Residents of Embalenhle Township in the Mpumalanga town of Secunda have been forced to tolerate human waste and stinking sewage running down their streets and properties for two years‚ the Congress of the People party (COPE) says.

A little stream of sewage neglected by the Mpumalanga government two years ago‚ has now turned in to something huge‚ the party claimed on Saturday.

The stream runs straight to the Vaal River and it has contaminated the river‚ it charged.

It added that local residents blamed poor service delivery by the ANC as the cause of the area’s problems.

“According to residents‚ the blocked system started by pouring out human faeces into the local properties before becoming the river that today floods their streets‚” COPE added.

It said that while conducting a door-to-door election campaign in the area‚ one resident had told the party’s workers: “We have been living in this terrible condition for years now and our government just don’t care about our health. Garbage has also piled up our streets for years.”

“We don’t need these self-serving leaders anymore‚ honestly this is not right‚ we are humans‚ we can’t be expected to live like pigs‚” said another resident.

According to COPE‚ parents are worried because their children are forced to walk over the stinking sewage water and human waste when going to school.

“Our children can’t even play outside our houses because there is dirt everywhere‚ it is really a health hazard‚” one mother was quoted as saying.