Woman spills raw sewage at council offices

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herald 11 January, 2010 11:39:00

woman unblocking sewage

There was drama at Makonde Rural District Council offices in Lions Den when a disgruntled resident spilled raw sewage in front of the offices in protest against councilÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s failure to attend to burst pipes at her house.

Mrs Enicia Nyandoro went to the council offices last Thursday to notify them of a sewer blockage at her house.

She was told that workers from the engineering department would attend to the problem. However, trouble started when she saw the crew going to another affected area instead of her home.

Mrs Nyandoro took a bucketful of the sewage and deposited the contents at the offices. Staff there reported the matter to the police, hoping the law would force her to remove the sludge, but she was adamant.

"I was angry after they said they worked according to instruction from their superiors when the situation at home was unbearable. So I told the police that I would only remove the sludge when they also do the same at my home," she said.

Mrs Nyandoro,who is also the chairperson of the Lions Den Residents Association, said residents were not happy with the constant bursting of sewer pipes saying it posed a health threat. Makonde RDC chief executive officer Mrs Lashiwe Murefu confirmed the incident.

"It is true, but it’s really unfortunate because when she made the report at the council offices, she was told that our crew would attend to the blockage but we were surprised when she came with the sewage at our offices," she said.

Mrs Murefu said council attended to faults on a first-come-first-served basis. She said council faced a challenge of equipment, which militated against efforts to attend to the growing challenge of sewer pipe bursts. She said council had to call in the police to calm the situation, adding that the fault had since been attended to.

However, Mrs Nyandoro did not honour her word to clean up the council offices. Police were not available for comment.