The city’s broken stormwater drainage system has been thrust into spotlight following flash floods that rendered hundreds of Nelson Mandela Bay residents homeless last weekend.
Co-operative governance and traditional affairs MEC Zolile Williams visited the metro on Wednesday to assess infrastructure damages caused by heavy rains as well as the city’s preparedness to face more downpours expected on Wednesday (last night) and Thursday.
With the ground already saturated and stormwater drains blocked, concerns over more localised flooding were raised by some of the displaced residents who are looking to rebuild their damaged informal structures.
Accompanied by deputy mayor Khusta Jack and roads and transport political head Rano Kayser, Williams visited Walmer and New Brighton townships where he gauged the extent of the damages and met with groups of displaced residents who demanded the delivery of their long promised RDP houses.
In Walmer, the MEC highlighted the city’s poor stormwater planning, saying the failure to create channels and furrows to direct water away from people’s homes was one of the causes of the floods.
“We are in agreement with the municipality that all damage caused needs to be fixed as soon as possible, especially roads so that stormwater can be redirected away.”
Williams said he understood the urgency for houses to be built for those who live in informal settlements who were severely affected by the rain, but added the drought situation faced by the city delayed building plans.
“The problem is that rains come at a time where the city is faced with a drought situation and while we need the rain, people are still living in unfavourable conditions and get affected like it happened this past weekend,” he said.
“We are in a predicament where we can’t build houses with flushing toilets when there is no water because even the sewerage system is affected by the water situation.”
He said they had also noticed how the government built houses but failed to construct proper roads, a situation he dubbed “a self-made disaster” because the roads had no stormwater system.
“Broad issues of town planning and human settlements will have to be raised at provincial level as a matter of urgency; the metro promised that on Wednesday afternoon graders will be on the ground fixing gravel roads.”
Williams said the city was to embark on an intensive drive to clean, unblock and repair broken stormwater drains in the next two weeks to avert another flooding.
Walmer resident Mzolisi Hliso raised concerns about the lack of a stormwater system in the area, blaming it for the displacement of scores of community members.
“When it rains, water runs on the surface of the road and into people’s homes.”
He said he noticed that the few drains that existed were blocked and could not take the volume of water, and ended up collapsing.
“We need the municipality to tell us if they have a plan to fix this problem because our rain season is yet to come and we will have to leave our homes again to be accommodated in libraries like we are in this instance if nothing is done.”
Kayser blamed illegal dumping for blocked drains, saying residents had been using them as dumping sites.
He said the city had to deploy a contractor to remove concrete rubble from a blocked Kwazekhele stormwater drain that resulted in huge floods in several streets.
“We have a collective responsibility as both government and communities to look after our infrastructure, including the stormwater system,” he said.
“The reason for the flooding in Kwazakhele is because the stormwater drain in Mavuza Street that feeds the one in Baduza was blocked by building rubble and huge rocks, and this contributed to the floods in other areas as well.”
Kayser said as part of emergency measures, the city made funds available and deployed contractors to unblock main stormwater drains.
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