The Ad Hoc Joint Committee on Flood Disaster and Recovery has emphasised the importance of turning plans into action. The committee met yesterday to receive briefings on the impact of the floods in KwaZulu-Natal and the government’s recovery plans, including the departments of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME) and of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs’ (COGTA’s) relief measures.

Minister in the Presidency, Mr Mondli Gungubele, told the committee that the magnitude of the disaster exposed gaps in the government’s capacity and that the government has acknowledged this. Now the government is working collectively with the disaster centre and this will help address problems in good time and in three phases, firstly relief, secondly stablisation and thirdly recovery.

Minister Gungubele noted that National Treasury has a R1 billion contingency fund which is made available to government departments for infrastructure when the need arises. National and provincial government is working together in the province to assess how much is needed to remedy the damage, but provisional estimates amount to R25 billion.

Committee member Mr Mkhuleko Hlengwa commented that work is occurring very slowly, which means that the impact of the disaster continues. He added: “People are impatient with us. They continue living in halls. They struggle to access the Home Affairs. Just for them to put together a bare minimum of some semblance of their lives. This is the risk of inaction and now is catching up with us.”

He asked if funds have been made available to the provincial government yet, but no answer was forthcoming on this point.

Committee Member Mr Dean Macpherson asked about the services provided to the 40 000 people who are living in temporary accommodation and how long they will have to stay there. He also wanted to know if bulk services have been restored. He said 3 000 litres of sewerage is still overflowing and spilling into waterways and groundwater in eThekwini six weeks after the disaster. “The cost of the disaster is left to the reprioritisation of the budget. There is no new money from the presentation that is being made available to the province. It is going to be a heavy toll on frontline services, particularly education and healthcare, if money is to be reprioritised to deal with infrastructure and housing,” he said.

He wanted to know if the national disaster emergency fund is serving its purpose if no reserve funding has been made available. He asked for clarity on the amount made available in the contingency reserves and wanted to know why they haven’t been made available to the province.

Members also expressed reservations about whether any progress had been achieved, the reliability of the information provided and whether spatial planning has been taken into consideration in the relocation of families.

The committee was taken through the statistics of the infrastructural damage and heard that the Northern Cape, Eastern Cape and the North West were not severely affected.

On Wednesday, the National Treasury and the Auditor General’s office will brief the committee.

Committee member Ms Mina Lesoma said it was an opportune time to educate communities about spatial planning as is reflected on municipal integrated development plans. Communication about government progress should also be simplified she said. “Communities do not have radios and TVs. They might not hear us. We need to move out of our comfort zone and say: How then do we move out jointly, working with other spheres of government?” Floods may recur again and again, so it is important to find ways to deal with them effectively and efficiently, she pointed out.

Co-Chairperson Mr Jomo Nyambi said the information presented by the departments will give the committee a better understanding of the situation, which will allow its oversight in the province to be more effective.

Sibongile Maputi

24 May 2022