Despite danger and warnings, Eerste Fabriek residents start to rebuild
'Don’t take that type of risk. If you build on the bank of the river, when it rains you are going to lose your life,' Gauteng Gauteng Premier David Makhura warned.
Residents of Mamelodi struggle through floodwaters, 9 December 2019. Picture: Jacques Nellis
Despite many residents losing everything in the recent heavy rains, it appears Mamelodi’s flood victims are not prepared to vacate the dangerous area in which they live and have already started to rebuild their homes.
The washed out Eerste Fabriek informal settlement was covered in debris and mud after floods swept through the area on Monday morning. Hundreds of shacks were swept away, leaving 1,300 people displaced.
When the weather cleared yesterday, residents returned to rummage through the mud for their belongings.
Others started rebuilding and repairing their homes, with the intention of returning to the river bank, despite being warned the low-lying area was a flood risk.
Reagan Matlala, who has been living in the informal settlement for three years, said he was not going anywhere.
“I work in Hercules and if government moves us out too far, how will I get to work?
“My children go to school here in Mamelodi. I can’t afford to move to a place where I have to pay rent. I am staying here. I am not going anywhere.”
Gauteng Premier David Makhura urged people not to return to the area as it posed a risk to their lives.
Speaking at the Stanza Bopape Community Centre – one of the three community facilities that housed the affected people – Makhura urged them to rather work with government to find a solution.
“We have urged them not to build on the floodplain because the consequence is loss of life,” he said. “People build where it is going to be difficult for government to bring infrastructure.
“This is a challenge and community members always try to resist.
“Don’t take that type of risk. If you build on the bank of the river, when it rains you are going to lose your life. It is something we have to work on together.”
Gauteng government and nonprofit organisations housed those affected, offering food, blankets and clothing at nearby community halls. Home affairs services were also available for those who lost ID documents and other official certificates.
“We will not rest until we have resettled the people in appropriate places,” said Makhura. “But one of the key things is urging people not to go back [to] floodplains…”
He said government discouraged people illegally occupying land “because it is in those spaces we have great difficulty. But we can’t blame them for now.”
– rorisangk@citizen.co.za
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