RESIDENTS from Bokmakierie in Athlone are threatening more protests after continuous power outages and sewer overflows.
On Sunday and again Tuesday evening, angry residents took to the streets as their power went out again.
One resident said that he is ‘mooi gatvol’ as the krag has been af for days and the sewers overflowing into their properties for months.
The unnamed man says: “This is our human rights that is being violated. People’s drains are flooding and houses are flooding with popo and the electric poles are burning because the electricity people don’t know what they are doing.
“It is getting worse. The electricity department came out and fixed the cable and minutes later the power was off again, that is how it goes.
“My sewer has also been overflowing for six months but others longer. It is getting so bad that we will start protesting every night, burning tyres and close off [nearby] Jan Smuts Drive until somebody listens to us.
Another resident complained that he and his family are not able to use the toilet and have to pump sewage into the road.
The homeowner said: “I want to know who is stealing the money because it cannot continue like this. When my children use the toilet, I have no choice but to use my hand and scoop the poo out because the toilet can’t flush. We are back to the Stone Age. You can’t see, because it is dark and stepping in sh*t.”
Residents say that they have been complaining to the ward councillor Rashid Adams, however nothing has been done.
Adams said that is “false” as he has escalated the complaints to the various departments and is going above and beyond for assistance.
He told the Daily Voice: “The problem with the power outages is the cable theft on a daily basis. The City has started with a project to install a new sub-station in the Hazendal area. We’ll be converting all our overhead cables to underground cables to mitigate this problem.”
The City’s Water and Sanitation department responded, saying: “The City’s Water and Sanitation teams are aware of the recent overflows in Hazendal/Bokmakierie.
“It has been found that stormwater is being channelled to the sewer system, which has resulted in uncontrollable sewer overflows during heavy rains.
“Teams are trying their best to clear sewer pipelines but the capacity of the sewer system is being compromised by storm-water ingress.”
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