From South Africa Sucks Blogspot

 

Newtown in Johannesburg was supposed to be where “urban renewal” was going to reshape the toilet which central Johannesburg has become. New developments, museums, a park, entertainment venues and the like were supposedly going to transform this area of Johannesburg into a “happening place” which would attract tourists and locals alike to experience the “vibrancy of the New South Africa.”
Well, it seems as if the attempt to create a mirror image of the New South Africa has worked perfectly.
There’s something rotten in Newtown, where an insufferable pong has tormented residents of Joburg’s trendy inner-city suburb for weeks.

Both the city and private investors have invested a lot of effort into turning Newtown into the kind of vibrant, mixed-use area that Joburg can boast about.
However, residents complain that they have to contend with regular sewage-pipe bursts that send rivers of effluent flowing into the storm- water drain next to the Market Theatre.

Adding to their misery is the nearby Advance Meat Butchery, on the corner of Gwigwi Mrwebi and Ntemi Piliso streets, where workers make candles out of boiled animal fat — as well as the hawkers who dump rotting animal remains at the abandoned Bree Street taxi rank.
Resident Ntokozo Mdlalose said she was recently surprised to see blood flowing from underneath the butchery’s garage door, and saw staff hosing animal blood out into the street. She said the foul- smelling combination of rotten meat and sewage was “just unbearable”.

Sherley Mathibela from the Newtown Crèche, across the road in Mrwebi Street, said teachers had been forced to close windows in the heat because they feared the stench could harm the children. “The smell could make them sick, as they are inhaling this daily,” said Mathibela.

With regard to the sewage spills, Joburg Water spokesman Baldwin Matsimela confirmed that Newtown was one of his agency’s problem areas.

“Unfortunately we are not able to control what people put into the sewer. However, we will do a camera survey on the sewer line to establish the real causes of these blockages,” he said.

Matsimela said the company dealt with “approximately 3500 sewer blockages monthly throughout the 9500km of sewer network that it manages.”