Battle on for Metsimaholo as by-elections get underway
Sasolburg – A pungent stench from the pit latrines punctuates the air. The bellowing wind violently sweeps up the dust between the RDP houses.
This is life for the residents of Iraq, in Metsimaholo municipality in the Free State, named at the height of the US invasion of Iraq in the Middle East.
The municipality, which encompasses areas including the towns of Sasolburg and Deneysville and Zamdela township, is up for grabs in by-elections to be held on Wednesday.
The RDP homes in Iraq have built-in toilets but they were not connected to the water supply system nor the sewerage network, rendering them useless.
“They started working on the pipes, then they said the pipes were too small. They got a new contractor but then they did nothing,” resident Thandi Nhlapo said.
Only a few households who could afford it have managed to connect their homes and get proper sanitation. For the rest, the toilets inside their houses gather dust while they are forced to dig pit toilets in their yards.
When a hole fills up, another is dug next to it. Residents cannot afford the chemicals that help douse the smell or maintain some