By Matheus Hamutenya
KEETMANSHOOP – Residents of the impoverished location of Ileni in Keetmanshoop face contracting acute diarrhoea and dysentery from leakages of raw sewerage in the location.
Municipal staff have in the past two weeks made feeble attempts to mend the leaking pipes but each time they briefly stemmed the leaks new leakages gushed from the ground forming nauseating streams.
Ileni residents now have to zigzag past the streams of smelly waste matter at the location in Tseiblaagte.
The sewerage water flows quite heavily resulting in the formation of small rivulets stretching for up to about 300 metres.
A furious resident Eva Kandinade narrated to New Era that the stench from the sewers is unbearable and she finds it difficult to eat because of the bad smell.
She said she has on many occasions informed the municipality about the problem but they seem not to have a clue about how to deal with it because each time they attempted they stopped it briefly before the sewerage started flowing again.
“We currently can’t use the toilet because when you flush the water comes out of the toilet over the sides,” lamented Kandinade.
Kandinade even suggested to municipal workmen to plaster a hole in the pipes where children reportedly drop stones and bottles causing the blockage.
Children could be seen playing in the waste water that flows past their homes and this, according to Dr Job Ndile the chief medical officer at the Keetmanshoop hospital, could be very hazardous as it could make the children ill. The children seem unaware of the health risks.
“This is a very serious situation and should be dealt with by emergency services,” he stated.
He elaborated that children could get acute diarrhoea and dysentery as the water is heavily contaminated.
When contacted for comment Bartholomeus Christiaan the senior manager of Local Economic Development and Community Services at the Keetmanshoop Municipality confirmed he was aware of the problem and was in fact the first person to have seen it and immediately informed his team.
He indicated he was personally on site and it was fixed on Monday but was not aware of any recurrence of the leakage after his visit.
He assured residents the problem would soon be permanently fixed as the municipality rolled out a N$5 million tender to build a new sewage line for Tseiblaagte and neiughbouring locations.
“We are hoping this will bring a permanent solution to the problem,” he said.