Finally, R1bn for KZN flood relief set to trickle down, with roads getting lion’s share

The KwaZulu-Natal finance department says R1.1bn in flood relief from National Treasury has been allocated. The transport department will receive more than half.

KZN acting finance MEC Bongi Sithole-Moloi disclosed this while tabling the provincial adjustments estimates budget in the Pietermaritzburg legislature on Thursday.

The adjustments follow engagements between provincial treasury and departments on spending priorities.  

More than 4,000 people were displaced during April’s floods, which caused an estimated R17bn in damage.

Sithole-Moloi said the transport department would get R589.3m to repair provincial roads, adding the province requested a further R5.3bn from the National Disaster Management Centre.

This exceeded the amount available to provinces from National Treasury. The province therefore undertook to reprioritise funds from within its baseline budget, Sithole-Moloi said.

Social development received R48.5m to support and protect flood victims in mass shelters, she added. 

“The funds are for formula and disposable nappies for infants, meals for victims in shelters, to pay shelter-based social workers and social-work supervisors, as well as for a system used by the shelters to track the progress of the victims within them.”

The education department received R95.1m for infrastructure, while R325.8m was allocated to human settlements to provide 4,983 temporary residential units.

Sithole-Moloi said when the disaster occurred the province opened a bank account for donations, the allocation of which was included in the adjustments estimate. 

The province received R10.3m in donor funding from organisations such as Tsogo Sun, Harmony Gold, Qatar, Afreximbank, the AU and anonymous donors, she added. Some specified what their contributions should be used for, while others said they were for the general response. 

Meanwhile, at a meeting in Durban on Wednesday, the provincial executive committee said it had made strides in ensuring the recovery of lives and livelihoods of flood victims. 

Last week the public works and human settlements department announced that all those still in camps will would be housed by Christmas.