A resident of Khutsong is very worried because there seems to be ground stability problems at his family’s house that are being ignored by the municipality.
“When I came back here more than a year ago the house was already cracking. My aunt is frequently contacting the municipality for help but she is being sent from pillar to post,” says Henry Skosana of house no.586 in Khutsong’s Xhosa Section.
Skosana showed the Herald how the family’s house is cracking in several places, despite his uncle’s attempts to cover it up.
Their house is situated next to the site where six houses had to be demolished after a sinkhole developed at . The problems started with a water leak that the municipality failed to attend to in 2016 at house No.590.
Although the municipality paid a contractor millions to rehabilitate the site, the work was never completed. Currently the street next to the wasteland where the demolished houses used to be, is permanently cordoned off. The ground was never properly levelled and there are still ruins of one house that was never demolished.
“This has become a toxic dump and a hiding place for criminals, but the municipality expects us to stay here as if there is nothing wrong,” laments Skosana.
“The house has been assessed by municipal officials, a recommendation was made
for further inspection by a geologist to determine the extent of the visible damage,” says the municipality Marketing and Communications Manager, Temba Fezani.
“According to the 2012 zoning of the dolomite extent of Khutsong, parts of this area
are situated in a red zone that is not suitable for further development. The
rehabilitation of sinkholes is done as per availability of the funds from the National
and Provincial Disaster Management Centers. Data of all sinkholes that are due
for rehabilitation had been sent to the above departments, availability has since been
made for 3 other sinkholes within the Khutsong area. The municipality will look into the site that is used for rubbish dumping and act accordingly,” he added.
