Raw sewage on doorsteps: The new normal in Makokoba A Makokoba resident points to sewage flowing in his yard in this file photo

Angela Sibanda, Chronicle Reporter
RESIDENTS in Makokoba are lamenting having to live with raw sewage flowing in their yards due to a malfunctioning system in the area, a situation that has been worsened by the rainy season.

Some residents have been forced to “normalise” living with the waste water in and around their yards.

A visit to houses situated along first street near Amakhosi theatre and cultural centre, one is greeted by an overpowering stench and flies buzzing everywhere from the gates to the back of the houses.

A resident, who identified herself as Mrs Madondo invited a Chronicle news crew into her yard where the sewage was flowing from a pipe in her toilet.

Mrs Madondo said they were tired of reporting the case to council as nothing was being done.

“We have retired from making reports because there is nothing being done about the issue. There are pipes that keep blocking and if it does, all the waste we would have flushed returns and spills out of the toilet chamber,” she said.

“We don’t have specific dates of when this started happening but this has become our daily life for as long as I can remember.”

Mrs Madondo said she had been sick for the whole of the festive season from diseases brought by flies that have infested her house.

“I thought I was dying during the last week of the festive season. I had a terrible running stomach from 24 December 2021 and one day my daughter, who had come to visit, found me lying helpless by the toilet door as I had lost strength.

When I went to the toilet, I was releasing blood instead of the normal waste.

“I did not bother going to the clinic because we have pills, we now keep a lot of tablets with us because now and then someone falls ill and it’s always running tummies and weakness around the joints,” she said.

Mrs Madondo said during the rainy season sewage blockages were very rampant.

“As much as we are supposed to be happy that it’s raining, this season brings us a lot of stress because rain water collects waste from burst sewerage and carries it around the whole place,” she said.

The Chronicle news crew had difficulties in getting inside Mrs Madondo’s yard as the place was covered with human waste, newspapers, used toilet papers and flies buzzing all around.

Another resident who identified himself as Mr Mdawini said they cannot enjoy their meals as his home is situated directly opposite a manhole spewing waste.

“Council doesn’t see us as human beings. When you are eating, it ends up feeling like you are eating human waste, it is just unbearable. We cannot abandon our homes so we have no choice but to find ways to live with this.

“But if the council doesn’t work, I am telling you, by the end of this rainy season we will bury many people from this block,” he said.

Ward 7 councillor, where Makokoba suburb lies, Cllr Shadreck Sibanda, whose home is also situated in the area, said the main challenge was overcrowding due to population growth in an area that was built for a small population.

“Sewage pipes around this place are small because the place was initially meant for a small population of bachelors. Because of rural to urban migration, the population here has grown so big that the sewerage is overwhelmed.

Makokoba has perennial sewage bursts and the problem cannot be fixed overnight,” he said.

Cllr Sibanda also said shortage of funds was the main reason behind the dilapidated infrastructure.

“The issue of this perennial sewage burst started 50 years ago, and because of inadequate funds, it remains an unsolved problem,” he said.

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