ALBERTON – Residents and the Second Avenue Medical Centre in Verwoerd Park have been experiencing sewage spills and related conditions for more than a year. This is one of the many sewage-related complaints in the Alberton area and it is getting worsen by the day.
The Medical Centre experiences these sewage spills at the staff parking area, and according to Leone Labuschagne, a physiotherapist at the Centre, the problem has been occurring since March 2010 and it has grown and the sewage has worsened.
The municipality has informed her that it is because of the tree outside the facility. The roots of the tree are actually blocking the sewage line, causing sewage to run out into the street. On occasions there has been sewage overflowing into the Centre’s main parking area, where patients had to move through the ‘water’.
Dr Jan Labuschagne, who runs his practice at the Medical Centre, feels that there should not be any health risk to the Centre. “We haven’t experienced any health problems thus far, and we would like this problem sorted out so we can offer the service we should.”
A male resident from West Street who would like to remain anonymous explained that between number one and three in the street, there is a main servitude and that the sewage spills over frequently, around twice a month.
Every month, either the resident or the Centre has to pay private companies to come and attend to the matter, because Ekurhuleni does come out and attend to the problem.
This problem is an example of the many sewage-related complaints that Alberton is experiencing, and there are many more that are still being attended to with regard to concerns and complaints that residents and business owners are experiencing.
Councillor Izak Berg has stated in a mail to the necessary Ekurhuleni departments: “I suggest you go and look at the standard of work done there, open holes now for weeks. I have requested the Alberton RECORD to address it through the media. Tell Parks to find a permanent solution, residents are getting fed up with the level of service delivery in Alberton, our dustbins are not collected, our parks are a disgrace, our roads look like the rest of Africa. You are putting the councillors of Alberton on the spot, I will put the ANC and their incompetence in running a metro on the spot.”
