The despairing residents of a small informal settlement say they are deprived of their basic right to clean water, sanitation and electricity.
Liliswa Nzwana, who lives with her 68-year-old mother, said they had lived at the informal settlement for more than 20 years without any basic services available in the area.
“There are no accessible roads to shelters and that worries me, because one day when I bury my mother, it will be difficult to conduct her funeral service in her home due to lack of space.
Sewage flows directly into our homes; it is worse when the drains overflow due to heavy rains
“Sewage flows directly into our homes; it is worse when the drains overflow due to heavy rains.
“We do not have toilets; we use the bucket system and bushes to relieve ourselves.”
She said the leaking sewage caused heath issues for people, especially for young children and the elderly.
“We are concerned about our children’s health as they tend to play near the hazardous spillages.
“We inhale the toxic and unbearable smell every day,” she said.
Local taxi driver Thembelizwe Mntontoyi, 47, who lives alone, said he suffered from skin rashes due to the unhygienic sewage problem.
“I am not a sickly person, but things have been challenging due to this sewage spillage.”
The 11 shacks in the area are a street away from RDP houses.
However, Mntontoyi said people living in the RDP houses locked the public ablution facilities so that they could not use them.
We do not know why people have locked those toilets, because we have the right to use them
“We do not know why people have locked those toilets, because we have the right to use them,” he said.
Nzwana said despite having reported these issues to several councillors and the municipality, their cries had fallen on deaf ears.
“We are probably one of a few informal settlements who have not done any illegal electricity connections, because we were promised that we are going to be moved to RDP houses,” said Nzwana.
She said they had to beg people who live in RDP houses to get water.
“It diminishes our dignity when we have to beg for our basic human rights.
“There is an old man who is in his late eighties; he is a mute and lives alone in this horrible situation.”
Nzwana hopes the newly elected councillor will make a difference for the desperate community.
“We hope there is going to be change and transparency.
“We hope to get proper homes like any other ordinary human being, we deserve at least that,” said Nzwana.
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