Concerns over government’s lack of capacity to respond to KZN floods misplaced – Ramaphosa

President Cyril Ramaphosa has assured South Africans that concerns surrounding government’s ability to respond efficiently and effectively to those who had lost everything in the deadly KwaZulu-Natal floods is misplaced.

Ramaphosa was addressing the nation on Monday in his weekly newsletter ‘From the Desk of the President’.

The deadly floods wreaked havoc across parts of KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape and North West, causing extensive loss of life and damage to property and infrastructure.

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The president said he visited eThekwini in KwaZulu-Natal on Sunday to meet with businesspeople in the city to lend government’s support to their efforts to restore their operations.

“When this natural disaster struck, there was some concern that authorities had neither the capacity nor the will to respond efficiently and effectively to the dire situation of those who had lost everything.”

“Having paid my second visit to the city since the floods, I am clear that this concern was misplaced. In KwaZulu-Natal, as in the Eastern Cape and North West, all stakeholders have been hard at work to recover from these tragic events,” Ramaphosa said.

Ramaphosa said the National Disaster Management Centre has been coordinating all spheres of government in their efforts to provide humanitarian relief to the many households that have been affected.

“All these stakeholders have provided food, clothes, blankets, dignity packs and school uniforms to vulnerable families to meet their basic needs. Sheltering services are currently being provided to over 7,000 people in the four most affected districts in KwaZulu-Natal.”

“Work has started to build temporary residences for affected families on state-owned land parcels have been identified in KwaZulu-Natal for possible resettlement,” Ramaphosa added.

Ramaphosa said the home affairs and social development departments have been assisting affected communities to access services while mobile classrooms are being procured so that learning should not be interrupted for longer than necessary in flood-affected schools.

The president added that there has also been considerable progress in fixing key infrastructure supporting the Durban port.

“Given the importance of the port to the national and continental economy, port traffic has been restored, terminal operations are back at full capacity and work to repair damaged rail infrastructure is underway.”

Ramaphosa said government is mobilising all available resources and undertaking every effort to ensure that, as the province rebuilds, no-one is left behind.