John Haraseb, Khorixas Town Council’s technical officer, is concerned about the piles of refuse that residents regularly dump into sewerage drains, as it leads to blockages in the system.

According to Haraseb the items taken from sewers include women’s underwear, tampons, pieces of mattress, feathers of chickens in maize bags and human-hair. “Council is concerned about the refuse which residents dump into the drains,” Haraseb told Informanté. “They don’t need education on this, everybody knows that sewerage drains are not for dumping of refuse,” said Rehabeam Haraeb, a general worker who has to clean blocked drains.
According to another general worker at the Town Council’s offices, “It seems that women are the main culprits, because most of the items taken out belong to females.”
For the past few weeks Council workers have worked throughout, including weekends, to dig up blocked sewerage pipes and clean them.
The dumping of refuse into sewerage drains has also become a health hazard for school-going learners, who have to cross streams of sewerage on a daily basis on their way to school. “I have to cross this filthy water, as there is no other option,” said one grade 5 learner en route to a nearby primary school.
“There are some residents here who dump their refuse into the sewerage drains. This is not good, as there is an ugly and disgusting smell once the sewerage drains are blocked,” complained one elderly woman, who is suffering the effects of this odious problem.