NEW BRIGHTON, NELSON MANDELA BAY — The urgent need for a comprehensive New Brighton sewage system overhaul has become the focal point of local service delivery debates, as aging infrastructure fails to cope with decades of population growth. ActionSA Ward Councillor Candidate Vuyani Dyantyi is demanding immediate intervention in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro, warning that the ongoing crisis poses severe health risks to residents in Ward 14.
Decades of Infrastructure Failure and Health Hazards
New Brighton, one of the oldest townships in the area, is currently grappling with a severe sanitation crisis. According to Dyantyi, the core of the problem lies in outdated underground piping that was never designed to handle the massive population increase the area has experienced over the years.
The result is a continuous overflow of raw sewage. Dyantyi notes that walking through the affected neighborhoods reveals houses submerged in wastewater, creating a dire health hazard for the community. Despite the severity of the situation, which has persisted for nearly 30 years, the local council has failed to provide a clear articulation or roadmap for why the infrastructure has not been upgraded.
Costly Temporary Fixes Drain Municipal Funds
Instead of addressing the root cause, the municipality has relied on superficial, temporary measures. Dyantyi points out that suction trucks and generator-powered pumps are deployed to the area almost every day to extract sewage from residents’ yards.
However, these daily interventions are not only ineffective but also a massive drain on public funds. Dyantyi explains that within just 15 minutes of the municipal workers leaving the site, the sewage inevitably spills over again, submerging the properties once more. He argues that the money spent daily on these temporary suction services could and should be ring-fenced to fund a complete overhaul of the sewage system.
Political Will Questioned Over Budget Constraints
When questioned about the lack of upgrades, Dyantyi firmly rejects the notion that budget constraints are to blame. He argues that a 30-year-old problem cannot be dismissed as a sudden financial shortfall, especially since municipal budgets are planned annually.
Furthermore, he highlights that national government grants are available for specific infrastructure purposes. By properly highlighting the crisis, costing the project, and directing these ring-fenced funds toward the sewage network, the municipality could easily finance the necessary upgrades. For Dyantyi, the continued failure to act points directly to a lack of political will rather than a lack of resources.
A Call for Holistic, Permanent Solutions
Having previously served as a councillor in Ward 14, Dyantyi is using his platform to advocate for a more capable and strategic approach to service delivery. He emphasizes that current leadership lacks the capacity to handle complex societal and infrastructural issues.
To resolve the crisis permanently, Dyantyi is calling for a holistic, multi-directorate approach. He urges the municipality to bring together town planners, housing officials, infrastructure experts, and the sanitation department to collaboratively design a permanent solution.
“Using a generator to suck the sewage is not a permanent solution,” Dyantyi stated, emphasizing that continuing with daily clean-ups is essentially saying “bye-bye to the money of the municipality” without actually solving the underlying problem. As the local elections approach, ActionSA is positioning a complete infrastructure overhaul as a non-negotiable priority for the future of New Brighton.
