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City of Ekurhuleni Mayor Mzwandile Masina says that work is under way to allow a team of engineers to assess the extent of the damage to a spillway at a Benoni lake in Gauteng.
"Starting from tomorrow (Friday), we are going to be pumping water to the next river to ease our area. We are pumping 26 000 litres and you can see the dam is dry now and our team of engineers are able to begin their work," Masina told the media at the site on Thursday.
The process of repairing the damage to the lake's dam wall will occur in three phases, said the mayor.
On Monday, Ekurhuleni Chief Operations Officer Joe Mojapelo, MMC for Water, Sanitation and Energy Tiisetso Nketle and MMC for Human Settlements Lesiba Mpya led a team of inspectors who put up sandbags to divert water from the cracked dam wall to prevent it from collapsing.
Ekurhuleni Dam. (Supplied)
This follows a warning sent out at around 03:49 on Christmas Eve urging residents to be cautious around Tom Jones interchange on the N12.
The City of Ekurhleni further urged residents to avoid the route as Emergency Services attend to the site.
The mayor further expressed his gratitude to the team who worked tirelessly to manage the potential damage which could have been caused by the spillway.
"I would like to take this opportunity to thank our team who have been working tirelessly to manage the potential damage the collapse of this spillway," said Masina.
"We could not foresee such an incident but we are [satisfied] that our response team developed a plan and were able to divert water," he concluded.
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