‘Metro caved in and withdrew report on causes of mudslides’
A RESIDENTS’ group from an upmarket suburb io the north of Durban has claimed the ethekwini Municipality buckled under political pressure and retracted its engineering department’s report. It revealed the probable causes of mudslides that devastated the area in April and May.
The report, Engineering Unit Technical Report Investigating the Probable Causes of the umdloti Dune Washaways in April and May, was put together by four engineers and delivered on August 12.
It identified the work being done at the nearby multimillion-rand Salta Sibiya housing development as the cause of the mudslides.
Around 300mm of rain fell in parts of Kwazulu-natal and the Eastern Cape on April 11. A mudslide was triggered in emdloti that washed away entire houses and damaged buildings, businesses and infrastructure.
Bellamont Road was washed away in two places, while 37 houses in the street were uprooted, with the overflow doing further damage to properties on North Beach Road.
The developers of Salta Sibiya, Devmco, denied any wrongdoing and said they believed there were multiple factors that led to the mudslides.
Devmco was exonerated by the KZN Department of Economics, Tourism and Environmental Affairs, which stated that the mudslides were essentially the result of the heavy downpours.
With the report in hand, the Save emdloti group met two weeks ago to discuss the findings and determine their next steps.
However, Msawakhe Mayisela, the municipality’s spokesperson, confirmed to the Sunday Tribune that they had retracted the report because it had been released “prematurely”.
Nicole Barlow, of Save emdloti, said the municipality’s retraction would not scupper their efforts to hold those responsible for the devastation accountable, and said they planned to challenge the department’s stance.
“We intend using it as the basis for our impending litigation,” she said.
Barlow, a Johannesburg-based environmental activist, said their group
was formed after the floods, and its membership was made up of affected residents, business people and others.
“I was aware of their plight long before being asked to assist. I was already investigating the devastation.
“As an environmental activist, when I saw the mudslides and aerial photos, I knew there was something wrong.”
Apart from discussing the report at their meeting, Barlow said they considered various options, and a group of people were nominated to carry out further investigations and provide suggestions.
She shot down the municipality’s suggestion that they had received the report surreptitiously via a rogue official.
“That is not how it happened. We found out about its existence and we submitted a formal Promotion of Access to Information Act application, so it was given to us via official channels.”
Geoff Pullan, the councillor for Ward 58, recalled how residents had rallied to make a way through the bush because the road had washed away at two places in Bellamont Road in April.
Pullan said much devastation had occurred, and two sections of Bellamont Road and the drainage system had to be repaired at a cost of R70 million.
“I’m not an environmentalist, but I’ve lived here for a number of years,” he said. “The area has very sandy soil, so if you clear away vegetation then you are at risk,” he added, referring to the land that was cleared to make way for the Salta development.
“It’s common sense. We had lots of downpours in the past, but this place never fell apart,” said Pullan.
Petrus Scholtz, a Bellamont Road resident, said many people were angry about losing their houses.
“Some 37 houses are no longer in Bellamont Road. Affected residents might get payouts for the houses from insurance companies, but they won’t get compensation to fix the damage to the land.
“It might cost between R2m and R4m to fix. Nobody has that kind of money lying around.”
Scholtz feared the damages would also result in a significant dip in their property valuations.
He said he believed the disturbance of the surface and the removal of vegetation had caused the flow of sludge.
Scholtz hoped everyone could come together and restore emdloti to its former glory.
Salta Sibaya’s management said it had noted that many false claims and misconceptions were being bandied about, which they rejected.
In a media statement released by the developer in May, it said that in conjunction with its contractors, it always maintained the highest levels of care in planning and implementation, with strict compliance with all national and municipal laws, as well as any applicable by-laws.
“All of our developments have received all of the necessary approvals from all relevant municipal departments, including a fully-approved stormwater management plan.
“The site conformed and continues to conform to all environment impact assessments and environment management plans,” the statement read.
Commenting on the engineers’ report, Charles Thompson, a Salta director, said previously that it had not been made available to the company for prior comment, but that the company’s management had met with the compilers of the report and discussed an array of inaccuracies contained in it.
“We are in the process of compiling the relevant information we have for the report to be updated by the engineering units,” said Thompson.
Mayisela apologised for releasing the report prematurely, before exhausting internal processes related to reports of this nature. “We fully understand the inconvenience the retraction may have caused. We would like to state categorically that there is nothing hidden and sinister about retracting it.”