UITENHAGE - KWANOBUHLE RESIDENTS FACING STINKING 'RIVER' OF HUMAN EXCREMENT WHICH PIGS ARE EATING

Herds of grunting pigs are feasting on human excrement bubbling from a blocked drain in KwaNobuhle, Uitenhage.

Residents said they have been complaining for two years, but the municipality had not fixed the problem.

Distraught RDP house owner Sipho Sotokwe said the stinking "river" running at the back of his house in Joe Modise and in his neighbour's backyard attracted herds of pigs that eat the excrement.

"They dive into the river of sewage and when the faeces float down from a blocked drain, they grab it like a meal," added Sotokwe.

The 51-year-old father of five boys said it also attracted mosquitoes, frogs and cows.

"There is a pigsty and kraal in the nearby bush. Pigs are always here as if it's their swimming place. Every time people flush their toilets, my drain reacts," said Sotokwe.

His neighbour, Nomsa Gotyana, said she could not even build a wall around her house because the ground was too wet. "This is like a pigsty."

Residents told GroundUp municipal workers had been to their houses several times. They provided us with four reference numbers for complaints they had lodged with the municipality.

"A team that came on January 1 said this is now beyond their control," said Sotokwe, adding another team came the following day but they had also given up.

Mayoral spokesman George Geleba said he had "escalated the matter to the area superintendent for immediate action".

Asked why it had taken so long to "escalate the matter", he said: "We don't know exactly when this problem occurred. Some of the reference numbers we got are not on our system. Only one out of three references we got three weeks ago could be traced."

He added he would have to call the toll-free number that maintained the complaint references. "That's where they do record-keeping."

via - NEWS24