Sonop in the s…(age)

Sonop outside of Brits has become a cesspit. The three months long sewage spills in Sonop outside of Brits has now become life threatening as children and animals become sick.
All the sewage manholes in all the properties in Akasia Street are overflowing and residents had to dig furrows leading into the street to stop the sewage from acculating in their yards.
Two-year old Heinrich Coetzee had to be rushed to hospital last weekend after he slipped and fell into a deep puddle of sewage and swallowed some of it.
“Soon after he developed a fever, runny tummy and then had convulsions as a result of the fever,” his mother Alice Coetzee said.
“Wherever we go we are in sewage, we have to keep the children inside as we cannot take the chance to let them come in contact with the mess outside. It is a nightmare. We are prisoners of s…,” a furious mother said.
A number of residents reported that their dogs have become ill. “We wade through sewage when we leave our homes. We cannot even cross the road without stepping into it.”
Sonop ward councillor Elsa Louwrens, who has been trying to get the Department of Public works (under whose jurisdiction the Sonop settlement falls) to solve the problem for the past three months, will lay a criminal charge against the department this week.
“We had a public meeting with the department on 10 March regarding the problem and all we got were promises. No one is ever at the office in Brits or available to talk to the residents,” she said.
Residents called out a private company yesterday to assess the problem. “According to Multi Construction, the main sewage lines are blocked and it would not solve the problem to try and open up individual manholes. This is a very serious situation and only the department can fix it,” a spokesperson said.
After two days of failing to reach the offices (even the head office in Pretoria) of the department, the Kormorant finally managed to talk to an official in Brits yesterday who was not aware of the situation.
We emailed him photographs to stress the dire situation and are awaiting response from the department.
“In the meantime Sonop residents are living in a sewage pit and no one seems to care,” cllr Louwrens said.