A year-long stench from the polluted Nxabanga stream has raised the ire of Braelyn residents.
They said something was rotten with the state of their sewerage system.
Residents stuff door and window cracks with towels, burn incense, gag and feel nauseous especially at meal times.
One homeowner tried to sell and go but was rejected by an agent who said the stench was an instant turn-off for buyers.
The residents, whose houses are situated in a cul-de-sac with the Nxabanga flowing behind, blamed an ongoing sewage spill.
Ward 1 ANC councillor Mongezi Ngcaba described the pong as “the natural smell of the stream”.
Resident Dhalip Premlal claimed the sewage spill was confirmed by Buffalo City Metro officials (BCM), who had accused shack dwellers from the Stoney Drift dump site of stealing sewerage pipes running under the squatter camp, messing up the entire system.
BCM could not confirm this and questions sent to city spokesman Keith Ngesi were not answered by the time of writing.
Sewage flows into the stream, spreading fumes into the suburb, said Premlal.
“The smell is here all day, but seems to get more intense in the afternoon. On some days it gets so bad I think I’m going to vomit,” said Premlal.
“My family and I stuff towels under the doors and around the window sills to try and keep it out but it still gets in. We even burn incense sticks to try and drown it out.”
Ngcaba said the Nxabanga stream had always reeked except for a few years when the national environmental health department staged regular clean-ups.
“I don’t think the smell is sewage, but just the natural smell of the stream. It’s been like this ever since the project stopped. But if the municipality says it’s sewage then it just might be,” he said.
Meanwhile, Beacon Bay resident Leigh Evertse said she was also battling with a suspected sewage smell which has engulfed Chestnut Crescent.
A frustrated Evertse said she had received no answers from BCM officials, who had come out many times to inspect the communal sewage drainage manhole outside her yard.