Parts of Khayelitsha remain under sewage water days after a pipe burst caused flooding in the Kanana Informal Settlement, leaving several families displaced.
The City of Cape Town’s Water and Sanitation Department confirmed that on Tuesday night, a 160mm sewer pipe connected to the mainline draining to the Zandvliet Wastewater Treatment Works collapsed, flooding homes with wastewater.
Gift of the Givers teams were among the first to respond after receiving a distress call from community leaders and the local councillor.
“A burst sewage pipe led to severe flooding within the settlement, affecting numerous homes within minutes in what residents have described as a freak accident,” said Ali Sably of the humanitarian organisation.
Based on the Gift of the Givers team’s assessments, several homes were flooded with wastewater, residents’ belongings were destroyed, and their food was contaminated.
The organisation had then provided hot meals, bottled water, and other essentials to affected families, with teams remaining on the ground to assist with relief efforts.
Ward 99 Councillor Lucky Mbiza confirmed to SmileFM that the flooding forced nearly 40 families to seek refuge elsewhere.
Mbiza said he spent much of Wednesday night trying to secure shelter for displaced residents, because the flooding was still an issue.
“I have to go and stay there with those people, beg the families or beg their neighbours so that they can accommodate those affected… they don’t have place to stay,” he said.
Mbiza noted that City teams managed to resolve some of the issues on site, but expressed frustration with the limited assistance, particularly humanitarian assistance.
“The support that we are getting from the city of Cape Town is less. It seems that there’s no willingness, especially in assisting the people,” said Mbiza.
Mbiza shared a video in a part of the settlement where the flooding was particularly bad.
Mayoral Committee Member for Water and Sanitation, Zahid Badroodien, confirmed that teams were deployed to resolve the matter, noting that “the manhole where work was being carried out had started surcharging, which caused the failure of the shoring box”.
“For context, an emergency contractor has been appointed to repair a 160mm diameter sewer pipe that connects to the 800mm diameter mainline draining to the Zandvliet Wastewater Treatment Works,” he noted.
But Badroodien said resolving the situation came with some complications, as there are informal structures that have been built over the mainline.
“This makes it difficult for our operational teams to attend to the collapse as quickly as what we’d like. At the same time, teams are also in the process of identifying manholes which have been built over by structures illegally in the servitude as well. This slows down our process of identifying locations where pumping can take place in order to reduce the impact of the sewer overflows,” said Badroodien
He further noted that five mobile pumps have been deployed to contain sewage spillages.
Despite these efforts, Mbiza insists conditions remain bad.
“Those people, they can’t go to those houses, they can’t take out anything because… everything, it’s a mess,” stressed Mbiza.
Badroodien said the City would monitor the matter until it is resolved.
“Depot teams have disinfected the affected areas to reduce odours, and the contractor remains on-site, working around the clock to resolve the issue,” said Badroodien.
A similar incident occurred in Table View earlier this year.
