Outside Aphelele Manga’s home in Town Two in Khayelitsha, a sink hole caused by a collapsing sewer pipe has been growing. The City of Cape Town now plans to relocate people in order to conduct repairs.
- Dozens of families in Town Two, Khayelitsha, are to be relocated because they are living above a collapsing sewer pipe.
- Residents have been complaining of sink holes opening underneath their shacks.
- The Public Protector’s Office is investigating alleged failures by the City of Cape Town to provide basic municipal services to residents at the Langa Flats and in Khayelitsha.
The City of Cape Town will soon be relocating dozens of families in Town Two, Khayelitsha, who are living above collapsing sewer pipes.
Last week, officials from the Office of the Public Protector and the SA Human Rights Commission visited the community, following numerous complaints by residents about sink holes opening near or even underneath their shacks.
The Public Protector is currently investigating alleged failures by the City to provide basic municipal services to residents at Langa Flats and in Khayelitsha. The office was unable to provide more information until the investigation is complete.
Last month, GroundUp reported how people in SST section had to vacate their homes because of the ground collapsing beneath them.
The City’s water and sanitation department says about 40 structures are preventing machinery from excavating the damaged sewer line for repairs.
Mayco member for water and sanitation Zahid Badroodien said the department is “working closely with Human Settlements to facilitate the relocation of affected residents”.
“As soon as the relocations are complete and we have safe access to the service corridor, an emergency contractor will begin permanent repair work on the damaged sewer line.”
He said a contractor is on site to repair another damaged sewer pipe and manhole on the sewer mainline in Wetlands informal settlement.
“The pipe is about four metres underground, but we cannot conduct a proper assessment until the pipe is excavated.”
Badroodien warned people not to erect structures at stormwater retention ponds or at essential service points. “Building on servitudes is not only dangerous, but also unlawful and compromises our ability to provide basic services,” he said.
City urged to fix sewer pipe
Tammy Carter of the Human Rights Commission said failure to fix the collapsed sewer pipe could violate the residents’ rights to sanitation.
“Should the sewer line collapse, there is potential for a large portion of the population of Khayelitsha to be affected,” she said.
Carter said the Commission would monitor the situation.
Resident Aphelele Manga said he fears the sink hole in front of his structure is expanding. “When I put my hand into the hole to check its depth, the hole widened. When I’m standing next to the hole, I can hear running water. When I’m at work, I fear that my bed will fall into the hole,” he said.
Someone had almost fallen into the hole, he said.
Manga said the hole is foul smelling and brings flies.
Community leader Mzikazi Twani said they identified over 100 shacks built above a pipe in Thabang Brooklyn Street. “The residents fill the sink holes with sand, but it doesn’t last.”
He said many people have been forced to leave their homes because of sink holes.
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\”Reeeelly??\” says Van.
\”Ja\”, says the larnie. \”Check, there\’s someone up front now, I\’ll show you!\”
He starts steering towards the pedestrian, grinning from ear-to-ear, then at the last second he swerves back onto the road. But he hears a terrific \’thud\’, and he glances left to see Van closing the door.
\”What the hell, man!\’ he shouts.
\”Jirrah\” says Van, \”You need to get those sights adjusted, china, If I hadn\’t opened the door, you would have missed him completely!\”
Bugger
A British man on safari walks into a bar far out in the reaches of a game reserve in Southern Africa, he stays at the bar for a while shooting the shit with the bartender and drinking like a fish, he offer to buy the barkeep a round and since no one else is within 2km of their small oasis of liquor the barkeep obliges. The englishman goes off to the bathroom to have a good old go at the porcelain, he\’s back and ready for a few more whiskeys. He\’s just sat down when suddenly in the distance he hears a scream. He looks over his shoulder and dismisses it as nothing, he turns to the barkeep and orders a drink, takes a sip and hears the scream again. He looks at the barkeep who just shrugs it off. A minute or two later he and the barman hear it again and go outside to take a look. They see a lone figure running towards them screaming, he spots them and lets out a cry, RUN!!!!! HE\”S COMING!!!!!
The barkeep and the Englishman both look at the terrified bedraggled sight before them, and try to calm him down, but he\’s completely inconsolable. They give him water and finally manage to get a word out of him but he struggles free from their grasp and run away screaming.
A few minutes later the same thing happens with a whole group of men running in and screaming, he\’s coming, he\’s coming the barkeep grabs hold of one of the men as he tries to sprint past the bar and tries to get information out of him, again no response other than terrified gibberish.
The barkeep and his customer are starting to get worried, they start to pack up before another group of horrified natives run up to the bar most of them flee but one tries to hide behind the bar, the barkeep pulls out a shotgun and points it at the terrified man\’s face, finally managing to coax some words out of him. \”He\’s coming for us, Vernon Koekemoer is coming for us, we have to hide!!! We have to get out of here.\” He gets up and tries to run but the barkeep grabs him, feeling trapped in a panic he grabs the barkeeps shotgun and blows his own head off. The Englishman and the barkeep look at each other starting to really panic now.
They look out of the window and off in the distance they see a tornado coming towards the bar, at the bottom of the tornado they see the hugest beast of a man they have ever seen, as he gets closer they spot that he is riding a rhinocerous and using a crocodile as a riding whip, with each smack of the crocodile across the back of the rhino the louder is screams and the faster it runs, the tornado following it getting ever larger.
The 2 look at each other and start to fortify their position, they\’ve got a gun and they\’re waaay to drunk to run, so they start piling bar stool and tables and anything they can get their hands on to make sure they\’ll be safe when he arrives. They\’re not gonna make it, they can see the man slowing down his rhino, by now the crocodile is nothing but reptile paste on the bruised rump of the half dead rhino, the rhino drops down dead from exhaustion and crashes to the ground right outside the bar the tornado loses it\’s last breath in a cloud of dust as the huge man crashes his way through the make shift barricade and charges up towards the bar where the 2 men have taken shelter, he grabs a bottle of the hardest liquor on the shelf and down the entire litre in 1 gulp, he peers over the bar sobbing and sees the 2 defenders cowering down behind the crates of beer, they look up at the mans\’ face and he stares at them with a look of complete and utter hopelessness, he stares at them for a half second and half screams, half sobs, \”Oh my god what are you still doing here!!! WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE NOW!!!! Vernon Koekemoer is coming!!!!\”