Durban — The DA in KwaZulu-Natal has called for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) MEC Bongiwe Sithole-Moloi to capacitate the provincial Disaster Management Centre urgently.
DA KZN spokesperson on Cogta, Martin Meyer, said this on Wednesday after heavy rains and flooding in parts of KZN. The appeal comes after violent storms lashed parts of the province during the past 48 hours, causing severe damage.
Meyer said that the DA called on Sithole-Moloi to take urgent steps to capacitate KwaZulu-Natal’s Disaster Management Centre (DMC) as the province continues to see an increase in severe weather patterns.
He said the DA was saddened by the destruction caused in many communities, and its thoughts went out to all those who had been affected.
“We remain deeply concerned by KZN’s inability to deal with such natural disasters as a result of severe capacity challenges within the DMC,” Meyer said.
Referring back to a parliamentary reply to questions sent by the DA in November last year, Meyer said that the response revealed that the DMC was only operating at 50% capacity, with 17 out of 35 posts vacant. Despite the increase in strange weather patterns – and ongoing calls from the DA – there had been no move by Sithole-Moloi and her department to rectify this.
Meyer said that global climate change was having a major impact, not only around the world, but right here in KZN. It was critical that the government, along with our international partners, did more to combat the impact of this.
“The DA thanks those emergency services who were on the ground immediately during the past two days. In particular, we thank our own councillors who mobilised and were out within communities to assist wherever possible,” Meyer said.
“KZN’s people deserve more. A fully functional DMC is not a nice-to-have, it is a must-have. This ANC-run government cannot continue to take chances when it comes to the lives of our people.”
In February, Meyer said the DMC must be called into question again after heavy rains and flash floods battered northern KZN, including the towns of Newcastle and Dundee.
Meyer said that they had been consistent in their calls to Cogta since last year's April floods to prioritise the DMC. It was a legal requirement to have such a service. That the DMC remained underfunded and understaffed was a serious concern. Not only were KZN’s people being left behind, their lives were being endangered as a result.
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