Family tries to rebuild after floods
"The gabion has collapsed and if that is not fixed and all the rubble is not removed, flooding is almost guaranteed should we get heavy rains again," said Mr Alexander.
A Bedfordview family has accused the City of Ekurhuleni (CoE) of incompetence.
Mr Travers Alexander said his family has had to spend over R1-million to rehabilitate the ground and rebuild their boundary wall that was destroyed by the floods in November.
His family house, situated on Selwyn Road along the Glendower Stream, was one of the homes to be badly hit by the floods.
Mr Alexander said following the collapse, his family immediately phoned the CoE to report the matter.
“A council engineer came out and inspected the situation and promised to return. We brought in independent engineers who picked up a number of problems with the stream, which flows right next to our backyard. One of the problems was that the sewer pipe, also adjacent to the river, was pumping raw sewage into the stream,” said Mr Alexander.
He said his family asked the CoE to arrange for the clearing of rubble from the stream to allow for a better flow of water and to prevent flooding in the future.
“The gabion has collapsed and if that is not fixed and all the rubble is not removed, flooding is almost guaranteed should we get heavy rains again,” said Mr Alexander.
He said the family’s efforts to get a TLB machine to come in and clear the gable walls proved fruitless.
“The only way machinery could access the stream is through the Glendower Golf Course. At the time, they explained to us they were preparing for a major event that was due to take place [BMW SA Open Championship hosted by CoE] and machines could not be on the greens. This, however, is the CoE’s responsibility. We should not be the ones trying to negotiate these kinds of agreements. The maintenance of streams is their job,” he said.
The CoE’s spokesperson, Mr Themba Gadebe, said the municipality is working on an amicable and lasting solution to the matter.
“In the meantime we have repaired and re-adjusted the alignment of the sewer pipe that was damaged by the collapse of the gabion embankment,” said Mr Gadebe.
Mr Alexander said their builders have had to go deeper with the foundation of the newly reconstructed wall to make sure it does not succumb to floods in the future.
