Residents of flood-hit Riverlands plead with govt to help rebuild their homes

CAPE TOWN - Some residents of Riverlands, near Malmesbury, are pleading with government officials to help them rebuild their homes that were damaged by the recent heavy floods.

Last week, three dam retention walls burst and flooded 50 homes, forcing more than 200 people to leave their homes.

Most of them are currently being housed at a pop centre in Rylaan Avenue as well as the Love Church in Riverlands.

Many homes in the Landbou area of Riverlands are still under water, exactly a week since heavy floods swept through the region.

Resident Nicolene English says no one from the Swartland Municipality has been to their homes to see the damage.

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"They were not here to tell us, 'this is our plan of action'. My husband was talking to one of the municipality officials at the pop centre because his boss wants to buy us a bungalow. The official told him that if he buys the bungalow, the municipality is not going to help us because we can get on our own feet without the municipality's help."

The community is agitated as its struggle to access clean water continues.

The Swartland Municipality has indicated it will take six to eight weeks to restore running water in the area.

'I AM STAYING BY MY PRIEST'

Meanwhile, resident of Landbou informal settlement in Riverlands, Shane Moses, took Eyewitness News inside his home, which is still filled with water.

He said he's taken shelter with friends: "I'm staying by my priest, it's not nice to stay by someone else. It's okay for a few days because they accept you, but at the end of the day you can see things are changing."

Nicolene English, whose home is on the brink of collapse, said she lost everything to the floods.

"There's nothing I can use, nowhere I can go in through here, we have to use the window to get access inside the house. But we have to be extra cautious because this can collapse at any time. I can't bring my kids and I'm living with my sister at the moment."