MANZINI – A woman whose house shares a border with the Dvokolwako Clinic is devastated because she now risks losing her house because of a man-made error.
Ntombifuthi Kunene says she occasionally comes out of her house and watches in dismay and water outpouring from JoJo tanks belonging to the clinic floods her yard and submerges the foundation of her building. Kunene says her observation is that whatever the clinic uses to fill its reservour tanks allegedly lacks a gauge to automatically close the inflow of water when the tanks are full.
She says the clinic’s groundsmen or staff also allegedly do not come to her rescue and close the inflow of the water.
It is suspected that the taps filling the tanks are drawing water from a borehole.
Narrating how the anomaly started, Kunene said her homestead was already in existence when the clinic was settled in the area. She said her family allocated space for her to build her house close to the fence with the clinic.
“In the early stages, the tanks were not a problem because whenever they were full, the clinic would close the tap and nothing overflowed to my yard. When the problem started, I complained to the clinic and they intervened temporarily, closing the taps whenever the tanks were full.” She said the intervention was, however, short lived as in the days that followed, the taps filling the tanks were not closed and the water flooded her yard and the walls of her house.
She said though she complained multiple times, no one bothered to listen to her.“At that time, the walls of my house were always damp, resulting in severe structural damage, including structural weakening, mold growth and deteriorated insulation which may potentially lead to expensive repairs. The moisture triggered peeling paint, crumbling plaster and white deposits, significantly reducing the home’s lifespan,” she said.
Kunene said she intended to fix cabinets inside the house, but the wood workers said it would not last a month because of the damp walls caused by the pools coming from the clinic tanks.
“They said they would only fix the units after I had resolved the matter and the walls were dry,” she said.
She said she decided to report the matter to the umphakatsi as she had confidence that it would be resolved easily, by simply designating someone to close the taps. She said the umphakatsi promised to resolve the matter but for a full year, the problem persisted. “I returned to the umphakatsi multiple times, hoping for an intervention, but nothing happened.”
In desperation, Kunene said she was then advised to seek the services of a lawyer, but she ran short of funds for the litigation process. This newspaper also has multiple videos of water overflowing from the tanks.
*Full article available on Pressreader*
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