Houses damaged by storm in Tekwane

The storm affected KaNyamazane, Pienaar and Tekwane South and North. Several months ago, these areas were ravaged by a fierce rainfall caused by a strong tropical storm called Eloise.

Mpumalanga Premier Refilwe Mtshweni-Tsipane visited these affected areas and households on Monday afternoon and promised that her government would work around the clock to help fix whatever was damaged by the storm. Mtshweni-Tsipane said it should at most take government about 30 days to have all these 79 houses fixed.

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“This heavy storm comes at a time when as a province, we are still trying to recoup from the storm that caused massive damage in February. We have visited all the affected four schools and a number of damaged houses and the situation on the ground needs serious intervention. Working together with the Ehlanzeni District and the City of Mbombela, we will work at the speed of lightning to help these affected families get on their feet once again.” She said some of the houses they had visited needed serious attention, and she has recommended that temporary shelters be put in place while families wait for proper RDP housing units.

“As the ANC-led government, we want to assure our citizens that we will walk with them during this time of despair and help them rebuild their lives. We will get contractors to come on-site and fix the damage.”

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She also pleaded with ward councillors and local business people to be considerate and refrain from frustrating the construction processes as witnessed in previous community projects. “I am a staunch believer that local businesses should strive and must be empowered, but in cases such as these, we need to be considerate and remember that we are dealing with a sensitive issue that must not drag on forever.

We need to put the interest of these affected families before everything else. They need shelter and we must not stand on the way of improving their lives,” pleaded Mtshweni-Tsipane. In Ward 22, two schools’ roofs had been blown off, causing massive damage to the desks and textbooks which had been kept in some of the classrooms.

The ward councillor, Themba Mpila, has welcomed and labelled MtshweniTsipane’s intervention as vital.

“We are happy that the premier and the executive mayors from our two municipalities have quickly responded to the crisis at hand. We also want to thank the disaster management units in the province for their swift response, which quickly responded when we called them. In my ward there are houses that have completely collapsed and we are happy that through the premier’s intervention, these families will be assisted with collapsible houses,” said Mpila.

He hinted, however, that there was a growing tendency of not implementing instructions by senior government officials, which hampers service delivery in the end. “We are happy and wish to support the premier’s call that people must not disrupt the construction processes.”