The Residents of Groenvlei Road in Station Hill say their streets are filled with sewage.
Residents in this small, forgotten corner of town live under conditions most would find unbearable. Crumbling RDP houses, non-functional toilets, and water outages have become a part of daily life. Children play near stagnant pools of wastewater, and elderly residents navigate broken pavements and flooded streets, often without a working tap inside their homes.
Enslin Clasen a resident in Groenvlei street said “I don’t have too much to say about our situation, you can see for yourself this is a horrible way to live, our street is always flooding”
“I have lived in Station Hill my whole life and it has overtime changed to a mess, I cannot believe we are expected to keep quiet and live in streets filled with sewage” Patrick Marais said.
Station Hill falls under Ward 6 and councillor Edward Walker admits the challenges are far-reaching and stem from years of neglect and a lack of secured funding. He explained that the persistent sewage problems were largely due to vandalized pump stations and blocked infrastructure.
“Until the sewerage infrastructure projects are completed and connected to the new pump station down from Wharf Street, we will continue to have areas experiencing problems with sewerage. It’s literally running down to the river,” said Walker.
He noted that Groenvlei, Nelson and Malgas roads had been identified as critical areas and that temporary fixes, like clearing blockages and identifying leak sources, had been implemented. However, the scale of the issues required more than patchwork solutions.
A major contributor to the ongoing waterlogging in Groenvlei is poor stormwater management. According to Walker, a stormwater drain near the community park has been choked by illegal dumping and vegetation overgrowth — issues that have been reported repeatedly yet remain unresolved.
“Being the beginning of the new financial year, I’ll be following up on this because there needs to be a budget made available from the infrastructure department,” Walker said.
But for many residents, the delays offer little comfort. They feel abandoned by a system that expects them to maintain collapsing homes and blocked toilets without assistance.
Municipal policy states that homeowners are responsible for maintenance within their property boundaries. Only in rare cases; such as unaltered RDP homes with cracked asbestos roofs, may residents apply for municipal help.
Residents say they have reported the issues multiple times, but receive no feedback, only more broken promises.
The long-delayed Kivido Road paving project — meant to bring some relief to the community — was paused due to budget constraints, but is expected to resume and finish by the end of July. Still, other roads in Station Hill remain in limbo, dependent on conditional grant money and approval through the municipality’s Integrated Development Plan (IDP).
Ndlambe Municipality Communications Offiicer Mr TK Mtiki said the Municipality acknowledged the situation and assured residents that they were actively addressing the root causes.
“A major contributor to these spillages is the presence of foreign objects such as paper, stones, towels, and other non-flushable materials, which are frequently found during the unblocking of sewer lines. Our teams continue to educate communities about the serious consequences of disposing such items into the sewer system, as this practice not only damages infrastructure but also leads to environmental and health risks” Mtiki said.
Mtiki further explained that to address the broader infrastructure challenges, the Municipality is currently implementing a major sewer network upgrade project. This includes the elimination of multiple pump stations by redirecting flow to a central pump station, as well as the upgrading of key gravity lines. These improvements are designed to significantly reduce the frequency and risk of sewer spillages going forward.
“This intervention is part of a broader strategy that involves securing funding from relevant sector departments. The project is progressing well and is expected to be completed by the end of July. We appreciate the patience and cooperation of our residents during this critical upgrade,” Mtiki said.
SEWER STREETS: Groenvlei street filled with sewerage and water after rain falls. Pictures: SIBULELE MTONGANA
SEWER HOUSE: Live sewerage entered homes, and other home areas.
TOILETS OUT OF ORDER: This outside toilet hasn’t been working for months resulting in residents having to use buckets as seen in picture, covered by black plastics.
BROKEN RDP: One of the many collapsing RDP houses
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This article was first published in Talk of the Town, July 17, 2025. The newspaper serving the communities of Ndlambe and the Sunshine Coast, with a weekly wrap of Makhanda news, is available at stores from early on Thursdays.
