Ramaphosa to visit Mthatha as flood toll keeps on rising

President Cyril Ramaphosa will visit flood-ravaged Mthatha in the Eastern Cape on Friday, co-operative governance and traditional affairs minister Velenkosini Hlabisa said on Thursday.

The death toll in the province has risen to 78 and could increase further as search and rescue operations are continuing, Reuters reported on Thursday night.

“The figure has gone to 78 now,” Hlabisa told the SABC. “And the more water subsides, the more people will be found,” he added.

Thousands of people have been left homeless after their houses were washed away.

Hlabisa called for a national discussion on the issue of people building homes near river banks.

Of the dead, all but 10 victims were recovered around Mthatha, which he described as the “eye of the storm”.

“Yesterday when we slept, there was a figure of 49 people deceased,” he said.

“This morning 57 were confirmed as deceased in the King Sabata Dalindyebo municipality. They include six learners of the 10 who were swept away in a scholar transport vehicle. Four learners remain unaccounted for.”

On Thursday Hlabisa visited displaced families in four centres set up in Mthatha, while basic education minister Siviwe Gwarube visited Jumba Senior Secondary School in Tabase and the affected families.

Hlabisa said the worst-hit homes were those built on flood plains.

“The infrastructure, their homes on the floodplains, were the ones that were either washed away or were badly affected as a result of the floods.

“We need to start with hard discussions and confront the real challenge of people living on the banks of rivers being removed before the worst happens.”

We cannot carry on losing people simply because they chose to build on floodplains. This should be a discussion countrywide in all spheres of government ... We need to speak with one voice
— Velenkosini Hlabisa, Cogta minister

Hlabisa said the president’s scheduled visit to Mthatha was to show support and offer condolences to those affected, and to see for himself the state in which the people were living.

“We cannot carry on losing people simply because they chose to build on floodplains. This should be a discussion countrywide in all spheres of government ... We need to speak with one voice. We need to collectively work together to identify safe areas where people will need to be relocated.”

Gwarube, meanwhile, said they had received reports that two pupils had been washed away while walking to school in other municipalities.

Psychosocial support had been provided to pupils and staff at Jumba High School and the affected families by her department, in collaboration with the department of social development, she said. Contingency plans had been made to move pupils from the schools that had become uninhabitable.

Gwarube confirmed that those who were unable to write their exams would get another chance at the end of June.

Hlabisa said water and sanitation minister Pemmy Majodina had sent a technical team and engineers to the Eastern Cape to assist, as water infrastructure had been affected.

His department would also provide technical support through the Municipal Infrastructure Support Agency.

Other provinces affected by the floods are KwaZulu-Natal, the Free State and Western Cape, though none had reported fatalities.

The floods had been classified as a disaster, said Hlabisa.

“There was no need of a declaration [of a disaster]; classification is sufficient and allows the government and all departments to activate the necessary support to respond to the storm.”

Hlabisa said he would return to the Eastern Cape on July 7 to announce interventions in terms of grants to help the region’s disaster recovery efforts.

He urged families to come forward to identify the bodies of their loved ones which had been recovered.

Eastern Cape government spokesperson Khuselwa Rantjie said at least 127 schools in 10 districts and 20 health facilities had been damaged by the severe weather.

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