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MOSSEL BAY NEWS - With exams looming, Elvis Mxeke of Asla Park shared his dismay at the conditions he is living in. Sewage is flowing into his makeshift dwelling from a neighbour's property and the stench is so bad that it affects his ability to concentrate and to study.
Like the community of Dube Street a short distance away, the community of Grootboom Street where Elvis lives also experiences the intermittent electricity outages.
Residents complain that the failures are the result of informal dwellers, and not backyard dwellers illegally tapping into the electricity network. This results in electricity cuts as soon as darkness sets in.
Elvis insists that he has repeatedly complained about the sewage problem, also to the ward councillor. Even the larger community is exposed to the sewage as it is running into the road.
When the Mossel Bay Advertiser responded to Elvis' call on Monday afternoon, 11 June, municipal personnel turned up virtually simultaneously and immediately started working in the ankle deep, stinking water.
They, in turn, had tremendous problems in accessing the blockage.
Old car body parts and other debris - even a number of small puppies that found shelter under the car parts and in the stench made it virtually impossible to get to where they had to work to unblock the sewer.
Elvis Mxeke complains that the stench of sewage running through his makeshift dwelling in the backyard of a formal house in Asla Park is affecting his studying badly.
In addition, the fence demarcating the two properties ran exactly over the heavy cement lid they had to remove to address the problem.
Neighbours and friends gathered in the street to add their complaints of similar problems, insisting that they, too, were suffering from the electricity cuts. They added that the lack of electricity - which they insist they pay for on a pre-paid system - is adding to the security risk of living in an area where informal dwellings are mushrooming, uncontrolled.
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