Residents living near Makushu Primary School and the parents whose children attend the school are pleading with the Vhembe District Municipality (VDM) to fix the sewer system that has been overflowing for the past three months.
The house of Ms Magdalena Mokone (84) is situated less than five metres from the sewer, and she says she hardly ever opens her windows or sits outside because of the foul smell. "I am an asthma patient, and this affects me very much. I am no longer enjoying my stay here, yet this is my only home. I remember the municipality came out early in January, but they did not fix the sewer. I am worried about the children who sometimes play in this smelly sewage," she says.
Magdalena is also pleading with Musina Local Municipality to close the footpath near her home, which residents are using to dump rubbish. "The smell that comes from this rubbish dump also affects me very much. The municipality must come and collect the rubbish and close the footpath," she said.
On visiting Makushu Primary, we saw several ladies busy preparing food for the learners, but they were also not happy with the constant smell of sewage flowing less than two metres from the kitchen area. "These learners are our children, and we feel this is a very unhealthy situation. The sewer should be fixed as a matter of urgency. This also affects us while we are busy preparing their food, as it exposes us to unhealthy working conditions," said one of the ladies.
Mr Peter Jack, chairperson of Musina To The Front (MTTF), one of the local community structures, told Limpopo Mirror that the parents and residents had been complaining about the sewage for a long time, but that the VDM did not bother to come out to fix it. "This is a health hazard. Learners cannot stop attending school because of this. We are urging the VDM to attend to the problem before we sit with an outbreak of disease at the school," said Jack.
This is not the first time the Musina residents have appealed to the VDM to fix sewage spillage in the Musina township. Last year, the residents went on a week-long strike to demand, among other things, an end to the problem of persistent sewage spills in the townships.
VDM spokesperson Mr Matodzi Ralushai said they were aware of the sewer challenges and that the VDM's technical team would be on site by Wednesday (19 April) to fix the overflowing sewerage.