Mamelodi flood victims hit again, displaced by deluge

This came after they were again forced to flee for safety when heavy rains flooded their shacks after midnight last Sunday.

Last year 9 December, marked the first anniversary of the 2019 floods.

Madala Mathebula (45) said residents were no longer safe, because of the heavy rains.

“Tshwane metro needs to speed up the relocation process and move us to a safer place,” said Mathebula.

“People are starting to lose hope because there are those who have already started invading Mooiplaats that was meant for flood victims.”

Mathebula speculated whether the metro was waiting for people to die first “before they take us seriously”.

He accused the local government of corruption and making empty promises.

“We are the ones who are spending sleepless nights fearing to be hit by another flood.”

Residents further said the Tshwane metro had to prioritise the flood victims, “because they missed deadline after deadline of the relocation process”.

The flood victims said they were planning to take the matter to court if the metro took long to resolve the issue.

“Tshwane officials were supposed to have already started with the shack markings because at the last meeting we were told that the relocation is expected to start on 15 January, right after the shack markings,” said Mathebula.

“We hope they will not use the second wave [of Covid-19] as an excuse.”

A representative of the flood victims December Matlala said the budget that was set aside for the relocation process was finished but they were not informed of what happened to the money.

Matlala complained that since the local councillors were reinstated, they could no longer communicate with the Tshwane administration and this caused more delays in the relocation process.

Tshwane housing and human settlement MMC Mpho Mehlape-Zimu said the metro has completed the shack marking at Eerste Fabrieke and has commenced with shack marking in Pienaarspoort where a total of 3 630 shacks have already been marked.

“The shack marking will continue as teams return from the festive break including in other informal areas as was engaged with the community during the consultations held in July-November 2020.”

He said the metro would commence with site preparations during January 2021, and relocations were set to commence in February 2021.

“The exact dates will be discussed with the community at a final consultation meeting with community leaders scheduled to take place later this month,” said Mehlape-Zimu.

In response to the allegations of land invasion and corruption taking place at Mooiplaats, Mehlape-Zimu said presently, the Mooiplaats properties earmarked for phase 2A relocations were not yet cleared and the land had not been invaded.

“We are not aware of any corruption or allegations of corruption. Complaints and allegations that were received during phase 1 relocations were investigated,” he said.

“The outcome thereof was presented to the community leaders. Members of the community are encouraged to report any untoward activities that seek to undermine the relocation so that the necessary actions can be taken.”