The ever-stinking Tsholofelo East
Ryder Gabathuse | Monday December 27, 2021 06:00
The sprawling suburb of Tsholofelo East lies a few minutes’ drive from the Gaborone city centreThe anti-climax of it all is that whilst the estate (Tsholofelo East Extension) is fast-growing into a go-to leafy suburb, there is a disturbing nose-cutting reek that increasingly threatens to take away its beauty.
The new suburb is quite clean with only the foul smell emanating from the sewer ponds at the neighbouring Glen Valley, a serious turn off and a blight.
When this environmental story was published, yes eight months ago, it was shocking to note that generally the readers showed a lot of enthusiasm to debate the environmental concerns at Tsholofelo East extension as depicted by the comments. This story was apparently told for the umpteenth time and it does not seem to change.
Now, instead of the social media junkies’ debate focusing on the environmental concerns raised, the focus was quickly shifted to the choice of words used to tell the story. For example, the word “reek” became the talk of the town and reader interest was immediately diverted to the word than the story itself.
Past experience shows that the residents seem to have done everything to communicate their health concerns to the city authorities and it does not seem a solution will come anytime soon.
In a written response to our enquiry eight months ago in which we sought to know if the foul smell could be managed, Water Utilities Corporation (WUC) strategy and corporate affairs director, Peter Sedingwe blamed the closeness of Tsholofelo East extension to the wastewater treatment plant, which he said naturally causes smell to the area.
He would later explain that the treatment processes, which are currently being enhanced through the plant upgrades, could reduce the smell.
It is common cause that mornings and evenings seem to be the worst moments when the smell reaches its all-time high, sending residents under cover to escape the unpleasant odour.
Meanwhile, as the flows increase owing to developments, the smell intensifies particularly at peak hours, which are usually mornings and evenings. Another contributing factor as further explained by Sedingwe is that the area is on the windward direction of the Broadhurst Screw Pump Station and the Broadhurst stabilisation ponds.
Residents have been complaining about the disgusting stench of human waste stemming from the sewage lines at the Glen Valley sewage pond. The sewage odour was often blamed for headaches, eye irritation and respiratory problems residents experienced.
Still on the matter, a week after the publication of the story, a media tour of the sewer treatment plant was conducted by the Minister of Land Management, Water and Sanitation Services, Kefentse Mzwinila. He indicated that the government has come up with a P350 million project to refurbish the sewer plant.
He even promised that the awful smell would be a thing of the past once the project comes to an end in June 2021. He said the project aims to refurbish plant No.1 of a total capacity of 40ML/day and attend to other works at the treatment plant.
Mzwinila added that the project would help to free the neighbouring residents who in the past were forced to stay behind closed doors and windows to keep the odor away.
Member of Parliament for Gaborone North, Mpho Balopi had conceded the bad smell coming out of the treatment plant had been bothering the residents for years.
He stated that the completion of the project gives them hope for a stink-free environment that has been a bane for residents of Tsholofelo, Glen Valley BDF camp and other parts of Broadhurst.
He said residents would now enjoy the luxury of relaxing outdoors.
Eight months down the line, the nose-cutting smell at Tsholofelo East still persists and even worse. The recent downpours seem to have exacerbated the stench as it now really stinks to the high heaven!