currie, 34, from nearby Gail Road, has two overflowing drains outside her home.
She said she had given up on the municipality fixing their sewage issues.
Martin said he had asked Van Niekerk to accompany him to the area.
“It’s not right what is happening to these people. Presently there is a three-year-old with a lung infection.
“The family must put their furniture on bricks so that it is not soaked in sewage.
“It seems we have become emotionally numb as public representatives, officials and politicians,” Martin said.
“There is a secondary school here, Gelvandale, which also has a hostel.
“If they get sick it is an extra burden on their parents.
“I think it would be fair to say that by March 1 we need a report [from the council] as to how these problems will be resolved,” Martin said.
He said they needed to be provided with a budget, a long-term plan to resolve the issue and a suction truck to unblock the drains on a weekly basis in the interim.
Van Niekerk, who matriculated at Gelvandale Senior Secondary School, threatened on Monday to leave the Nelson Mandela Bay coalition government, saying his proposals were being ignored.
He said the living conditions in the northern areas was another reason he wanted out.
“We are not married to this coalition, we are married to service delivery.
“In the next two to three weeks we will have a tour of the northern areas to assess what the state is like and to hold ourselves accountable.
“If you look at these living conditions, we have failed these people horribly.
“We need a short-term plan and a long-term approach.
“The short-term is removing the smell and the flies. I could not stand being in the yard.
“The sewage is running into people’s kitchens, how do you live like that?”
Van Niekerk said he would return to the area with Martin on Thursday, and rope in other municipal officials and politicians to witness first hand how people there were living.
HeraldLIVE
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