A family from Gqeberha is facing the real prospect of having to demolish their home after a mysterious source of water started to poison the house they have been living in for the past 16 years.
Rashied Johnson says his 16-year-old son Ridhaa has been sleeping on a couch in the living room for the past two years as he had to vacate his room due to extensive mould that has started to take a toll on his health.
Johnson says he is at his wits end as he has been sent from pillar to post to find the origins of the water which he believes is from a broken municipal pipe.
Upon entering the Johnson's home in McManus Crescent in Gelvandale one can instantly feel your throat closing up and it is hard to believe that any human being can live under such conditions.
Breathing normally turns into uncontrollable coughing while the structural damage inside looks like the house is about to collapse- a thought that is not lost on the Johnson family.
In a city where day zero is looming, there is certainly no shortage of water at the Johnson family home.
Johnson had to dig trenches near his boundary wall outside in order to divert the water away from his home- an exercise that he says is taking a toll on his mental and physical health.
"I don't show this to my family because I don't want them to worry, I had to clean the trenches and I [was in pain] It's the anxiety, tension and stress," he said.
He says they first noticed the water in 2017, coming from a neighbour's property whose house burnt to the ground.
Johnson says since then, the family has had to deal with this flooding issue which has now caused the home's ceilings to form mould, several walls in his home to crack and paint chipping off.
Even a boundary wall between his two living rooms collapsed.
Johnson says even worse is the fact that he still has to pay his bond for a house that is falling apart.
The family also had the water independently tested and a report, seen by AlgoaFM News showed that the water was treated due to traces of Trihalomethanes- a compound found in chlorinated water with high levels of other organic materials.
The Metro, however, disagreed and said their test detected small traces of Chloroform which meant that the water under the Johnson home was a natural spring or groundwater.
NMB engineering and infrastructure Executive Director Joseph Tsatsire says the Metro has done an extensive investigation and has concluded that the water is groundwater.
Tsatsire says Johnson continuously blames the Metro and he has now advised him to formally submit his claim to the Metro's legal department for a formal response.
Johnson says even their insurance wont budge as they said it would cost hundreds of thousands to fix the damage and suggested the home be demolished.
The insurance also argued that Johnson took too long to report the matter.
Johnson says on Wednesday, a Municipal official asked him what he would like to happen next.
"The only person that has ever asked me what I would like to happen next is a gentleman by the name of Ali Mohammed. He posed the question to me and I told him they can place me in a house of the same value and same size property. They must also pay for the pain and suffering. This has been going on for three to four years and we have endured enough," he added.
An assessment done by BVi Consulting Engineers appointed by the home insurance says that dampening was evident on the external walls of the property.
"The property has a natural slope, and mainly consists of concrete slabs which provide resistance to moisture penetrating from outside of the home. Therefore we believe that the rising damp on the external walls of the dwelling is caused by moister travelling from the ground up through the walls,".
Municipality's Joint Operations Centre, Luvuyo Bangazi, said it wouldn't be in the Metro's best interest to let municipal water run down the street while we are in this current water crisis.
