Durban - Twelve months after they first complained about the sewage flowing on to their property, there seems to be a glimmer of hope for the Barth family in Morningside.
Exactly a year ago, Jack Barth and his wife woke up to find that their driveway had turned into a cesspool. It was flooded with human waste, gloves, condoms, sanitary towels and toilet paper flowing from a manhole in their driveway, and was accompanied by an unbearable stench and flies.
They logged complaint after complaint with the municipality, which sent several contractors out to solve the problem, but to date it persists.
The Independent on Saturday has reported on the issue, and yesterday municipal spokesman Msawakhe Mayisela called the newspaper to say he would personally look into the matter to find out why it had still not been resolved.
Mayisela asked that the IOS extend his sincere apology to the family, and said he would be in touch next week, hopefully with some answers.
Mayisela’s undertaking came days after Barth sent a mass email to anyone in the city he hoped could help.
The email contains meticulous notes of times, dates and the names of people he has spoken to at the municipality during the course of the year.
In addition, the email says that while “gushing sewage” can be heard flowing on to the property 24 hours a day, the situation has deteriorated, and there is now a second manhole, near the back door of the house, also spewing raw sewage.
Since last year, the Barths have started every day with a two-hour cleansing ritual using a high-pressure cleaner to hose down their property. The family use numerous chemicals to disinfect the place and get rid of the smell.
Barth said that to date they had spent more than R50 000 on cleaning the property.
“Our water bill from eThekwini Municipality has doubled due to the constant attempts to hose away the sewage flowing on to our property. Our rates per month are extremely high, together with charges for sewage disposal.”
Barth said it was unacceptable that they couldn't open their windows or have visitors, and that the inside of their home had been flooded with sewage several times as well.
He said they had to be careful where they walked at night and that, despite attempts to keep the inside of their house clean, the dogs had to go outside and inevitably brought the dirt in when they came inside again.
He said he looked forward to hearing from Mayisela or the municipality next week and hoped they would have a solution to the ongoing problem.
Last month, Barth said he was considering legal action against the municipality for not stopping the overflow of sewage. However, he had not yet done so because of the cost implications.
The Independent on Saturday