Cape Town - The National Treasury has reiterated that the R1 billion for floods in KwaZulu-Natal will come from departments.
This is after Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said the R1bn was not new money, but it would be reprioritised from other programmes in human settlements and other departments.
KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sihle Zikalala told the joint ad hoc committee on floods in KZN at the weekend that they have not received any allocation.
But National Treasury said on Wednesday R1bn would come from the budget that was already announced this year.
Ulrike Britton from the National Treasury told the joint standing and select committees on appropriations in the National Assembly and National Council of Provinces money would be taken from various grants to cover relief measures in the province.
“The immediate relief grants that we have in the budget that was considered in the Division of Revenue Bill by both these committees recently has four conditional grants that total R1bn.
“Two of those conditional grants, to provinces and municipalities on the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs budget, deal with immediate relief we have given greater flexibility.
“You don’t have to declare a disaster anymore.
“The disaster has to be classified that funding for that disaster should be spent within six months of the funds being transferred,” said Britton.
She said that two other relief grants to provinces and municipalities were in the Department of Human Settlements budget.
She said the four grants make up the R1bn that government was saying was available for relief.
Deputy Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Obed Bapela also told the NCOP, during the budget vote of his department, that 88 people were still missing.
He said the effect of climate change was bringing reality into how disasters would need to be managed in future.
But they need to find ways to mitigate risks going forward.
Political Bureau