Opinion piece on Lourierpark Land invasion : Politicians must allow to be guided by science | By Tshepo Moabelo a Civil Engineering Technologist
Residents of Lourierpark and Pellissier in the south of Bloemfontein, awoke to a shocking land invasion on the 02 March 2024.
Frightening visuals were broadcasted all over the media, were we saw large number of illegal land occupiers flocking to the area erecting thousands of shacks . Recently we have seen an increase in the number of illegal land invasions and attempted invasions, due to run-up to the 29 May 2024 General election in South Africa.
From engineering point of view, I argue that Engineers and town planners must lead development not politicians. Planners are responsible for organizing the use of land and city spacewhile Engineers deal with access to water, sewage, andtransportation.
Prior to allocating people land, the existing soil conditions should be examined to determine whether the soil conditions is safe and feasible for the proposed development. During Township establishment, among others engineers conduct bulk infrastructure assessment to investigate possible connections and whether there is sufficient spare capacity to serve the proposed township. Where there is no spare capacity to cater for the new proposed township, municipality is required to upgrade bulk infrastructure.
Housing development must be able to handle rains and floods. In order to handle floods, retention pond is constructed to collect storm water runoff efficiently during the storm. Unlawful land invasion lead to flooding due to people erecting their illegal structures in floodline or retention pondthat are meant to slow down the flow of water and allow more of it to percolate into the ground. As engineers we have obligation to reduce the risk of flooding and to protect humanby ensuring that new developments are outside the flood line.
In 2019 Mamelodi was hit by heavy flooding which left many people in a squatter camp destitute. 800 families were affected. Similarly, even Mamelodi disaster was as a results of politicians placing people in a land without conducting feasibility studies to investigate the geotechnical and topographical in order to determine the suitability area for the development
As engineers we rely on both the principles of engineering science to solve problems. ECSA requires us as Engineers to apply our knowledge and skills in the best interest of the public and we must execute our work with integrity.
Lastly land invasion is threat to the infrastructure. With just few days of illegal occupation of land in Lourierpark, the street light stopped working due to Cable theft and water pipe was vandalised due to illegal connections. Adjacent communities always endure constant outages because of the illegal connections and vandalism. Despite the complex challenges of human settlements, the technocrats must alwaysremain objective.
The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the importance of science and technology in managing the epidemic, Governments substantially relied on the science-based approach.
Therefore, I argue that at times of crisis, we must rely on science-driven approach.
By Tshepo Moabelo a Civil Engineering Technologist
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