Sewage-smelling floodwaters and winter chill take toll on families in Dunoon
Limited municipal services worsen crisis
Peter Luhanga
Hundreds of residents of DuNoon informal settlement outside Cape Town battled to protect their homes from being swamped this week after heavy winter rains caused widespread flooding.
Other informal settlements in the City of Cape Town affected by the rains included Khayelitsha, Lwandle, Nomzamo, Gugulethu, Masiphumelele, Macassar, Sir Lowry’s Pass, Mfuleni, Vygieskraal, Langa, Witsand, Fisantekraal, Joe Slovo, Philippi, Strandfontein, Lavender Hill, Crossroads, Tafelsig and Athlone. In these communities, flood kits and emergency supplies have been distributed, according to the City of Cape Town.
In Dunoon’s Zwezwe section, residents battled rising floodwaters, but hundreds of homes remain submerged in stinking, stagnant water. Mattresses were drenched, furniture ruined, and families left with flooded shacks. Perched precariously across Malibongwe Drive, Zwezwe is a patchwork of zinc-sheet shacks near the swollen banks of the Diep River.
The series of storms hit hardest between Wednesday, 2 July and Sunday, 6 July, leaving devastation in their wake.
In Newlands, an informal settlement just across Potsdam Road near Du noon, Busiswa Ntisana, 35, and her husband share a cramped two room shack with their four children aged two, nine, 11 and 16. The lounge, which doubles as the kitchen and children’s sleeping area was waterlogged. In the other room, that serves as their bedroom, the family had to raise their bed on cement blocks to keep it above the rising floodwaters. A heavy damp smell hung in the air. Outside, a filthy stream gushed past their home, flooding several shacks further downstream.
“It’s very bad. We can’t go anywhere. The children are coughing. We haven’t been able to sleep. We’re getting sick. The water smells, it smells like sewage. We have no toilets,” said Ntisana.
Newlands community leader Masande Myosana said the informal settlement had no municipal services. A few residents had brought bucket toilets stolen from Dunoon and charged R5 for their use. Those who could not afford to pay were forced to relieve themselves in the bushes along Malibongwe Drive where they risked being knocked over when crossing the road. Others used buckets which they emptied the next day.
Zwezwe resident Nomsa Ngomo, 31, was doing laundry by hand on Sunday, wading through floodwater that had soaked her entire two- room shack.
The heavy rains had left her home soaked and ruined her TV cabinet, kitchen cupboards, and sofas.
Ngomo said she had nowhere else to go and had no choice but to remain in the sodden environment. .
Zwezwe community leader Nandipha Matiwane said the floods spared no one and each winter the community faced the same situation.
Living on private land meant they could not expect help from the City.
“But we need help,” said Matiwane.
She said if rubble could be provided to raise the ground in low-lying areas, it might redirect the floodwaters and ease the situation.
Carl Pophaim, Mayco member for human settlements, said the City’s informal settlement management teams were conducting thorough assessments across the City.
“Our teams will also investigate the longer term feasibility solutions for the affected residents of Newlands and Zwezwe informal areas,” said Pophaim.
When asked about the provision of humanitarian relief, including emergency shelter, food and medical support for vulnerable groups such as women, children and the elderly, Sonica Lategan, spokesperson for the City’s Disaster Risk Management, said the department had not received any reports or requests for assistance from Newlands or Zwezwe.
Pophaim said the City’s teams were active on the ground, providing emergency support.
He said some areas had been severely affected and remained waterlogged.
In these places, he said the City was deploying pumping equipment to reduce water levels and prevent further damage wherever possible.