Government has made progress in executing rehabilitation initiatives in areas hit by the recent tragic floods, according to Deputy President David Mabuza.
This was said by the Deputy President in response to oral questions at a National Assembly session on Wednesday.
“As part of Phase 2 interventions, the government is making progress on stabilization and recovery measures, such as rehousing displaced people and restoring basic services.”
“As mentioned previously, the Department of Water and Sanitation has established a Water and Sanitation War Room to assist the province’s affected state organs, particularly the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality, in restoring water services and addressing water and infrastructure-related challenges,” he said.
While the initial part of the government’s response focused on providing urgent humanitarian aid and ensuring that all affected people are safe and their basic needs are addressed, the second phase focuses on stabilization and recovery.
This includes rehousing persons who have been displaced from their homes and resuming service delivery.
“As a result, water supply restoration has advanced in many areas of eThekwini, with the exception of the Tongaat Supply System, which remains a severe concern.
“This is owing to the severe damage to essential water infrastructure. The rehabilitation of Tongaat Waterworks is estimated to take 3 to 6 months, according to our information,” he stated.
The complaint that the processes have been sluggish is expected, according to the Deputy President, because all impacted people should be taken care of without missing a single day of their lives without basic requirements.
“However, due to the gravity of the matter, it will take some time to resolve.”
“Despite the challenges we confront, we want to inform this House that, since the floods, affected municipalities and government departments have been performing technical assessments of damage costs and offering short, medium, and long-term solutions.”
“Last month, the national government received the coordinated response interventions and sought monies for both critical and immediate repairs, as well as long-term solutions to bring the afflicted districts back to normalcy.
“In the event of a national disaster, the National Treasury has issued a directive outlining the public management and budgeting system that will be used to ensure that services to afflicted communities are not disrupted.”
Affected provincial departments and municipalities, according to the Deputy President, have already started reprioritizing their budgets and submitting requests to the National Disaster Management Centre for the reallocation or repurposing of cash in conditional grants.
He stated that the key focus in this regard has been on humanitarian relief and emergency repairs of critical infrastructure like as water and waste management, electricity, roads and engineering infrastructure, as well as social services like healthcare.
“Through Inter-Ministerial Committees, we will continue to monitor and assist the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure’s land designation processes, the Department of Human Settlements’ quick housing efforts, and the delivery of other critical services to affected areas.”