By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Government intensifies its response to devastating floods that have led to loss of life, destroyed infrastructure, displaced families and disrupted schooling across several provinces.
President Cyril Ramaphosa, accompanied by Mpumalanga premier Mandla Ndlovu, and MECs visited Nkomazi Local Municipality to assess the extent of the damage caused by floods.
Ramaphosa told the media that the visit was to assure the community that government assistance would be provided to the flood-stricken area.
The visit comes after the National Disaster Management Centre classified the recent inclement weather affecting Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape as a national disaster, following loss of life, extensive damage to infrastructure and property, environmental degradation, displacement of communities and disruption to schooling and economic activities.
Ramaphosa noted that roads had been destroyed, children were unable to attend school, houses had been washed away and critical infrastructure damaged.
“The roads are destroyed. Children cannot go to school, and houses have been washed away, and valuable infrastructure has been damaged, so that is precisely what we’re going to be looking at closely,” he said.
He said national government, including the inter-ministerial committee on disaster management, is engaged in discussions on the required interventions, while the Minister of Finance who is currently in Davos is also being briefed on the situation.
Ramaphosa said the frequency and intensity of disasters linked to climate change require government to strengthen its disaster response capabilities.
“We’re now in an era where climate change is quite evident to everyone, and we are now developing our own disaster responses so that when we have disasters like these floods and fires and other forms of disasters, we are able to respond as quickly and as effectively as possible,” he said.
In the wake of the devastating wildfires in the Eastern Cape and severe flooding across Limpopo, Mpumalanga, and KwaZulu-Natal, Ramaphosa is sounding the alarm on the urgent need to modernise the country’s disaster management framework.
He stressed that saving lives remains government’s primary focus.
“With all this, the paramount issue that we focus on is to save lives because loss of life is what affects households and families very badly,” he said.
The President also reiterated South Africa’s call for climate finance to assist countries in the Global South that bear the brunt of climate change.
“… We need finance because once there’s been damage like this, we need finance, almost on an annual basis now, to recover,” he said.
On regional support efforts, Ramaphosa confirmed that South Africa has provided assistance to Mozambique, which is also experiencing severe flooding.
“They have asked South Africa to help them… we have loaned them. We’ve sent some air assistance, like helicopters, to assist them for a number of days,” he said.
Ramaphosa also said he had received no updates on Ekurhuleni roads and transport management MMC Andile Mngwevu who had been reported missing on Sunday after his car was swept away by floodwaters in Chokwe, Mozambique.