13 Mar 2018

Assistant Minister for Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration, Mr Thato Kwerepe has urged North West District Council to come up with a permanent solution to address the floods situation that befell Maun.

He said most floods in Maun could be blamed on the infrastructure, which did not cater for storm water drainage system and urged the council to consider the construction of the system.

Mr Kwerepe revealed in an interview after his visit with some officials from Maun Administrative Authority (MAA) to appreciate and console some affected families in some areas such as Mabudutsa, Boseja/Kubung and Disana wards that he also wanted to solicit ideas from the affected families on what could be done to address the situation.

His visit followed a report by the Disaster Management Unit in his ministry, which he said indicated that the situation was bad in Maun and called for attention.

The assistant minister also revealed that the situation was also exacerbated by the planners as they did not consider the topography when designing and constructing roads.

“This situation is bad and needs urgent attention as the affected homesteads experienced the same problem yearly.

We need to come up with a long term solution,” he stressed.

He described the situation as a disaster and advised relevant authorities to evacuate the affected and accord them necessary assistance as a temporary measure.

During his visit at Boseja/Kubung, he learnt that the water drainage system was blocked, thus resulting in spillage of waste water in the surrounding homesteads.

It was also reported that recently, pupils from a primary school within the ward were vaccinated for ring-worms.

According to the office of the district commissioner’s floods disaster report of March 6, 2018, 15 homesteads and 83 individuals were affected in eight wards.

Among the affected wards, Mabudutsa registered 22 affected individuals while Boseja/Kubung registered 19 and Sedie 15.

Mr Kwerepe also toured some government facilities that were badly affected such as newly built Maitlamo Junior Secondary School at Disana ward.

He learnt that the pavement at the school did not cater for water direction during rainy season, hence flooding in the premises.

Since he was informed that the school was under liability period, he instructed that relevant authorities should engage the contractor to re-do the pavement to allow easy flow of water.

Meanwhile, Ms Kungo Makgana’s family at Mabudutsa ward was left stranded as their houses were submerged by water and everything inside was soaked.  

She explained that she had to relocate a nursing mother to another family member as the water was posing a serious danger to their lives.

She wished she could be relocated to a safer place, noting that some of her neighbours were in the process of being relocated.

To respond to her concern, MAA senior council secretary, Ms Mogomotsi Seemule admitted that some residents in Mabudutsa would be relocated to pave way for the layout plan for Maun Commercial Business Development.

She said although only the affected homesteads would be asked if they want to be relocated or not, adding that currently, they have not yet identified a place of relocation.

She said a certain company had been engaged to work in collaboration with the physical planners from the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development to do the survey.

Ms Seemule also concurred with the assistant minister that Maun needed a storm water drainage system to address flooding situation.

The area, she said, needed a special system that might be costly. ends