IT WAS once a small dam, but it got bigger and bigger until it broke its banks and destroyed many shacks.
And it doesn't help that two mysterious men have delivered a message that strikes terror into the hearts of villagers.
"MAMLAMBO IS IN THE DAM AND IS ANGRY!" THEY WARNED.
The men told terrified residents from extension 2 in Skierlik, Tshwane that mamlambo wanted taverns to stop making a noise and residents must stop throwing nappies in the dam.
The men also told the residents they must paint their silver zinc shacks in other colours as the shiny zinc angered the river snake.
The two men's visit came seven months after the dam broke and flooded nearby shacks.
Community leader Mpho Malise (46) said there were floods in January and ActionSA promised them that the affected residents will be moved to a better place.
"The people are still not safe. As you can see, the rain is coming," she said.
Malise said there was no stream and the place was dry when she moved to the area in 2018. Then she saw a small dam after the rain season in 2019.
She said that more than 100 shacks were destroyed in the January incident and they needed government and the municipality to intervene.
Resident Sylvia Mathebula (45) said it was terrible to see people's shacks sinking into the water. "Some residents ran way because of this situation," she said.
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Two boys, Siyabonga Mabila (7) and Lawrence Tshwenu (5) from Mountain View, drowned in the same dam in March last year.
ActionSA's Tshwane regional chairman Oupa Mathibela and Tshwane MMC for Human Settlements Abel Tau conducted a site inspection at Skierlik on Thursday, 15 September.
"On arrival, we were confronted by a horrible, waterlogged and unhabitable area due to apparent road construction taking place nearby," he said.
He said according to the community, the contractor making the road was responsible for creating a man-made dam after excavating sand.
"Tau has undertaken to approach the contractor with a view to make sure that the sand excavation and construction does not leave the community of Skierlik with such difficult living conditions," he said.
Mathibela said that Tau will ensure that shack marking is conducted to relocate the affected members of the community to a nearby identified site.
