Hermanus residents face sewage, water shortages and broken promises ahead of elections

Just a short distance from Hermanus’s sea-view homes, swimming pools and manicured lawns, residents in nearby informal settlements say they are still struggling with sewage spills, water shortages, broken toilets and a lack of basic services.

In Zwelihle, the Dubai informal settlement and Stanford’s Die Kop informal settlement, residents describe daily challenges that include carrying water home by hand, sharing communal toilets and living alongside overflowing sewage and piles of rubbish.

With the November 4 local government elections approaching, residents say years of complaints have not brought lasting solutions. They want the DA-run Overstrand Municipality to address the conditions they face every day.

Residents forced to carry water home

For 38-year-old Johanna Arendse, getting water to the one-bedroom shack she shares with four other people means loading heavy containers onto an old bathtub mounted on a shopping trolley.

She uses the makeshift cart to transport eight jerry cans, each weighing about 21kg when full, back to her home.

“There is no water at home,” Arendse said, describing a routine she has become accustomed to repeating every day.

Nozandi Setoli, 44, also has to fetch water daily. The seasonal worker and mother of four lives with seven other people in a two-room home and said her household has neither running water nor electricity.

“We don’t have electricity and water, and we use the same communal toilets,” she said.

Setoli said she intended to vote in the hope of changing her circumstances.

In Langa Street, hundreds of people rely on 35 communal toilets, some of which are not working, according to residents.

Ntombovuyo Mtegwana, who maintains the communal toilets in the Dubai informal settlement, said she starts each morning by filling 51 paint buckets with water because the toilets cannot flush.

She said the process continues throughout the day, while residents sometimes have to walk from their homes at night to use the facilities.

Sewage spills and flooding remain a concern

In Zwelihle, 67-year-old Monica Marwana said sewage had been spilling onto her street since around 2010.

A ditch of dark sewage lies between her fence and house, and she said she has to walk past it to reach her front door.

“The stench even reaches the inside of the house,” Marwana said.

She added that municipal workers sometimes respond to complaints by removing the sewage and cleaning the area, but the problem repeatedly returns.

“It has never been solved,” she said.

Flooding is another concern for residents in the area.

Milla Maki, who has lived in Sophumelele Street for 20 years, said rainwater regularly enters his home and damages furniture. He said sandbags have been provided to address the problem, but prolonged rain can leave the street resembling a swimming pool, preventing children from getting to school.

His son, Khanyi, said the sewage smell was affecting residents and that the family had lost a gym he had built.

He also raised concerns about the lack of streetlights and reported taxi violence in the area.

Traders struggle to keep their businesses running

Service delivery challenges also affect small businesses in Zwelihle.

Khuselwa Macingwane, a single mother of three who sells food from a trailer, said municipal licensing requirements made it difficult for informal traders to operate.

She said the lack of an extractor fan at her stall had complicated her efforts to obtain the necessary licence. Traders could also face having to remove their trailers if permits expired and they could not afford the renewal costs.

Macingwane said blocked drains near her business added to the difficulties, while increasing prices was not a realistic option because customers were already struggling financially.

“If you are a single parent, it’s not easy to fix everything at one time,” she said.

Concerns over neglected public spaces

Residents and political representatives also pointed to deteriorating public facilities.

A building previously used to prepare meals for elderly residents in Zwelihle has been vandalised, while a children’s park in Lusiba Street was described as having weeds and litter instead of play equipment. A nearby streetlight was also missing its lamp.

Masizole Mnqasela, leader of the Alliance of Citizens for Change and a former DA speaker of the Western Cape legislature, said the municipality had sent Expanded Public Works Programme workers to clean the streets after complaints, but the effort was not sustained.

“These are public spaces where children are now playing with rubbish,” Mnqasela said.

Connie Tafu-Nwonkwo, the ANC chief whip in the Overstrand Municipality, said Zwelihle residents needed lasting solutions rather than temporary interventions.

What the Overstrand Municipality says

Outgoing Overstrand mayor Archie Klaas said the municipality was focused on service delivery and that he would send a team to investigate the issues raised by residents.

On sewage and flooding, Klaas said the stormwater system was being blocked partly because some backyard tenants did not have access to toilets. He also pointed to the disposal of cooking oil into stormwater drains by some street vendors, saying blockages affected the wider system.

Regarding informal trading, Klaas said the municipality had set aside close to R1.5 million to establish a proper trading space next to a clinic. Traders could apply for day, weekend or longer-term permits, although he acknowledged hearing complaints about difficulties obtaining them.

Klaas said the municipality had attempted to upgrade informal settlements by providing temporary housing, laying out plots with toilets and electricity, and moving residents back afterwards.

However, he said some residents in the Mandela informal settlement had not moved back following the process, complicating efforts to provide services where plots had not been formally laid out.

He also said the municipality had recently electrified the Mandela informal settlement, but toilets in its ablution blocks had been vandalised and still needed repairs.

Klaas said municipal teams and community ambassadors were also used to identify and address problems in communities.

As residents prepare to vote on November 4, their concerns highlight the gap between the services available in parts of Hermanus and the daily conditions described by people living in nearby informal settlements. Residents say they want solutions that last beyond temporary clean-ups and repeated promises.