Investigation into the failure of Riverlands dams extended
The Minister of Water and Sanitation, Ms Pemmy Majodina has granted departmental engineers an extra week to conduct diligent and adequate investigation into what led to the failure of three farm dams located in Riverlands town in Swartland Local Municipality.
This follows the failure of three farm dams located in Riverlands that breached, resulting in flooding that caused severe property and infrastructure damage to the affected area, leading to hundreds of people being provided with humanitarian assistance.
As a result of this, Minister Majodina visited the area on Sunday, 11 August 2024 to get first-hand information of the disastrous occurrence and was briefed by the team of engineers that were dispatched by the department to normalise the situation in the area. Subsequently, Minister Majodina instituted an investigation on the breach of the three dams and whether the owners of the dams have proper authorization from the department and a report was expected in seven days from the day of her visit.
Whilst the team on the ground has been working around the clock to expedite the compilation of the report requested by the Minister, it has had to balance the investigation work with its intervention to mitigate the risk of the failure of the fourth dam which was at a risk of severe damage as well. The department mobilised a construction team currently working at Clanwilliam Dam project for additional capacity to lower the risk of failure of the fourth dam. Furthermore, the department assessed the likelihood of failure of other dams in the area due to persistent rains and a saturated catchment which could have led to other dams reaching their maximum storage capacity.
The Department of Water and Sanitation is committed in conducting its regulatory function diligently and depending on the outcomes of the investigation, those responsible for the failure of the three dams will be held accountable.
For more information, contact Andile Tshona
Cell: 073 566 3345
E-mail: TshonaA@dws.gov.za
