The City of Cape Town is taking a firm stance against the illegal occupation of land designated for essential infrastructure.
Also read: Storm victims evicted while attempting to rebuild homes
Imminent legal action is being prepared to address and remove unlawful structures on critical municipal properties.
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Officials have been attempting to conduct repairs after severe weather hit the Western Cape last week.
Dunoon has faced issues with obstructed drainage systems, worsening the impact of the heavy rains.
Makeshift structures and informal settlements are disrupting essential maintenance.
In Somerset West, some areas have been without water for nearly eight days due to obstructions from an informal settlement.
Mayoral Committee Member for Water and Sanitation Zahid Badroodien told News24 that a burst pipe was reported during the storm.
‘Unfortunately, this burst pipe occurred in the middle of an informal settlement with difficult access, and a number of structures needed to be relocated. It took the City almost four days to negotiate with the owners of the structures to relocate them, which caused a significant delay in starting the repairs.’
WATCH: City of Cape Town teams attended to a burst pipe in Nomzamo. However, this pipe burst occurred in the middle of an informal settlement with difficult access, and several structures needed to be relocated. It took the City almost four days to negotiate with the owners of… pic.twitter.com/psWDcQd7l7
— Marvin Charles (@MarvinCharles_) July 19, 2024
The City fixed the initial burst pipe on 13 July 2024 and addressed a secondary burst pipe the following day.
‘The additional burst pipe required more structures to be relocated and for the shoring box to be extended. Furthermore, a thrust block was laid with quick-setting concrete, which needed time to set.’
‘Unfortunately, due to the weather, this process took longer than anticipated as additional settling time was required.’
Badrodien noted that illegal structures on critical City water and sanitation infrastructure have severe consequences.
‘In this instance, the repair to the water network was delayed due to the inability to access the repair area. We also see in other areas structures built on top of sewer networks, resulting in sewer collapses due to unplanned weight and activity on top of these networks, causing untold inconvenience to residents connected to various networks,’ Badrodien said.
‘We strongly discourage any illegal activity, as it compromises the City’s ability to maintain and repair our network for the benefit of all our residents.’
‘These structures and informal settlements interrupt the functioning of essential maintenance. Ultimately, in cases of infrastructure failures, this prevents us from resolving these as quickly as we can.’
Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis announced that the City will initiate legal action against illegal occupiers.
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Picture: Dr Zahid Badroodien / X