Western Cape monitors dam levels to safeguard people’s lives

The Western Cape government says its teams have been monitoring dam levels in Riverlands near Malmesbury. This is after the walls of two dams collapsed displacing 200 people after floods damaged their homes last Thursday.

The province’s Local Government Minister Anton Bredell says the teams will remain on the ground to assess the needs of residents of all affected areas.

Bredell has stated that the local government’s priority is to safeguard people’s lives.

“They are busy with that still. There’s a fourth dam that they are monitoring hourly to see to it that it’s safe. Secondly, is obvious to look at the needs of the people. So, they looked after their material needs because there are children that need to go to school, so we need to get them to school. And then there are ID documents that will need to be replaced,” adds the MEC.

Bredell says the affected people have been housed at several community halls while the Gift of the Givers, Red Cross, as well as members of the community, have stepped in everybody.

Earlier, Chairperson of Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Water and Sanitation, Leon Basson said the collapse of the dam wall “is symptomatic of shortcomings regarding dam safety”.

“The Department of Water and Sanitation must enhance their monitoring capabilities to ensure adequate safety standards for its dams and enhance monitoring of private dams to ensure that the safety of people downstream is not threatened.”