Opposition parties slam city over flood relief

OPPOSITION parties say the eThekwini Municipality failed to adequately deal with the devastation caused by the floods.

Haniff Hoosen, a DA MP, said: “We have a disaster management unit that is supposed to activate itself during times of crises.

They were ill-prepared and must be questioned about the millions of rand in funding that they have been receiving for years.

They had little or no resources to provide to displaced communities. Private citizens were providing meals.”

Hoosen said millions of people were without water and electricity and the municipality did not know how to respond.

“In many instances, they allocated a single water tanker to each councillor, leaving the councillors to fend for themselves and explain on behalf of the city. There were at one point more than 150 electricity outages in Phoenix alone and a handful of technicians to repair those faults. It took over three weeks.”

Hoosen said he understood the floods was a natural disaster. However, he believed the city should have acted efficiently.

“They were clearly not prepared to deal with a disaster of this magnitude. These floods have exposed the huge weaknesses that exist in water and electricity infrastructure in our city. Most of the pipes that supply water to communities reached their replacement age many years ago. The city’s failure to invest in replacing the infrastructure is contributing to the problem.”

He said the Tongaat community remained without water and residents had to protest to get the city to act.

“The municipality collects billions of rand in rates every year. There is no reason why they cannot invest more in disaster relief during times like these. The city must explain to the residents what they have done with the billions that they collect every year.”

Visvin Reddy, leader of African Democratic Change, said: “The act by President Ramaphosa of declaring eThekwini a disaster area meant that funds could be unlocked by the National Treasury to pay for the repairs to infrastructure.

“Sipho Hlomuka, Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC, confirmed that the damage caused by the floods was estimated at R17 billion; the bulk being in eThekwini.

“National government committed a measly R1bn, and 30 days after the floods no one in KZN can find that money. It's a national disgrace and disaster that families who are taxpayers and ratepayers are left to rely entirely on the goodwill of donors and NGOs, while the national government fails to release funding to address the challenges.”

Imtiaz Syed, the leader of Active Citizens Coalition, said: “Electricity supply breaks and water shortages were rampant. If the city stepped up with the tools they had at their disposal and worked flat out to bring some resolve it would have helped.”

He said the city did not have an implementation plan.

“NGOs and NPOs were assisting with relief and aid. A concerted effort needs to be made by the city for a city-wide co-ordination platform to help identify needs and resources. Every ward should have a disaster management plan and direct access to all the relevant services must be provided by the city. The key lies in communication of delivery time frames of basic needs.

“Infrastructure repairs and prioritisation should have a war room to co-ordinate instead of departments in silos. Post-mortems of the disaster should be done and practical, doable response plans should be in effect. It should take into account all scenarios.

“We should be planning for disasters regularly as climate change shows that we can no longer rely on a 1 in 50 year flooding plan. Low-lying flood plains and river banks should be cleared of informal settlements or housing. It is now known what would be the consequences.”

Shameen Thakur-Rajbansi, leader of the Minority Front, suggested a permanent disaster management unit, with equipment and skilled personnel, be established and co-ordinated by key stakeholders.

“The city needs to send out clear information when disasters occur so that residents are armed with knowledge on steps to take, minimising casualties. Danger markers must also be erected on low-lying bridges and other areas.”

Mdu Nkosi, an IFP exco member, said: “There are people who are saying they have not seen officials coming to their areas, which is bad. People are still without water, which means the city has failed its people. We need to have a clear plan in future to adequately distribute resources.”

He suggested abandoned municipal buildings be renovated and used for housing displaced victims.

Patrick Pillay, the leader of the Democratic Liberal Congress, said: “Since the floods of 2019, it is clear they have not strengthened their disaster management strategy and they require more personnel, private contractors and equipment to respond more effectively to these types of catastrophes.

“The city also needs to invest in an overhaul of its water, sewerage and stormwater infrastructure. An investment of an early alert system will provide advance notice of a potential catastrophe.”