The Minister of Land Reform and Rural Development Mzwanele Nyhontso says there should be no finger-pointing at who was responsible for the maintenance of the dam walls that breached causing wide-scale flood damage in Riverlands in the Swartland Municipality of the Western Cape.
The flooding was caused by a dam wall failure on the Dassenberg farm, which is owned by the department and is being leased to a livestock farmer.
Large-scale infrastructure damages have been reported.
Western Cape authorities say assessments are underway to determine the extent of the damage caused by the collapse of dam walls.
About 200 people in the community were affected on Thursday with 94 still being housed in local halls, following the collapse of three dam walls, causing severe flooding.
The Provincial Minister of Local Government Anton Bredell says, “The municipality will meet in two days on Thursday, August 15 to look at the proclamation of a disaster, they cannot declare one. They need the support of the district and the province and only then will national declare whether it is a disaster. We understand and we work well with the municipality that’s why they pitch in. They don’t ask, they need to get the infrastructure restored. They need to get people back into their houses so we are not going to wait for the disaster to be declared. The province is currently declared a disaster so we work with that in mind.”
Taking stock of Riverlands Dam collapse:
Water is being supplied by means of water tankers, while technicians are hard at work to restore the electricity supply.
Some 94 residents are still being accommodated at community halls.
Some of the community members feel that authorities are not involving them in plans following the incident.
The department says engineers will do their investigations, but various departments are working together to assist the community.
Provincial authorities say assessments are underway to determine the extent of the damage.
The mopping-up operation continues.
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