Johannesburg – Every time he goes to his usual fishing spot on the banks of the Vaal Dam, Peter Mokoena has to move a little further back.
That’s how fast the water is rising.
“Last month there were cars driving right across this section of the dam,” he said, pointing to the now swollen waters, as he waited for fish to bite.
“That’s how empty it was then. It was terrible: dry, dry, dry. But it was good for fishing.
“ Sometimes, I caught 35 because there was little water in the dam.”
But even though the recent torrential rains mean fewer fish to eat, Mokoena, a carpenter who lives in the nearby settlement of Refengkotso, is happy they are at the dam fishing.
“We have all learnt with this drought that we have to save water. I hope this dam never gets to that stage again.”
Levels in the Vaal Dam, which recently dropped to a mere 26%, are now standing at 90% and levels are rising fast because of the heavy rains, says the Department of Water and Sanitation.
It is expected to open two sluice gates on Sunday and has warned communities living on the floodplains of both the Bloemhof and Vaal dams to evacuate or face potential flooding.
But here on the Vaal Dam in Deneysville, there’s little sign of panic.
“Jis, these rains are lekker,” says one fisherman, who does not want to be named, as he wades through the waters.
“There was a lot of dead fish a few months ago because there was so little food. Now, it’s getting harder to catch the fish,” he smiled.
The Vaal Dam, say officials, is rising at around 4% a day and is expected to reach 100% by Monday.
It is now at a two-year high.
“We’re not going to release water in such a way that it ends up destroying property or equipment or affecting people negatively,” says departmental spokesman Sputnik Ratau.
“We’re liaising with the municipalities and there are contingency plans in place.”
One water expert explained that the Vaal Dam can safely operate at 120% capacity.
But although the dam is 90% full, this does not mean the end of the drought – or water restrictions.
“You can’t look at one dam. The rest of South Africa is experiencing the drought.
“We only have enough water in Cape Town to last 100 days. Even though the Vaal Dam has picked up nicely, some smaller dams haven’t.
“The Vaal only turned when it was at the 26% level. That was critical. And we don’t know what the rest of the year holds for us.
“No one can predict this.”
Yesterday the SA Weather Service warned that the El Niño weather pattern, which brought South Africa’s devastating drought, could return in the spring this year.
But, it says, forecasts like these tend to be unreliable this far ahead in this specific time period.
Dr Elias Sithole, the head of disaster management in Gauteng, said that while there had been some small localised flooding over the past three days, “the municipalities are coping and the situation has stabilised”.