WATCH: Poop goes punk over Ekurhuleni sewage crisis

The DA's Simon Lapping has turned Ekurhuleni's sewage crisis into a punk music video The East Rand’s sewage problems have gone punk after a frustrated DA councillor turned broken infrastructure and poop spilling onto pavements into a music video set to a nearly 40-year-old South African rock song. Ekurhuleni’s ageing sewerage infrastructure Boksburg ward councillor Simon Lapping has had enough of sewage complaints going unresolved for weeks. Instead of another moan in council, he decided to make some noise online. Armed with a phone and a sense of humour, he filmed sewage spills across his ward, stitched the footage together and set it to Monster from the Bog, an eighties classic by South African band The Psycho Reptiles. It’s a marriage of political satire and municipal service delivery failures, with a song originally written about the country going down the toilet four decades ago now providing the soundtrack to the real thing. LIVE interactive map, latest news, multimedia and more! View Map “Remember, your next number two may end up on your neighbour’s pavement,” Lapping warned. He said Ekurhuleni’s ageing sewerage infrastructure was struggling to cope with growing residential populations and additional developments. “The infrastructure has deteriorated to the extent that it can no longer cope with the volume of sewage,” he said. “Tree roots are also invading ageing pipes and causing further blockages. The situation is getting beyond a joke.” Watch: Lapping on the lavatory Lapping said his ward currently had eight sewage problems, some unresolved for more than a month. “The department keeps coming up with excuses for why repairs cannot be done or why they are taking so long,” he said. Frustrated by the delays, Lapping decided to take a different approach to municipal accountability. “I went around the ward filming the worst affected areas, so there was no shortage of material,” he said. “I put the footage together and chose Monster from the Bog because I couldn’t think of a more appropriate song to highlight what residents are dealing with.” “It seemed particularly appropriate because the song was written about the country going down the bog in the eighties, and here we are again,” he said. Sticking it to politicians Lapping contacted Psycho Reptiles songwriter and performer Mike Searle and obtained permission to use the music. Searle found the whole thing amusing. But he said the song also carried a message about personal responsibility and consequences. “The song is really about being aware that your words and actions can have a butterfly effect on other people. What you do, or fail to do, can have consequences far beyond what you might imagine,” he said. The musician welcomed the song’s unexpected revival. “It’s quite prophetic when you think about it. Forty years later, the song has found a very literal purpose,” Searle said. “I’m always happy to stick it to politicians who aren’t doing their jobs, so I was delighted to see Simon putting it to good use.”