Walking to school through faeces

Residents suffer Gibeon’s sewerage mess

“You can’t open your front door because of the mess outside.”

Katrina Holstead says she has had to endure a terrible stench and an eyesore in her yard for the past few years.

She and other residents of Gibeon in the Hardap region say they continue to suffer the consequences of the village’s inadequate sewerage infrastructure.

The village council installed a N$20-million vacuum sewerage system in 2011, which, however, started malfunctioning and was replaced with a drainage system last year.

Holstead says about a month ago, the sewerage system overflowed, with faeces spilling into residents’ yards and the streets, leaving the area in front of the Stanislaus Catholic parish inaccessible.

“We were told there was a breakdown at the pump station, but the sewage has been overflowing for years. You can’t open your front door because of the mess outside.

“At the same time, your house smells as if the sewage manhole is inside it. But what can we do?” she asks.

Holstead says the run-off of the sewage overflow has made it impossible for people and cars to move around in that area, and they are forced to find alternative routes.

“What about our children? Where should they play? They are walking through faeces to get to school and back. We fear waterborne illnesses and it’s unhygienic,” she says.

Another resident, Anna-Marie Hartzenburg, says the stench from the sewage spillage in the village’s residential areas has become a permanent nuisance.

She says the sewerage reticulation network at the village is not sufficient to cater for the residents, noting that most drainage pipes are blocked, resulting in sewage being spewed into residents’ yards.

“We are very disappointed in how we have to live. It goes beyond my understanding that councillor after councillor and chief executive officers can’t solve the problem year after year.

“Why has it become normal that we live in such circumstances?” Hartzenburg asks.

Gibeon Village Council chairperson Ellerine Isaacks says the sewage spillage that occurred almost a month ago was due to a breakdown at the pump station.

She says the council used a “honeysuckle” machine to pump the sewerage, but that the machine broke down as it could not handle the capacity. In the meantime, technicians fixed the pump station but fitted the sucking element incorrectly, she says.

“The challenge is rooted in inadequate capacity within the sewerage reticulation network. Currently, the council is busy adding another sewerage line at a cost of N$3 million. During the 2026/27 financial year, we plan to add a second pump station, and additional ponds to solve the problem entirely,” Isaacks says.

She says the council has requested a budget of N$30 million for capital projects to attend to the sewerage network capacity, as well as the electricity challenges at the village, of which N$26 million had been approved.

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