Sol Plaatje Municipality will have to fork out an estimated R5 million to cover damages incurred due to the flooding of houses when the Tlhageng dam overflowed, as the insurance claim has been rejected.
SOL PLAATJE Municipality will have to fork out an estimated R5 million to cover damages incurred due to the flooding of houses when the Tlhageng dam overflowed, as the insurance claim has been rejected.
Houses were damaged in ward 7 and ward 17 following heavy rains during 2008/09.
Guardrisk, the appointed insurance brokers, declined the claim as it indicated that the incident claimed for was not a new occurrence in the Vergenoeg area.
“There were prior incidents relating to the same merits which the insured was made aware of in 2013 and there are similar claims made against the insured for the same cause of damage.”
The brokers added that the municipality had made “no effort to mitigate the loss and or effect of the damage to their infrastructure”.
“As per our investigation to determine the extent of the damage to the properties surrounding the stormwater channel and the cause, we found that the stormwater channel is in a general state of disrepair, as a result of a lack of maintenance. The stormwater channel is incapable of adequately channelling water, which in turn causes a build-up of stormwater and is a direct cause of the resultant flooding.”
It stated that the stormwater drainage system was “inadequate and insufficient to accommodate the volumes of stormwater run-off”.
“This is causing water to flood the third parties’ properties. It is evident that the insured failed to implement reasonable and effective precautionary measures to at least attempt to mitigate instances of flooding.”
Council has acknowledged that the cause of the damages was “not as a result of acts of God but stormwater system deficiencies” at Tlhageng dam.
A report that was compiled, recommended that the Tlhageng attenuation dam be upgraded.
Although the project was approved during the 2020/21 financial year, legal challenges prevented the project from continuing.
The municipality stated that it had restored and reinforced the dam walls and that it would pay out the claims from an internal insurance fund.
Each property owner will be assessed for any debt owed to the municipality.
Up to a maximum of 50 percent of the debts owed to the municipality will be deducted from the settlements, to allow the claimants to replace what was lost.
R3 million will be allocated to repair the Tlhageng retention dam during the 2022/23 financial year.
The roads and stormwater unit has been instructed to report on the condition of the dam and preventative measures that will be taken to avoid dam wall breakage and future flooding.
