KZN floods: National State of Disaster will ensure ‘effective response’, leave no room for corruption

Following a request from the province of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) in the wake of devastating floods in the province to have a national state of disaster declared, President Cyril Ramaphosa has confirmed that cabinet has decided to grant this request. 

Speaking during his first national address related to the KZN floods, the president said the  national state of disaster for the KZN floods would be gazetted shortly to ensure an “effective response across all spheres of government.”

He further explained that this designation also enables the mobilisation of more resources and as such, cabinet felt that a provincial state of disaster was inadequate. 

“To ensure an effective response to these tragic events, the National Disaster Management Centre last week classified the flooding as a provincial disaster. This was followed by the declaration of the Premier of KwaZulu-Natal to invoke extraordinary measures to deal with the situation.”

The president also took some time out to acknowledge Langa, in the Western Cape, which was recently ravaged by fired that destroyed about 300 homes and displaced around 1,000 people.

“We are working with the City of Cape Town to provide shelter and relief to the affected families,” he added before shifting focus back to KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape. 

‘A humanitarian disaster’

“The rains of the last week have caused extensive damage to houses, businesses, roads, bridges and water, electricity, rail and telecommunications infrastructure. The flooding has disrupted fuel and food supplies.

“Nearly 4,000 homes have been completely destroyed and over 8,300 homes have been partially damaged. It is estimated that more than 40,000 people have been displaced by these floods,” said Ramaphosa.

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He declared the floods in both provinces a “humanitarian disaster that calls for a massive and urgent relief effort.”

“The lives, health and well-being of thousands of people are still at risk. The floods have caused great economic and social damage,” he added.

The president also spoke to the need for socio-psychological help to support those left traumatized by the events of the last few days.

Government’s disaster response

“We will be responding to this disaster in three phases. First, we will focus on immediate humanitarian relief, ensuring that all affected persons are safe and that their basic needs are met.

“Second, we will focus on stabilisation and recovery, rehousing people who have lost homes and restoring provision of services. Third, we will focus on reconstruction and rebuilding,” explained Ramaphosa.

The final phase will not only involve the construction and repair of major infrastructure in KZN, but it will also involve the construction of houses in suitably-located areas and measures to protect the residents of these areas from such adverse weather events in the future.

The Solidarity Fund

“I have met with the leadership of the Solidarity Fund to ask that it makes its capacity available to confront this dire emergency. The Board has agreed to assist with humanitarian and other forms of relief in partnership with government, the private sector and various other non-governmental and community-based organisations,” said the president. 

He confirmed that Treasury will make an initial amount of funds available as part of government’s efforts with the Solidarity Fund to implement these support measures.

“The Solidarity Fund has effectively managed the resources that government, the private sector and many South Africans made available to manage the COVID-19 effort as well as the July 2021 unrest assistance measures. The Fund will now set up a separate bank account for the Flood Disaster.”

These bank account details will be made available on Tuesday via the Solidarity Fund website.

Damage to homes

According to the president, the Department of Human Settlements has begun an assessment of damages to houses across the province, and has determined initial requirements for the provision of temporary accommodation, repairs to damaged houses and the replacement of destroyed houses.

To this effect, Ramaphosa says preparations are underway to provide temporary residential units and it is expected that construction of these should begin by the end of this week.

“Financial assistance through a voucher system is being made available to assist households to rebuild partially damaged houses. A national team of project managers and engineers have been deployed in the province to assess the damage and to advise on the rebuilding.”

Additionally, the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure is identifying suitable state land that can be used for resettlement.

What about corruption?

“There can be no room for corruption, mismanagement or fraud of any sort,” declared the president. 

“Learning from the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are drawing together various stakeholders to be part of an oversight structure to ensure all funds disbursed to respond to this disaster are properly accounted for and that the state receives value for money,” he added. 

He listed various stakeholders and professional bodies such as engineers and accountants who would be part of this oversight structure. 

“We are determined that there must be transparency and accountability as the projects are costed and implemented, as well as how resources are deployed from the beginning.”

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