This follows the recent heavy rainfall which claimed the lives of eight people. Mtshweni-Tsipane said the Nkomazi subregion was one of the areas that was hit the hardest, and needed urgent attention.
On Monday she made this announcement during her visit to some of the more devastated areas within the City of Mbombela. She said the damaged caused by the rain was worth more than R400 million and they will ask for funding from the national Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs.
“The infrastructure was old to the extent that it could not carry the water load that was passing through. Our planning probably did not include a proper drainage system, but it is a lesson as we move ahead and plan our roads going forward,” she said. “The drive to visit more areas continues. The figures we currently have may go up as we continue inspecting other affected areas throughout the province. What is delaying us to move with speed is the rain. It makes it difficult for us to access some of the places because of flooding and other challenges,” she said.
“We have visited a number of areas that have been affected by the recent rain. We have noted the damages caused to our infrastructure. I can safely say we already have a plan to fix the damages. “We are working with our municipalities and together we are busy assessing the damage. And once we have consolidated everything, we will start fixing the damaged roads, bridges and houses that were destroyed,” added Mtshweni-Tsipane.
The premier started her visit at the Tekwane South/Entokozweni Bridge that had collapsed on Friday night leaving these communities stranded. She proceeded to other areas around Mbombela, including visiting the KaNyamazane family who had recently lost a loved one in the floods.
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Her visit to these disaster areas came shortly after the acting director-general, Peter Nyoni, had led a team of HODs, engineers and technicians from both the City of Mbombela and the Ehlanzeni District Municipality to also assess the extent of the damage.
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She was accompanied by the MEC for cooperative governance and traditional affairs, Mandla Msibi, the district’s executive mayor, Cllr Jesta Sidell, and the City’s first citizen, Sibusiso Mathonsi. “We are working with the municipalities to ensure that where our water infrastructure has collapsed, we will replace it with water tankers as a temporary measure that communities will have clean water,” said Mtshweni-Tsipane.
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Even though she did not give a timeline as to when the repairs would start, she promised that government will move with speed to start rebuilding.
