Several houses built illegally along the edge of the Bloemhof dam in Bloemhof and Christiana in North West have been submerged after the dam overflowed, prompting emergency evacuations.
“The affected houses in Christiana are literally under the water,” the mayor of Lekwa-Teemane, Sebang Motlhabi, told Sowetan. “[...]These people are not supposed to be building there. They have built on what is meant to be a municipal retention park and want to privatise it.”
He said the residents of the affected homes were responsible for their own evacuations and securing their properties, though the municipality had stepped in where necessary.
“We did not deploy any security personnel to look after those properties mainly because the owners ... have a responsibility to make sure that [they] are safe.
“Those people have encroached [on] municipal land illegally. They have also built their properties along the floodline, [whereas] those properties are not meant to be there according to the rules and regulations.”
Motlhabi said the majority (90%) of the communities affected use the properties as holiday homes and don’t live there permanently.
“If we are to relocate them, they must bear the cost and purchase the land that we will be giving to them,” Motlhabi said. “We are not going to carry any costs. We can’t allow a situation where people do a special type of land grab and we allow it. Moving forward, there [has] been engagement with the communities to show them the danger of ... residing along the floodlines.”
Pemmy Majodina, the water and sanitation minister, visited the area on Friday as it continued to receive heavy inflows from upstream, resulting in high releases of water from the dam that caused flooding downstream.
Majodina expressed concern for the communities living near the floodline, saying they would be adversely affected when water is released from the Bloemhof dam.
“The high inflow of water in the dam necessitated the release of water in high volumes to protect the dam from any defects or structural damage,” she said. “The ... measures implemented were according to the operating standards of the department. It is unfortunate that [this] resulted in flooding in downstream areas. We therefore call on those living near the floodline of the river to move from the areas and find alternative places to stay.”
SowetanLIVE
'Illegal' houses 'drowned' by flooding in Bloemhof and Christiana
Mayor says owners of holiday homes built them illegally and are guilty of 'a special type of land grab'
Several houses built illegally along the edge of the Bloemhof dam in Bloemhof and Christiana in North West have been submerged after the dam overflowed, prompting emergency evacuations.
“The affected houses in Christiana are literally under the water,” the mayor of Lekwa-Teemane, Sebang Motlhabi, told Sowetan. “[...]These people are not supposed to be building there. They have built on what is meant to be a municipal retention park and want to privatise it.”
He said the residents of the affected homes were responsible for their own evacuations and securing their properties, though the municipality had stepped in where necessary.
“We did not deploy any security personnel to look after those properties mainly because the owners ... have a responsibility to make sure that [they] are safe.
“Those people have encroached [on] municipal land illegally. They have also built their properties along the floodline, [whereas] those properties are not meant to be there according to the rules and regulations.”
Motlhabi said the majority (90%) of the communities affected use the properties as holiday homes and don’t live there permanently.
“If we are to relocate them, they must bear the cost and purchase the land that we will be giving to them,” Motlhabi said. “We are not going to carry any costs. We can’t allow a situation where people do a special type of land grab and we allow it. Moving forward, there [has] been engagement with the communities to show them the danger of ... residing along the floodlines.”
Pemmy Majodina, the water and sanitation minister, visited the area on Friday as it continued to receive heavy inflows from upstream, resulting in high releases of water from the dam that caused flooding downstream.
Majodina expressed concern for the communities living near the floodline, saying they would be adversely affected when water is released from the Bloemhof dam.
“The high inflow of water in the dam necessitated the release of water in high volumes to protect the dam from any defects or structural damage,” she said. “The ... measures implemented were according to the operating standards of the department. It is unfortunate that [this] resulted in flooding in downstream areas. We therefore call on those living near the floodline of the river to move from the areas and find alternative places to stay.”
SowetanLIVE
Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Trending
Latest Videos