Images of destruction and reports of thousands being left homeless as heavy storms pound the Western Cape are a painful reminder of the floods that wreaked havoc in KwaZulu-Natal last April.
On Monday, swathes of the province were covered by water as rivers burst their banks, leaving humanitarian agencies and disaster management services stretched in responding to calls for help and pleas for aid.
And by the looks of it, the destruction is not done yet. The SA Weather Service posted an orange level 5 warning for wind over the Northern Cape and Western Cape on Monday, and a level four warning for disruptive rain over the Western Cape well into Tuesday. In addition, gale force winds were also expected, which spells disaster for formal and informal housing structures, electrical and communication infrastructure, and the uprooting of trees.
The dismal forecast is already in addition to flooded roadways in Uitsig and Silversands, Citrusdal, in the Olifants River Valley, which was cut off at the weekend after roads were severely damaged, the Kosovo informal settlement in Philippi and Spookies in Rawsonville, which has left 1,000s homeless already.
But as the residents of KZN will tell you, the impact of the April floods — which claimed 461 lives, left 71 still missing, thousands still homeless and R20bn in infrastructure damage — is being felt more than a year later.
This touchy issue drew the ire of auditor-general Tsakani Maluleke last week as reported in the Sunday Times.
At a briefing to the ad-hoc joint committee on flood disaster relief recovery, as part of the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) audit report on flood relief funds, Maluleke said of the R5.8bn received in grants, loans and reprioritised budgets to respond to the floods, KwaZulu-Natal had only spent R251m — a shocking 4% — by May 31 this year.
She lambasted municipal officials for poor planning, project management and co-ordination, which robbed citizens of essential services such as water or compromised their safety.
The report, which focused on repairs to damaged water, sanitation and road infrastructure, as well as the supply of building materials, found a glaring absence of oversight and deviation or noncompliance in procurement protocols.
We witnessed during the height of the pandemic, corruption and rot set in early as tenderpreneurs seized opportunities to milk the situation and if we don’t keep a close eye, we will risk a repeat of history.
eThekwini was the main culprit, with Maluleke saying disaster management plans were not updated timeously and management did not exercise necessary oversight over the quality of work by contractors.
There was a lack of co-ordination between spheres of government in the province and metro, the threshold funding for disaster management was not in place and the municipality failed to prepare a budget for repairs and maintenance.
Her censure comes two months after the Motsepe Foundation, which last year donated R30m to the KwaZulu-Natal Flood Relief fund, confirmed it launched an investigation into the delivery of water to several communities in the province.
The probe relates to invoices that appear to be fraudulent and improper.
The report and probe back up some communities’ claims in Tongaat on the north coast and Umlazi, south of Durban, that tender fixing was the real reason they don’t have consistent water supplies.
So much so that at a recent eThekwini executive committee meeting, mayor Mxolisi Kaunda ordered a probe into a multimillion-rand water supply tender after audit committee chairperson Siyabonga Shabalala queried why this was outsourced when the city had its own tankers.
We witnessed during the height of the pandemic, corruption and rot set in early as tenderpreneurs seized opportunities to milk the situation and if we don’t keep a close eye, we will risk a repeat of history in the Western Cape or any other areas vulnerable to the effects of climate change.
Weather experts have already warned some regions in Africa are expected to heat up “twice as fast as the global average” which sets the stage for more incidents of violent storms and cyclones.
The implications could be catastrophic and the warnings should force us into action to put in place mechanisms to ready ourselves for disaster, ensure funding protocols and the required dedication and competence to roll these out.
For now, all eyes must be trained firmly on sound fiscal management in responding to the needs of flood victims in the Western Cape. This will ensure that, unlike their KZN counterparts, they won’t suffer a secondary trauma because of greed.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.