Widespread showers in Limpopo have seen most of the province’s rivers flooding, with dire consequences for many farmers. “It’s a bitter-sweet situation for agriculture in the province,” says Willie Lewies of TAU SA. “While cattle farmers welcome the good rains, crop farmers are losing entire harvests due to rivers flooding their banks.” Over the past two weeks many areas have recorded above-average rainfall. Thabazimbi has had almost 200mm since the beginning of the year and Vaalwater is said to have had 300mm between 21 and 25 January.
It is these showers that accounted for rivers like the Mogol and Palala flooding their banks. On Friday 25 January authorities warned farmers on the Mogol river that the sluices were going to be opened. Farmers had to work fast to remove pumps and other equipment from the already high-flowing river. Citizens of Lephalale feared a repeat of the 2001 flood when the town’s main road was under water and businesses lost hundreds of thousands of rands to water damage. While it wasn’t as bad this time, the flooding rivers did take their toll.
Several farm dams on the Palala River, which flows about 50km east of the Mogol, broke as a result of fast-flowing water. Farmers who have spent their entire lives farming on this river say they have never seen it flowing this wide. “It is difficult to quantify the capital loss of these irrigation dams to farmers, but it will run into millions,” say Lewies. Irrigation farmers along the Crocodile River in the Koedoeskop and Thabazimbi areas are also feeling the effect of heavy downpours as many of them cannot access their crop fields.
To the far east of the province, the Olifants River has also flooded its banks. Here too several irrigation dams burst and expensive irrigation pumps and equipment were washed away. Hundreds of houses in informal settlements in the Mafefe area had to be evacuated. – Jasper Raats
