News
Sewage floods Tembisa home for five days as family pleads for permanent fix
For five days, the Mangana family in Esselen Park, Tembisa, say they were forced to live with sewage and faeces flowing through their yard and into their home.
What began as another blocked manhole, something they claim has been happening for years, quickly turned into a health scare and a financial strain.
Mokopi Mangana, 38, says the manhole located inside their yard has repeatedly overflowed. According to her, the latest incident started on Tuesday, 9 February, when sewage began seeping into the yard. By the next morning, the contaminated water had flooded their two-bedroom house.
When it rains, she says, the situation becomes worse. Even after the rain stops, the yard is left covered in waste, which inevitably gets tracked back inside.
Calls logged, but no quick relief
The family reported the issue to the City of Ekurhuleni on 9 February and again on 11 February. Mangana says it took five days before the blockage was fully resolved.
She describes repeated calls that resulted in multiple service tickets being logged, yet no immediate fix. At one point, officials arrived with a small truck, assessed the damage, and indicated they would return the next day. According to Mangana, they did not.
With the house uninhabitable due to the smell and health concerns, two family members had to move in with friends. The family contributed around R300 towards food because they could not cook at home.
“We are human beings,” Mangana said. “We can’t live in a place full of faeces.”
The family has lived in the house since 2005 and recently renovated it. Mangana says she has spent more than R2,000 in the past on a private plumber in an attempt to address the recurring problem, but the issue persists.
She also claims that when municipal teams clear the blockage, they do not clean up the spillage, leaving the family to disinfect and restore their home themselves.
Municipality response
City of Ekurhuleni spokesperson Zweli Dlamini confirmed that on 9 February 2026, the depot experienced system challenges, which affected access to reported incidents.
A rodding team was dispatched on 10 February but was unable to clear the obstruction. A high-pressure jetting machine was deployed on 12 February. The blockage was fully resolved on Sunday, 15 February 2026.
Dlamini said recurring blockages in the area are largely caused by illegal discharge of foreign materials into the sewer system, including stormwater infiltration, sand, spoons, rocks, clothing, and building rubble. He added that improper and illegal connections also contribute to overflows.
According to the municipality, awareness campaigns, regular inspections, and preventative maintenance are conducted to reduce these issues. The city maintains that it responds to reported incidents as a matter of urgency and that it is not facing technical or financial constraints.
Questions about why the manhole is located inside the yard or how many households it serves were not answered.
A wider infrastructure frustration
Another resident, Rose Magasela, says she faces similar problems linked to the same manhole. She describes the situation as ongoing, regardless of rainfall.
In many Gauteng communities, ageing infrastructure and rapid urban growth continue to put pressure on sewer networks. When blockages occur, residents often find themselves caught between reporting faults and waiting for resolution, sometimes in unsafe conditions.
For the Mangana family, the repeated overflows have led them to consider selling their home.
They say they are not asking for temporary fixes anymore. They want a permanent solution, whether that means relocating the manhole or improving drainage to prevent future flooding.
In a province that prides itself on being the economic engine of South Africa, scenes like this raise uncomfortable questions about infrastructure maintenance and accountability. For families living through it, however, the debate is not theoretical. It is about health, dignity, and being able to live safely in your own home.
Follow Joburg ETC on Facebook, Twitter, TikT
For more News in Johannesburg, visit joburgetc.com
Source: IOL
Featured Image: Enviro Design Products
