“No Immediate Risk”: Mossel Bay Mudslides Hit Hartenbos Heuwels After Heavy Rains

• Heavy rainfall in Mossel Bay caused a retaining wall to partially collapse at a development site in Hartenbos Heuwels
• The developers confirmed the failure was contained to one section of the wall and that no evacuation was needed
• Residents and onlookers had plenty to say about the quality of the construction, with many questioning how the wall was approved in the first place

Heavy rains battered Mossel Bay on 6 May 2026, and the damage didn't take long to show. @MosselBayAdvertiser shared footage the same day of a gabion retaining wall that had partially collapsed at a development site between Menkenkop and Renosterbos in Hartenbos Heuwels, right next to a residential area. The post came with the message:

"Mossel Bay Municipality has deployed teams from Town Planning as well as Fire, Rescue and Disaster Management to assess a mudslide reported earlier today."

The video showed the gabion walls collapsing. These are wire mesh structures filled with rocks and used to hold back soil. The structure, unfortunately, gave way under the pressure of the rain. Mud pushed through the top first, and then the lower sections started coming apart too. The structures are built next to homes, which makes the footage unsettling to watch.

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What caused the Mossel Bay mudslide?

Developers JGW Ontwikkelaars released a statement later that day confirming that consulting engineers had assessed the site. According to the statement, the collapse was limited to one section of the wall, and the natural ground beneath it remained stable. The engineers found that permanent stormwater drainage systems, including catch drains and diversion channels, hadn't been completed yet at the time of the collapse. This meant rainwater had nowhere to go and ended up flowing directly onto the structure.

Some of the runoff also came from neighbouring properties, which added to the pressure on that section of the wall. Sandbags have been placed at key discharge points, and a full engineering review is under way. JGW said permanent repairs would be carried out once weather conditions allowed.

Watch the Facebook clip below:

Residents unimpressed by Mossel Bay infrastructure

People in the comments section on the Facebook page @MosselBayAdvertiser weren't holding back:

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@gail.vanlitsenborgh said:

"That'll teach you not to dig where you're not supposed to!"

@felicity.meyer.792 added:

"Sunday school song: 'Build on the rock'!"

@richard.crouch questioned:

"Who was the engineer on that job? That retaining wall did not retain very well."

@jaco.van.deventer.2025 pointed out:

"Pretty smart to suspend tons of rock on sand that can't be compacted. The planner has no idea what he's doing."

@wessel.jordaan.3 asked:

"It was a bad job in the first place. Added weight on an already unstable surface. Would like to know who the engineering company was!"

More on SA severe weather and flood damage

• Briefly News reported on a South African Weather Service warning issued ahead of the Workers' Day long weekend.
• Multiple weather warnings were issued across South Africa in the first week of May 2026, with different parts of the country placed on high alert at the same time.
• Heavy flooding forced schools in the Eastern and Western Cape to shut their doors on 5 and 6 May 2026.

Source: Briefly News