Community drowning in sewage

If real action isn't taken, perhaps the area should be officially renamed 'Sewage Park' - because right now, there is very little left of the diamond that once shone there

- DANIE VAN DER LITH

DIAMOND Park and Greenpoint in Kimberley are informal settlements — once places where children played freely in the streets and neighbours greeted each other with pride in their modest shacks and homes. Today, Diamond Park has become a shadow of itself, consumed not by crime or internal decay but by a river of sewage that winds through its streets and yards, unchecked and unresolved.

What were once roads are now thick, muddy corridors overgrown with lush grass fed by human waste. The roads are impassable, the air choked with the stench of faeces, and the dignity of residents trampled into the filth beneath their feet.

While South Africans celebrated Freedom Day on Monday, the residents of Diamond Park found little reason to celebrate. Freedom? Here, it’s a bitter joke. Families live surrounded by disease, their calls for help ignored for so long that hope has become a faint memory. Health is deteriorating, children are falling ill, and every fresh spillage strips away what little dignity remains.

When the DFA visited the area earlier this week, the situation was nothing short of shocking. The ground squelched underfoot with every step, as putrid water soaked into shoes. Swarms of mosquitoes hovered over stagnant puddles of sewage. The living conditions were beyond deplorable - even pigsties don’t smell this bad.

Residents are exhausted and angry.

Natasha Oliphant, a long-time resident, described how leaking water meters make the crisis worse, allowing clean water to mix with sewage and form more stagnant pools.

"We need the municipality to come and fix the leaks - not just dig holes and leave them open, but actually close them properly again," she said.

It’s a simple request - yet one that remains unmet.

Navigating Diamond Park now feels like a post-apocalyptic nightmare.