Floods cause two SA, Botswana border closures

Correspondent | Monday March 17, 2014 15:34

Home Affairs spokesperson in Limpopo, Sam Muremi, says travellers should use the Beit Bridge port of entry. Muremi says the operations of Home Affairs between Grobblersbrug and Zanzibar points of entries between South Africa and Botswana have been temporarily suspended due to floods. “Travellers are urged to use alternative points of entry which are Beit Bridge and Klipfontein entries,” he said.

On Friday, Limpopo emergency services evacuated Bela Bela residents after two dams burst on Thursday. Evacuation centres have also been set up in Lephalale in the north-west of the province. The South African Weather Service says by Sunday, most parts of the country will experience scattered thundershowers. The Waterburg district was the worst affected area as roads were impassable.

Meanwhile about 1,300 people have been rescued across Limpopo this week due to extensive flooding, the provincial government said on Friday. We have rescued about 1,300 people since Tuesday,” spokesman Phuti Seloba said.

“We have assisted about 700 families, of which 177 are from Lephalale.” Seloba urged motorists to avoid using any roads leading to Lephalale, and the R101 from Bela-Bela to Mookgopong after the dam burst on Thursday. He said no drownings had been reported to the department since Tuesday. Most people were being accommodated in community halls in the drier parts of the area.

Various government departments are assisting with the situation, he said. Premier Stan Mathabatha, health MEC Dipuo Letsatsi-Duba, transport MEC Lehlohonolo Masoga, human settlements MEC Ishmael Kgetjepe and public works MEC Dickson Masemola visited Lephalale to on Thursday. “[Mathabatha] said the situation was critical and that as a province we might not have all the required resources to deal with it,” Seloba said.

He said provincial officials were communicating with national government. “National government has been properly briefed. We believe we will get the proper intervention.