Mbombela on high alert as engineers work to stabilise Senteeko Dam

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JEREMY MAGGS: Today the Lowveld remains on high alert as persistent heavy rains raise concerns about flooding and also the safety of dams in and around Mbombela. Engineers, I understand, have been dispatched to assess the privately owned Senteeko Dam near Barberton after reports of structural risk, with communities downstream being warned to prepare for possible evacuation.

This is a serious situation. I’m in conversation now with Joseph Ngala from the City of Mbombela. Joseph, a very warm welcome to you. Right now, on the ground as we have this conversation, are you able to tell me how serious the risk is to communities below the dam?

JOSEPH NGALA: As you indicated in your intro, we’re not out of the woods yet. The latest assessment of the dam wall is that it’s continuing to slowly but surely crack a bit. The risk is still a bit high.

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JEREMY MAGGS: Potentially, how many people would you have to evacuate and what would cause you to make that decision?

JOSEPH NGALA: Initially, we had to be very cautious because when the rains were really pelting down, we realised that a lot of people, especially downstream, would be affected by the amount of water if the dam collapsed. But we are very thankful to the adjacent landowners who immediately evacuated people very close to the dam.

But as government, we felt that even villages further down, because if this dam had broken, it would have affected the tributaries that go down to a number of rivers and subsequently to the Crocodile River that goes as far as Mozambique.

Along that valley, there are quite a number of communities that had to be alerted to the fact that there would be an added amount of water as a result of the dam collapse.

In terms of numbers, I would really be lying because you don’t ordinarily have a census of people in a particular area. But yeah, it’s quite a sizeable number of people who have to remain on high alert. But in the event that there is a collapse, they have to be immediately evacuated. But we are very thankful that adjacent to the dam itself, evacuations were done almost immediately.

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JEREMY MAGGS: Who then is in operational control if conditions happen to worsen? Is it the dam owner? Is it the municipality or even provincial or national authorities?

JOSEPH NGALA: You would understand, Jeremy, that any water resource, the principal owner of any water resource is the National Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) nationally. But this dam in particular is privately owned. So DWS sent engineers when they heard about the risk.

It then becomes the responsibility of the dam owner, which in this case, they talk about the (Shamile) Communal Property Association (CPA) that runs the affairs of the dam, and obviously the adjacent landowners who make use of the dam… because it’s a farming community, there’s forestry, there’s plantations over there, and farm owners who benefit from the dam.

But in terms of responsibility, the owner of the water in the country is the DWS, but this particular dam is privately owned.

JEREMY MAGGS: Are the dam owners at this point cooperating with local authorities to make sure that the situation is managed optimally?

JOSEPH NGALA: We must appreciate the cooperation we’re getting from them because as we speak, they are actually on site. Their teams are on site monitoring.

In fact, one of the things they did was to create another spillway to try and reduce the amount of water because they could see that the structural integrity of the dam is quite compromised.

They are on site monitoring it. We’re very grateful that they are cooperating with us as government.

JEREMY MAGGS: Whichever way you look at it, it is going to be a difficult situation to repair.

JOSEPH NGALA: It is. In fact, the initial assessment runs into millions. When all of this is over, the CPA indicated that they would approach government for some form of funding because going forward they would obviously need that source of water for their business. Yeah, it is going to cost a lot of money.

JEREMY MAGGS: Leading on from that then, and one hopes that doesn’t happen, but if the dam does fail, who carries legal and financial responsibility for damage caused?

JOSEPH NGALA: That’s a difficult one, Jeremy. But the dam owner obviously is aware of those obligations, but I guess even the adjacent landowners who are beneficiaries to the dam being there would obviously have to bear some cost towards that eventuality.

JEREMY MAGGS: Thank you very much indeed, from the City of Mbombela, I’ve been in conversation with Joseph Ngala, and I appreciate your time. Thank you.

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