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The DA has been pleading with the Municipality of Setsoto to prioritise and reconstruct the dilapidated Marquard Dam which plays a pivotal role in supplying the Marquard community with water since 2016. The lack of response from the Municipality is troubling and the crisis has now reached a boiling point.

The river walls have finally collapsed due to the recent heavy rains (see attached video). The nearby road has been flooded and is dangerous for usage. Fortunately, no lives have been lost.

In 2019, the DA conducted an oversight and discovered that the dam was unable to retain rainwater. Another problem was that it was impossible to open the sluice gate and water received caused further damage to the dam wall. The much-needed water from the seasonal rain was constantly lost.

We also discovered that theft of cables and vandalism exacerbated the situation and residents in the area are suffering. The remaining water in the dam was quickly dissipated due to the sluice gates which was leaking, to the extent that the remaining water was being totally lost. We immediately posed questions in Council. Promises were made but the municipality took more than a year to initiate the work.

A tender was issued and awarded; however, the dam has now collapsed before the work commenced. This means that the agreed amount between the company and the municipality will change. The process will be delayed as the municipality has a history of dragging its feet.

Our CoGTA Spokesperson in the Legislature Leona Kleynhans will engage with Thembeni Nxangisa, MEC of CoGTA, to prioritise the fixing of the dam. We call on the Municipality of Marquard to speed up the process of reassembling the dam.

Issued by The DA