People starve despite R353 million drought relief grant

Despite R353 million drought relief grant paid out to drought stricken municipalities in KZN about half a million people, of which 125 000 are children,  face hunger as the drought continues.

This disturbing figure comes from World Vision, an NGO responsible for distributing famine relief.

“Despite the grant, almost no progress has been made to alleviate drought in KZN,” said Zwakele Mncwango, Democtatic Alliance (DA) KZN leader on Wednesday, October 21.

Mncwango said the party has questioned Nomusa Dube-Ncube, executive committee member (MEC) of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs on how the grant from national government has been spent in KZN.

A DA question in parliament revealed that the department of water and sanitation paid out the drought relief grant to affected municipalities.

Mncwango said despite the enormous grant, various municipalities including Umkhayakude, Jozini and Matubatuba are currently facing serious water shortages, forcing people to buy bottled water or fetch water from crocodile infested rivers because the taps and standpipes have run dry.

He said the DA has submitted questions to MEC Dube-Ncube to establish whether the affected municipalities had disaster management plans and whether those plans are being implemented in accordance with the Disaster Management Act number 57, 2002 and how the relief money had been spent.

“Given the fact that Mkhanyakude has recently been placed under administration, the DA will conduct an oversight visit in parts of Mkhanyakude, to ensure that the disaster in the area is being dealt with and that the necessary resources are rolled out as it should. We believe it is not acceptable that people should suffer like this when there is money and resources that have been placed to assist them,” said Mncwango.

He said the people of drought stricken areas deserve to be treated fairly and provided services that they need the most with immediate effect.