Middle Letaba Dam is an earth-fill type dam located on the Middle Letaba River, 40 km east of Elim and 40 km west of

Giyani Giyani is a town situated in the north-eastern part of Limpopo Province, South Africa. It is the administrative capital of the Mopani District Municipality and a former capital of the defunct Gazankulu Bantustan. The city of Giyani is divided i ...

Limpopo Limpopo () is the northernmost Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa. It is named after the Limpopo River, which forms the province's western and northern borders. The term Limpopo is derived from Rivombo (Livombo/Lebombo), a ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. The source of the Middle Letaba river rises high in the tropical mountains of Magoebaskloof near

Tzaneen Tzaneen () is a town situated in the Mopani district of the Limpopo Province in South Africa. It is situated in a high rainfall fertile region with tropical and subtropical agriculture taking place in a region. It is Limpopo's second largest to ...

, where rainfall is abundant during the summer months. The river passes numerous villages and its flow becomes quite strong when it reaches the village of Magoro. Once at full capacity, the Middle Letaba becomes Limpopo's third largest dam, but the Middle Letaba Dam only reaches its full capacity when the river is in flood. The dam rarely reaches its full capacity because the engineers overestimated the yield of the river feeding the dam. The error in the assessment also resulted in water shortages for competing water users. Construction of the dam started in 1980 under

Gazankulu Gazankulu was a Bantustan in South Africa, intended by the apartheid government to be a semi-independent homeland for the Tsonga people. It was located in both the Northern Transvaal, now Limpopo province and Eastern Transvaal, now Mpumalang ...

government and serves mainly for water supply to

and

Hlanganani Hlanganani, also known as Spelonken, is an amalgamation of various large villages which are situated in the north western portion of the former Tsonga homeland of Gazankulu, South Africa. Hlanganani is situated alongside the R578 road to Giyani a ...

. The dam is situated alongside the R578 road to Giyani and Elim. The hazard potential of the dam has been ranked high (3). The dam is popularly known as 'Sterkrivier Dam' by the local people, the name Sterkrivier (Strong river) was given by the

Afrikaner people Afrikaners () are a Southern African ethnic group descended from predominantly Dutch settlers who first arrived at the Cape of Good Hope in 1652.Entry: Cape Colony. ''Encyclopædia Britannica Volume 4 Part 2: Brain to Casting''. Encyclopæd ...

. Before the construction of the dam in 1980, the water which used to flow in this river was so powerful to an extent that a new name was given to the river, hence 'Sterkrivier'.

References

List of South African Dams
from the

Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (South Africa) Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military * Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

Dams in South Africa Dams completed in 1984 {{SouthAfrica-dam-stub

See also

References