Flooding not a new thing, Doornkop residents reveal
The distressed mother of three added that they were forced to sleep on the floor with the children as most of the furniture was damaged or left to dry outside.
A group of residents in ward 130, Doornkop say the scenes of flooding that occurred last week in Soweto is not a new matter for them.
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According to the residents, the 15 houses situated along the banks of Emdeni Link have been experiencing extreme flooding in their homes every rainy season.
In 2021, a resident in the same community was discovered dead after he had drowned in one of the floods caused by the heavy rains.
Sibongile Sondlana has been staying there since 2012, they haven’t slept in days since it started raining.
“Since the opening of this bridge and the dam wall infrastructure we have experienced massive problems. It’s been three years with no solution. Last week, we escaped through windows because the whole yard was submerged in water. We are scared that the house may collapse as water is now coming underneath the foundation,” said Sondlana.
The unemployed mother said they felt they were failed by the ANC in the ward for failing to resolve the issue.
“The former Cllr once came and took pictures but he never returned.
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“What we are asking for is storm water drains. How can an entire community not have a proper drainage system?
“Are they waiting for more people to die? As we speak, we lost our valuables, we have no food and we don’t know where to go to get help.”
Another resident, Zoleka Shenxani and her husband, who recently bought one of the houses in 2021, said they were numb and horrified.
“We woke up around 4:00am and fortunately my neighbour took them out of fear that the water would continue rising,” Shenxani recalled.
“By 5:00am the water was storming uncontrollably into our home. We could have died in this house, we were locked inside, doors stuck. I began screaming for help but there was no one.”
The distressed mother of three added that they were forced to sleep on the floor with the children as most of the furniture was damaged or left to dry outside.
“I feel like I am losing my mind, it hurts that no one is recognizing the pain that we are going through. For them it’s business as usual while our lives are at risk as this rain is yet to stop.”
Shenxani said neither the bank nor the previous owners alerted her of the issue.
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“Today, I am a laughing stock but this was the only property I qualified for. It’s not like I can say I can purchase another place, where will we go if we sell because this is all I have, this is what I only qualify for,” she told the publication.
According to residents, they blamed financial institutions who duped them into buying property built on wetland. They have called for accountability from the City of Joburg and property developers citing that they demanded to know how houses were built on land which was not surveyed.
They further slammed their Ward councillor, Cllr Thulani Buthelezi who they allege has not been to the area to assess the damage despite numerous attempts to reach him since the flooding.
Buthelezi told Urban News that he was looking into the matter and was already engaging with relevant departments.
“I took videos and pictures of the area and raised it with Environment. In fact this is not the first time, they are the ones who are failing us,” he explained.
“However, I have reached out to Social Development requesting assistance for relief and food packages which they promised they would come back to me by the end of the week. We will await that and see how we can aid the community.”
Buthelezi further noted they would be investigating how the houses were built citing that the City was responsible for the evaluation of land.
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“What needs to happen now, which I was pleased when it was proposed is that we need to start finding these companies who have built houses in these flooding areas.
As Cllrs, something we will be looking to initiate, which was also proposed, is that all of these property developers who built in areas of flooding, need to be charged a certain fee and they must find places for these people. We will also be engaging with the banks who must state how they allowed this,” he said.
