Note to editors: Please find attached English and Sesotho soundbites by Cllr Hismajesty Maqhubu and Afrikaans by Cllr Johann Steenkamp.
The recent heavy summer rains in the Free State and specifically Tokologo Local Municipality have exposed the level of incompetence in the newly built stormwater channel project in Boshof.
The channel project was implemented in 2021 and was expected to be completed in 2022. However, due to a lack of proper planning, this project that cost the municipality over R3 million was only completed last year.
This was supposed to ease the lives of the residents in Mama-o-Ntelekile (New Extension). The houses in the area flood every time there is heavy rainfall. Residents’ furniture, household items and other valuables are destroyed by water every year and several times in a given year of heavy rain. Some residents are relocated to the park for safety during those trying times. Please see pictures here, here, here and here.
The project that was intended to better this situation has now caused more damage. The stormwater channel is not supported by any drainage system. Instead, the water dams at the channel, endanger the lives of children who use it to swim in.
The DA conducted oversight of the project and easily identified the required slope for the flow of the channel, which is the main cause for water to dam easily and not flow to the desired destination.
We will table a motion in council to declare the area a disaster and give much-needed aid to the families that have been negatively affected by last week’s torrential rains and thunderstorms. We have also collected all the necessary data in the affected area and will closely monitor the disaster management office to ensure no one is unjustly prejudiced due to political differences, culture, religion, creed, or any other unsound reason in this regard.