KZN Floods: Parliament to follow up on affected areas

Parliament’s Ad Hoc Joint Committee on Flood Disaster Relief and Recovery is back in KwaZulu-Natal this week, to conduct follow-up visits to areas that were severely affected by the April floods in the province.

In a statement, Parliament said the committee will also receive updates from the provincial government and municipalities on the progress that has been covered so far on the reconstruction of the damaged infrastructure among other things.

It said the committee will also be engaging the Council for Geoscience for the first time.

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“The council was established to provide for the promotion of research and the extension of knowledge in the field of geoscience. Its mandate includes the exercise of custodianship over geotechnical information; acting as a national advisory authority in respect of geo-hazards related to infrastructure and development.”

Parliament said the most pertinent to the committee’s work is the aspect relating to geo-hazards related to infrastructure and development.

“It touches on areas characterised by potential life-threatening geological conditions in South Africa, including dolomite land, undermined areas, areas of potential slope stability problems, and areas prone to potential severe seismicity and flood-line areas.”

“The committee has already witnessed some of these geo-hazards in the course of its site visits to flood-affected areas,” Parliament said.

KZN was battered by the heavy downpours which left a trail of destruction and over four hundred people dead.

Last week, Deputy President David Mabuza conceded that government’s handling of the KwaZulu-Natal flood disaster had glaring weaknesses, which included poor coordination, project management and contracting and inadequate risk management.

Asked about government’s delay in processing food relief funds for KwaZulu-Natal communities affected by the flood disaster earlier this year, Mabuza was frank.

“The process has not been smooth as we anticipated. Even though we have the multidisciplinary systems, there were still problems with planning, execution and keeping track of projects.”

Meanwhile, months after the devastating floods, some families have lost hope that the bodies of their relatives will ever be found.

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