Water and Sanitation Minister, Ms Pemmy Majodina together with Executive Mayors of OR Tambo and King Sabata Dalindyebo (KSD) Municipalities, Cllr Mesuli Ngqondwana and Cllr Nyaniso Nelani have expressed deep repulsion over videos circulating on social media, with falsehood claiming that the recent floods in Mthatha were as a result of Mthatha Dam sluice gates opened, and would like to debunk such information as unfounded and devoid of the truth.
Secondly there is another video of an overflowing dam alleged to be that of Mthatha Dam which is also not true as the said dam is more than 20km downstream of the Mthatha dam and/or affected communities.
The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS), that owns and operates the Mthatha dam, can confirm that the dam does not have sluice gates but have designed spillways which automatically releases water when it reaches its full capacity.
KSD and OR Tambo municipalities have no jurisdiction over the dam which is a source of water supply for the Mthatha area.
The DWS, as soon as the incident happened on Tuesday, 10 June 2025, deployed dam safety engineers on the ground to assess the situation and was able to determine that heavy inflows were experienced from Cicira Tributary, into the Mthatha river, downstream the dam which resulted on the riverbanks overtopping.
Upon assessment by the Department’s engineers, the gauge readings at the dam indicated that on 9 June 2025 at 16h00, the water levels at the dam were sitting at 99.8%, which was a slight decline from the 99.9% of the previous week. However, by midnight on the same day, the dam experienced a sudden inflow of water from the rains in the upstream catchment which increased the stored water from 99.8% to 102% leading to the dam spilling.
The outflow of water from the dam coincided with the heavy flows from Cicira river downstream. According to assessments, the upper reaches of the tributary also experienced flash flooding in saturated conditions, and this led to the Mthatha River overflowing its banks.
The DWS is working with the OR Tambo District to restore the Thornhill Water Treatment Works which was also affected by the floods, to return to its functioning and able to supply the town with potable water.
Minister Majodina condemns the distribution of fake news while the nation mourns the tragic deaths occasioned by the inclement weather and urge the public to be vigilant to such. She further calls upon those responsible, to read the room, and refrain from inflicting more pain to those that are affected by the disaster.
The Minister conveys her sincere condolences to the families that have lost loved ones.
Enquiries:
Cornelius Monama
Ministry Spokesperson
Cell: 083 271 0808
E-mail: monamac@dws.gov.za
Sanku Tsunke
Media Liaison, DWS
Cell: 066 299 2915
E-mail: Tsunkes@dws.gov.za
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