\u201cThe dam\u2019s spillway structure has suffered severe and irreversible deterioration, including advanced erosion and undercutting, leading to structural instability,\u201d the department said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It warned that \u201cfailure of the dam is imminent and may occur without further warning.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The department said an uncontrolled release of water is likely and would pose an immediate and serious threat to downstream communities, infrastructure, and the environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a result, all people living or working downstream of the dam have been instructed to evacuate flood-prone areas immediately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The DWS noted that public access to the dam site is strictly prohibited and that emergency interventions are currently in place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The City of Mbombela has echoed these concerns and stressed that the situation remained highly volatile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking in an interview, the city\u2019s spokesperson, Joseph Ngala, said<\/a> authorities are treating the risk of a collapse with extreme seriousness as engineers continue to monitor the dam wall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe latest assessment of the dam wall is that it is continuing to slowly but surely crack a bit, so the risk is still a bit high,\u201d said Ngala.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Engineers were sent to the site after reports of structural problems, particularly following heavy rainfall in the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ngala added that officials quickly realised that the impact of a collapse would not be limited to properties closest to the dam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHad it broken its walls, it would have affected the tributaries that go down to a number of rivers and subsequently to the Crocodile River that goes as far as Mozambique,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While landowners nearest to the dam moved quickly to evacuate people in the immediate danger zone, the municipality broadened its response to include communities further downstream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAlong that valley, there are quite several communities that had to be alerted to the fact that there would be an added amount of water as a result of the dam collapse,\u201d Ngala said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ngala also addressed the issue of responsibility. \u201cThe principal owner of any water resource is the National Department of Water and Sanitation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He noted that the department acted quickly by dispatching engineers once the risk was identified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, he stressed that Senteeko Dam is privately owned, and responsibility rests primarily with the CPA, along with \u201cadjacent landowners and companies that benefit from the dam.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to Ngala, cooperation from the dam owners has been strong. \u201cAs we speak, they\u2019re actually on site. Their teams are monitoring the situation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The dam’s long-term outlook will be costly. \u201cThe initial assessment runs into millions,\u201d Ngala said, adding that the CPA plans to approach the government for funding once the immediate danger has passed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ngala is also concerned that if the dam does fail, assigning liability will not be straightforward. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe dam owner is obviously aware of those obligations, but I guess even the adjacent landowners who are beneficiaries of the dam being there would obviously have to bear some cost towards that eventuality.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" South Africa\u2019s Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) has issued a warning that a dam in Mpumalanga could collapse at any moment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":848774,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[24597,24596,24598,853],"class_list":["post-848769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending","tag-city-of-mbombela","tag-department-of-water-and-sanitation-dws","tag-senteeko-dam","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=848769"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848769\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":848779,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848769\/revisions\/848779"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/848774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=848769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=848769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=848769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Cost of repair in the millions <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Senteeko-Dam-1-1024x576.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n